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Read other Little Free Libraries/Libros Libres posts.
On May 17th, community members, library hosts and stewards, volunteer designers, and project partners gathered at the Lakewest YMCA in West Dallas and the Full City Rooster in the Cedars to build and install their Little Free Libraries. After many weeks of work and much anticipation everyone was excited to finally get to building and reading! It was a beautiful day and much fun was had by all. See for yourself:
Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.
Dear House, the third public art project in bcWORKSHOP’s Activating Vacancy initiative in the Tenth Street Historic District, was held on Saturday, May 17, from 7:00-9:00pm at 1319 E Eighth Street.
Dear House explored vacancy as a state, rather than an end, for structures. Through a myriad of artistic actions, Dear House transformed how we, as community residents, understand and engage with vacant structures. Artistic representations were inspired by a series of public writing workshops hosted at local neighborhood institutions including American Care Academy daycare, Eloise Lundy Recreation Center, and Townview Magnet Center. Excerpts from these writings were artistically projected onto the walls of the home via light, video, and other installations, as well as performed as original oral pieces by neighborhood residents during the exhibition opening. Letters and mail art received from both near and far were also featured throughout the home, allowing visitors to open envelopes containing messages of hope and renewal for the vacant structure. Together, these activations challenged the status quo of how vacant structures are cared for, encouraged dialogue and expression with a wide audience about abandoned and vacant spaces, and empowered the community to take ownership of beautifying the house, all while making the surrounding area a safer and more vibrant place to live.
Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.
Story Corners, the second project of Activating Vacancy, was an afternoon of open-air storytelling, performances, and a neighborhood fish fry that celebrates the past, present, and future of the historic Tenth Street District. In many of America’s inner cities, there are street corners and vacant lots, porch steps and ‘elder’ trees that have long served as informal gathering places for sharing stories, playing games, socializing and entertaining among residents. But those locations, especially in neighborhoods that suffer from blight and neglect, have also become breeding grounds for drug dealing, prostitution and other criminal activities. In an effort to reclaim the street corner as a site for gathering, Story Corners worked with local residents to record, rehearse and perform their own stories in the Tenth Street Historic District.
On Saturday, April 12th from 1pm to 6pm at the intersection of S. Cliff and E. 11th Streets, current and former residents of the Tenth Street district used their creativity to reinvigorate their community through poetry, prose, spoken word and music. Under the guidance of the Story Corners team of artists and designers, the residents performed materials that they produced from writing and theater workshops on stages that they helped to build.
Watch the performances below:
This is the first post in a series about the Little Free Libraries/Libros Libres project.
Little Free Libraries/Libros Libres is a literacy and community design initiative in Dallas, TX that pairs neighborhood residents and organizations with local designers to build small book shelters, creating new gathering spaces that promote literacy and community building. Part of the Little Free Library movement, started by Todd Bol and Rick Brooks, this project promotes community ownership, encourages frequent use, and ensures the longevity of each library, improving the built environment alongside literacy in urban areas.
The project was initiated as a collaboration between bcWORKSHOP, Big Thought, and the Dallas Public Library. Between now and May 2014, designers will be paired with neighborhood stewards to build up to 20 Little Free Libraries in neighborhoods in the Lincoln and Madison (South Dallas/Fair Park) and Pinkston (West Dallas) high school feeder patterns. Using a $100 budget, community members will work with volunteer designers and artists to design and build the libraries. Free books will be supplied to stock the libraries, which are located in public places chosen by community members.
Learn more at lfldallas.org
Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.
We built an ark in the Tenth Street Historic District. Inspired by Noah Street, named for Noah Penn, one of the neighborhood’s pioneers and a founder of Greater El Bethel Baptist Church, the Ark consists of a superstructure of reclaimed and salvaged materials from the neighborhood built around a 20-foot shipping container and displayed at 1127 E 10th St (at the corner of Noah St and Cliff St behind Greater El Bethel Baptist Church). The Ark on Noah Street was the first project completed as a part of Activating Vacancy in the Tenth Street Historic District. Envisioned by artists Christopher Blay and constructed with help from neighborhood residents, the Ark was opened during a festival on March 1st, 2014.
