THE LAUNDROMAT PROJECT INC
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : d*********t@l***************t.o*g
Mission Statement
Founded in 2005, The LP is a Black-rooted, People of Color (POC)-centered, and community-based arts organization that advances artists and neighbors as change agents in their own communities. We support individuals and communities working to address critical issues such as cultural legacy, environmental justice, and LGBTQIA+ safe spaces, to name only a few. Through our programming, we work with communities and artists to creatively consider and tackle social concerns, while providing a positive avenue for realizing a better world. We envision a world in which artists are understood as valuable assets in every community and everyday people know the power of their own creative capacity to transform their lives, their relationships, and their surroundings.
About This Cause
The Laundromat Project is an arts organization that advances artists and neighbors as change agents in their own communities. We make art and culture in community while fostering leadership among our neighbors through our celebrated Create Change artist development programs, and our creative community-building initiatives across New York City. The idea of a laundromat as a primary place for engagement has expanded over time. It now serves as a metaphor for a variety of settings in which artists and neighbors transform their lives and surroundings. This includes community gardens, public plazas, local cultural organizations, and more. Our programs include: Create Change Artist Development Programs Our flagship Create Change artist development program connects communities and artists in meaningful ways via residencies and professional development fellowship opportunities—annually engaging up to 15 artist fellows in training aimed to develop, deepen and put to action a socially engaged creative practice, and facilitating 5 socially-engaged public art projects across NYC. Our Create Change Residencies facilitate the creation of 3-5 high-quality artistic endeavors across NYC. These opportunities provide NYC artists of color (individuals or collaborative teams) with a full year of holistic support to develop and create community-responsive art projects. Our Create Change Fellowship trains artists newer to socially-engaged creative practice and cultivates a network of multi-generational, -racial and -disciplinary artists. The fellowship annually provides up to 12 artists with a 6-month professional development workshop series and opportunities to co-create public art projects with community partners. Launched in 2020, the Create Change Intensive (CCI) offers a distilled version of the CC Fellowship, aimed at those not able to commit to the 6-month program. Open to artists, arts administrators and cultural workers, CCI brings together a diverse group for an investigation of topics like: power, race and privilege; cultural organizing; storytelling; and community partnerships. Creative Funding The Laundromat Project directly funds creative community building projects by New York City artists and neighbors through two initiatives: the Bed-Stuy Create & Connect Fund, and the Creative Action Fund. Launched in 2021, The Bed-Stuy Create and Connect Fund seeds and supports creative projects by cultural practitioners, community builders, organizers, and makers in our home of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The Creative Action Fund (CAF) is a micro-grant initiative to seed the ideas and civic actions of The LP Create Change alumni network. This fund is a critical part of our vision to make sustained investments in our growing artist network, now 180+ artists strong, by supporting their artmaking, leadership, and professional growth. Community Engagement In 2020, The LP committed to a 10-year lease in a 2,000 sq ft storefront space located on Fulton Street near the intersection of Kingston Avenue. This organizational milestone represents the realization of a long held goal of building deep relationships of mutual support in a single neighborhood, following 15 years of experience supporting artists doing community-embedded work in predominantly POC neighborhoods across the city. Our new home serves as a hub for our community engagement programming in Bed-Stuy.