Civic Art Lab

Civic Art Lab is a community arts, design and environmental education storefront in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in collaboration with the Bridge Street Development Corporation’s Pop-Up Program (set to open July 2015).

This initiative calls on neighbors to co-produce creative and open ways to share skills and showcase recent cultural and environmental initiatives happening locally in order to amplify diverse voices and encourage future civic engagement.

We invite artists, environmental stewards, local civic organizations and the public to host events on-site and join in on the collaborative production of the space. Free programs will be available to youth, adults, and families wishing to explore themes that range from environmentally-friendly interior-architecture to getting involed in neighborhood beautification to creatively reusing materials for art and design projects.

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The lab is made possible through support garnered by GREENSPACENYC an organization that develops free educational programs, hands-on workshops, and public projects that encourage dialogue, enliven public spaces, and promote the future of a more equitable and sustainable city.

Our team of educators, designers, and activists have been planning the Civic Art Lab since late 2013. In the Summer of 2014 we were awarded an Urban Urge Seed Grant to help realize the project by a prestigious panel of urban design and social architecture professionals. Shortly after we held a small benefit to begin fundraising, which along with our seed grant, has gone to securing a storefront space in Brooklyn for the Summer of 2015.

In January 2015 we began a partnership with Bridge Street Development Corporation — a local Bed-Stuy not-for-profit who fosters community-led economic and social development. In April 2015, we signed a lease on a storefront on Nostrand Avenue, with costs subsidized from Bridge Street.

We are currently organizing an outreach campaign to build more partnerships with local civic organizations who will co-host creative community-driven events in the space.

All donations will go directly to the installation of the storefront and to materials and costs associated with providing free public workshops and events!

We often see civic projects that aim to improve the local environment, get obscured from the very community members who would like to get involved but are unfamiliar with or unaware of awesome projects happening in their own neighborhood. 

Our goal is to foster more local involvement in environmental and civic projects by amplifying community engagement through playful and accessible arts-based public programs. 

We want to lower the barriers of participation through providing a space to learn, share, discuss, and create.

Ultimately we see the lab as a springboard for long-term projects for artists and neighbors to share-skills that spark permanent positive change.