Category: Arts

Thanks to donations from you (our beloved community), our crew of six artists and food justice activists traveled to Philadelphia PA this past October to lead a workshop entitled “Art & Movement Building: Strategies for Food Systems Change”.  Our workshop took place at the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group’s (NESAWG) It Takes A Region conference.

At the conference, we trained thirty people in arts integration and popular education activities focused around food justice that they can take home and lead in their own communities. We also now have a framework for a workshop that can be led in other communities. Another major outcome of this trip is continued collaboration using the arts to engage Buffalo Public School students in understanding why some of our communities are more disconnected to growing our own food and healthy eating than others.

In addition to our workshop, we were inspired, motivated, and affirmed in our efforts through participating in these additional conference activities:

• A West Philly Urban Farm Tour and visit to Sankofa Farm;
• A rally to demand community control of land, led by Soil Generation (a Philadelhpia-based network of black and brown farmers), held at Philadelphia’s City Hall;
• A workshop on employing the just transition framework in food systems work;
• A workshop on farmworker activism and laws; and
• An interactive workshop called “Developing Diverse Friendships” led by to two teenage girls from Buffalo.

We look forward to continued efforts to strengthen our regional food system, and welcome your questions, ideas, and expressions of support.  For that, please reach out to Rebekah (@) foodforthespirit.org.

Or for more information about NESAWG’s It Takes A Region conference, visit: http://nesawg.org/conference.

Pictured above are five of seven co-presenters who will host our workshop, “Art & Movement Building: Strategies for Food Systems Change”, at the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group’s (NESAWG) annual conference in Philly, PA on October 26, 2018.

We’ve raised $3,500 to get our group to the conference.  Thank you for your support!

We are artists coming together with urban farmers, gardeners, and food systems folks, for a workshop to explore the role of art in the movement towards food justice and equity.  This workshop, “Art & Movement Building: Strategies for Food Systems Change”, will take place at NESAWG’s annual conference in Philly, PA this October.

Our process will be documented on Facebook, from concept, including designing the workshop, to hosting the workshop, and some takeaways from attendees following the conference on October 26 and October 27, 2018.  As NESAWG’s annual It Takes a Region Conference brings together farm and food systems practitioners across the 12-state Northeast region, our workshop co-facilitators will join these folks to look at the trajectory of the food and farm movement and the role each of us can play in shaping its future.

Through this workshop, our team including artists, gardeners, and food systems folks will explore how relationships between food systems actors and artists can be a win-win, and how artists and the arts can be lifted up in food systems efforts.  Several co-facilitators will lead the group in interactive activities and small group conversation to facilitate dialogue and creativity.  Participants will walk away with ideas for the first steps they can take “back home” to engage with arts organizations and support artists in the movement.

Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/food4thespirit/ to follow our progress and get updates from our team, and come join us at the conference in October!

What better place than NESAWG to host our workshop?

NESAWG’s It Takes a Region conference offers in-depth working sessions that tackle important questions about our regional food system and how to strengthen it, drawing from the collective expertise and wisdom of conference attendees.  This year, the theme for the conference is cultivating a transformative food system.

Who are our co-presenters?

Our workshop includes several growers and food systems folks:

• Rebekah Williams –> Learn more about Rebekah here.
• Gerldine Wilson –> Learn more about Gerldine here.
• Birch Kinsey –> Learn more about Birch here.

Several collaborating artists will participate including:

• Lorna C. Hill is founder and Artistic Director of Ujima Company, Inc., the oldest professional repertory theatre company in Western New York. –> Learn more about Lorna here.
• Frederick Wright Jones is a sculptor pushed by responsibility to critically analyze history, national myth, and culture. –> Learn more about Fred here.
• Erin Sharkey is co-founder/director of an experimental arts production company called Free Black Dirt.  Erin currently explores soil, migration, farming, and astronomy. –> Learn more about Erin here.
• Paris (PJ) Henderson is a visual artist and storyteller from Buffalo NY. This summer, he traveled to New Orleans LA, to collaborate with GrowOn Urban Farms on resistance arts workshops.  –> Learn more about Paris here.