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  • The Swimmer
  • Symbiopsychotaxiplasm
  • Seneca Village
project leader
Amanda T
location
247 E. 2nd St
(Manhattan)
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Participants

the project

Le Petit Versailles — a GreenThumb/NYC Parks Department Garden managed by Allied Productions in downtown Manhattan — is the site of our two evening screening and panel discussion.

William Greaves’ 1968 an experimental narrative film Symbiopsychotaxiplasm will be featured in an outdoor screening — as an end in itself, but also as a way to foster a conversation about land and land use, public and private, and the myriad of issues arising from that focus. Information about Central Park and its origins, which involved the destruction of one of the earliest neighborhoods of black property-owners — Seneca Village — will be a focus.

Amplifying these considerations will be the screening of a related film, that of Frank Perry’s The Swimmer, also made in 1968.

The discussion will include writer and activist Kazembe Balagun, and Nan A. Rothschild, archaeologist, educator (Barnard/Columbia Departments of Anthropology) and co-director of Seneca Village Project. Other panelists to be announced shortly.

the steps

The event is scheduled for May 31 and June 1, so we need to act fast. With cash in hand, we’ll be able to offer the esteemed panelists an honorarium and include a Los Angeles colleague who’s been a co-conspirator with us in formulating this project, which has been incubating over the past year.

Funding will also allow us to record the event’s discussion and post it on a website which will be devoted to a similar series of events planned to unfold over the next three years.

The week of May 20th we’ll be busy printing out fliers across the East Village and the Lower East Side to reach neighborhood people without access to, or interest in social media.

why we're doing it

The purpose of this series is to initiate discussion and revisioning of the ways in which humans interact with, and view the land — never a more urgent topic than now. An overarching focus of the project is to show how, throughout American history, different groups have historically experienced very different relationships to the land. And how dominant groups’ conceptions of land and land use have frequently, if not foundationally, been blinded by privilege, race, market forces, and other exclusionary practices.

The speakers on the panels will be those who can eloquently address the under-known histories, quandaries, and desires of groups not included in the dominant American narrative about the land. These include historically marginalized groups such as African Americans, women, and workers. The event, taking place near the settings of the films themselves, will be designed to sparkle discussions about local histories and people — where they have come from, and where they envision their communities going in the future.

Study and comprehension of history has profound power in opening people’s minds to present conditions, and therefore to improved, clear-eyed future possibilities. Our aim is to offer this study in the context of convivial, entertaining, but politically-informed events. Le Petit Versailles is an incredibly appropriate venue for this event in its proximity to, and engagement with, creative and socio-economically diverse communities. Your support and participation is deeply appreciated!

budget

Disbursed budget 6.3.19:

Letter-writing to Potential Panelists (Anne Seidlitz) $200
Letter-writing to Potential Panelists II (Anne Seidlitz) $250
Letter-writing for Fundraising (Anne Seidlitz) $120
Speech-writing consultancy (Anne Seidlitz) $325
Panelists’ honoraria: Marie Warsh, Nan Rothschild, Kazembe Balagun (4 x $150) $450
Moderator's honoraria: Andrew McNeely $150
Airfare: Andrew McNeely, Moderator $450
Local Travel for Panelists $150
Film Rental Fees to Distributors $220
Videotaping (2-camera shoot) / June 1 (Tal Eshun and Ehm) $300
Edit of videotaped documentation (TBD) $1,500
Organizers’ fees (Amanda Trager and Erik Moskowitz) $2,500
Website: design, creation and supplementary materials (TBD) $3,500
Miscellaneous snacks, drinks for the Event $30
  $10,145
TOTAL RAISED = $11,065.00
ioby Platform Fee $35.00
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $553.25
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $331.95
TOTAL TO DISBURSE= $10,144.80

Updated budget 5.9.19:

We are incredibly grateful to everyone who helped us reach our preliminary goal in under a week — these generous contributors have both inspired and emboldened us to go beyond our original, bare-bones implementation. We now ask for $10,000. This ample funding will allow us to provide for our panelists, organizers and attendees with greater resources — including printed programs, local travel allowance for some of our panelists, more robust documentation of both nights of the event, a more professional edit of this documentation, a richer post-event web site, as well as film rental fees to distributors.

Panelists' honoraria (4 x $150) 600
Airfare: Andrew McNeely, moderator 400
Lodging: Andrew McNeely 500
Color fliers (printing of 2000) 200
Neighborhood flier distribution (Lower East Side)
—Labor for posting: minimum wage $13.50 x 4 people x 4 hours 216
Widespread flier distribution: Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan
(community centers, etc.)
—Labor for posting: minimum wage $13.50 x 8 people x 4 hours 432
Local Travel (including 2-way car fare for some in need) for our panelists
150
Film Rental Fees to Distributors 500
Event Programs (Design/Production) 150
Videotaping Event (2-camera shoot: $300 x 2 camera people ($600) x 2 nights
= $1200 1200
Edit of videotaped documentation (for material comprised of 2 evenings,
each a 2-camera shoot) 1500
Organizers' fees ($350 x 3) 1050
Website: design, creation and supplementary materials 3000
TOTAL 9898

 

PROJECT FUNDING NEEDED = $9,898
ioby Platform Fee $35
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $540
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $324
TOTAL TO RAISE = $10,797

Original Budget:

4 Panelists
Kazembe Balagun, Nan Rothschild, Andrew McNeely, and more to be announced 
—Fee for each (4 x $150) = $600
—Travel (airfare) for one panelist (Andrew McNeely) = $400
—Lodging for one panelist (Andrew McNeely) ($100 x 4 nights) = $400

Hard copy neighborhood advertising (printing flyers and posting) = $100

Documentation of event = $250
Editing = $250

 

PROJECT FUNDING NEEDED = $2,000
ioby Platform Fee $35
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $111
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $66
TOTAL TO RAISE = $2,212

 

updates

Participants

Posted 05/23/2019 - 5:32pm

We've confirmed a dynamic group of speakers for our inaugural June 1st event!!

—Seneca Village archaeologist and educator Nan A. Rothschild

—Cultural historian, activist, and writer Kazembe Balagun

—Central Park Conservancy historian Marie Warsh
 

The discussion will be moderated by L.A.-based independent curator Andrew McNeely.

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Jordan Lord
  • Elizabeth L.
  • Charles Green
  • Carole Corcoran
  • Hadley & Peter Arnold
  • katharine e wallerstein
  • Jason Andrew
  • James Trager
  • Maia Chao
  • Chantal
  • Eugenia M.
  • Sique
  • Lynn Davis
  • David Rothberg & Alicia Peres
  • Anonymous
  • Sally Heller
  • Nadim E.
  • Anonymous
  • Stephen B B.
  • Deborah A Hobbins
  • Marina Berio
  • Redmond
  • Jc Bourcart
  • Lawrence G.
  • ReStacks
  • Anonymous
  • Mary A Heilmann
  • Anonymous
  • Anne Glusker
  • Jane
  • Anonymous
  • Rebecca
  • Elisabeth Subrin
  • Jeri Coppola
  • Andrea Lerner
  • David Worley
  • Casper Caldarola
  • Sandy Neubauer
  • Immy
  • Ingrid Schaffner
  • Richard & Hope
  • Hermine Ford
  • Oliver Trager
  • Laura Parnes
  • Adam S.
  • L. Albert
  • Helen Tworkov