During the festival commemorating the Ark, its interior was transformed into a gallery of collages of family and institutional narratives created by local community members, brought in a processional to the Ark. Following the festival, the Ark will remain on display for 40 days and 40 nights. When disassembled, the Ark will be stored within the container to be resurrected as part of a yearly ritual. The metaphor of the Ark represents the neighborhood and its families and institutions as a vessel for culture and memory and its annual resurrection as a means for celebrating the place’s journey across the years.
Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.
After several months of engagement and planning Activating Vacancy in the Tenth Street Historic District is ready to launch. The 16 artists originally selected for the initiative have taken part in three engagement activities lead by members of the community; the first was a social and bbq intended to get people talking and sharing stories, the second was a neighborhood tour lead by community members to important historical sites including the Oak Cliff Cemetery, Greater El Bethel Baptist Church, and the N.W. Harllee Elementary School, and the final was a neighborhood launch where artists started to share their ideas. Following these engagements 11 artists continued and create project proposals with input from the community and curatorial committees.
In the end teams of artists proposed 6 projects including; the Ark on Noah St., Story Corners, Dear House, Ghost Bridges, the Show Hill Biz Park, and the Tenth Street Sweep. Over the next 6 months check back to get details on the events and how you can participate! Many workshops, build days, and celebrations are sure to follow and will result in an amazing series of projects. We hope to see you there!
Learn more about our Informing work.
Dallas Heroes was initiated by bcWORKSHOP in recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King’s incredible legacy of service. Dr. King challenged us to build a more perfect union and taught us that everyone has a role to play. With the Dallas Heroes project, on January 20th we honored some of those who serve or have served locally by distributing "Dallas Heroes" trading cards across the city of Dallas. Our hope is that this advocacy will encourage you to honor your heroes and to engage the causes that you care about.
How were the 25 heroes chosen? For the First Edition we nominated our own local heroes, the people that have inspired us by striving to bring greater economic, social, and environmental justice to Dallas. They come from a wide range of causes, including civil rights, environmental justice, and the arts. There are many more heroes to honor - now we welcome your submissions for the Second Edition.
Why trading cards? They’re tangible, portable, collectible, and fun. We were inspired by vintage sports cards, and we believe our heroes can be celebrated in this form as well.
Where can I get a pack? This is a limited edition of 1,000 packs, distributed across the city. You can find locations posted on Twitter and Instagram (#dallasheroes). The cards will not be reprinted!
What can I do? Submit and share your Dallas heroes, either through the website www.dallasheroes.org, or through Twitter or Instagram (#dallasheroes). On the website you can also connect to the causes or organizations associated with some of the 25 heroes in this pack. We encourage you to find other local opportunities for volunteerism, advocacy, or donations.
When will the Second Edition come out? That all depends on you and the submissions we receive. Submit your heroes through www.dallasheroes.org for a chance to win a t-shirt featuring your Dallas Hero!
More questions? Give us a call at 214-252-2900, e-mail us at inform@bcworkshop.org or drop by our office at 416 S. Ervay Street!
Read more about our Shopfront Series.
Isaac Cohen shares his explorations of the Turtle Creek Corridor and how the layering of use, management, and development has created an urban landscape that provides highly variable and often unexpected experiences. Turtle Creek is often seen as a natural object within the urban fabric; as a visual backdrop to the activities of the city. In reality, Turtle Creek is a dynamic and highly manipulated urban waterway that supports a wide variety of recreational, economic, and ecological activity that reveals to us varied ways groups value and use a shared public space.
Join us in exploring the historic and contemporary use and development of Turtle Creek from the scale of the watershed to the development of George Kessler’s plan for the Turtle Creek Parkway.
