ANNUAL Introduction | 2 REPORT Practice | 4 Deepen | 18 Financials | 27 2017 - 2018 Partners & Supporters | 28 The Laundromat Project 1 INTRODUCTION DEAR FRIENDS, How might we build an arts organization that moves with WHO WE ARE intention? How might we collaborate with artists and neighbors to facilitate lasting change? The Laundromat Project advances artists and Asking heartfelt questions, and listening deeply to voices in our community was especially gratifying in 2017 and neighbors as change agents 2018, years of transition to a new strategic vision at The Laundromat Project (The LP). Insights from our commu- in their own communities. nities in Brooklyn, Harlem, and the South Bronx informed our people-powered process as well. As the world around us shifts, we need to engage change. When the communities where we live and work are experiencing pronounced uncertainty around citi- zenship, race, and belonging, we need to reflect upon our work and reconsider our practices. We are obliged We envision a world in to ask what it means to be an organization that centers on people of color. We must interrogate our approaches which artists and neighbors to art and community as catalysts for change. Through in communities of color rigorously practicing and deepening our work, we better understand how to shape a world in which members feel work together to unleash truly connected and have the ability to influence their the power of creativity to communities in creative and effective ways. transform lives. This is where strategic visioning comes in. During this generative period, artists, neighbors, peer organizations, supporters, staff, and board weighed in on how The LP should evolve as an organization. The conversations were both intensely collaborative and propelled by love, which we value as a radical and essential act of power. We are excited about the stories we share and the lega- newsstand. cies we uphold because of your support. We look forward VALUES to the next stages of our organizational development with • Nurture Creativity you as our partner and remain forever grateful. Thank you • Be POC-Centered for making art, building community, and creating change The News We with us. • Create Change In Light and Love, • Value Place • Write Our Own Histories • Be Propelled by Love Curtis Young, Board Chair Kemi Ilesanmi, Executive Director 2 The Laundromat Project Participant reads zine from Lizania Cruz’s The Laundromat Project 3 PRACTICE Create Change Residents participate in Storyfolks: Storytelling for Self and Community Care, organized by Abby Dobson and Candace Williams, 2017 Bed-Stuy Fellows. Neighbors create self portraits during 2017 Artist-in-Residence Ahmed Tijay Mohammed Ubuntu workshop. CREATE CHANGE In our flagship artist development program, Create Change, we challenged applicants to “Throughout this program, I realized address sanctuary, an issue of heightened concern in that this is my passion work, being The LP community and in the nation and the world at able to bridge organizing, community, large. It was our first-ever focal theme. and arts and culture together in my own city. I believe in this work, and The 39 members of the 2017 and 2018 Create I am excited to envision how to dig Change cohorts—two commissioned artists, ten roots deeper into the ground and how artists-in-residence, and 27 fellows—proved that a we will expand into the sky. compelling theme can galvanize artists working for Ingrid Romero, 2017 social justice. These artists taught us that sanctuary is Create Change Fellow. a practice, not just a space, and that creating sanc- tuary exposes complexities and tensions that merit sustained consideration. 4 The Laundromat Project Housing Not Warehousing! neighborhood walk with Picture the Homeless and Rude Mechanical Orchestra. Harlem Field-Day, 2017. The Laundromat Project 5 PRACTICE 2017 Commissions Projects Olaronke Akinmowo Black August Cocoon (Bed-Stuy) Black August Cocoon honored Black August—an annual celebration of the African revolutionary struggle in the Americas—via month-long trainings and rituals. Over the course of the month, Black women, femmes and gender nonconforming people gathered together to grow, create, connect and find peace and safety within their own body. Community members partook in weekly self-defense, body positive and self-affirmation classes that incorporated art making, book discussions, writing, and zine making. Community Partner: Brooklyn Movement Center. The Black School Presents: The Bandanna Quite Performance. Harlem Field Day, 2017. CREATE CHANGE COMMISSIONS, RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIP Sue Jeong Ka ID Shop: Round Robin More resources—in the form of increased artist (Chinatown) stipends, production budgets, and enhanced The Create Change Program changed training curricula—deepen the impact an art- “the way I see myself as an artist. It ID Shop: Round Robin was a partnership ist-development program has on the participating with Hamilton-Madison House/Alfred allowed me to believe and see that my E. Smith Houses in Two Bridges/ artists as well as the communities with which practice can have an impact on shaping Chinatown (Manhattan), to create– artists collaborate. better spaces for our community. alongside local residents–the first ever trilingual newspaper (Chinese, Spanish, Lizania Cruz, 2017 Create Change and English). The project began as a Depth over breadth in engagement also shines a Artist-in-Residence. series of hands-on zine workshops for light on the dynamism and diversity of artists of teens, and culminated in Round Robin color who practice community-based art. That’s a Newspaper, a publication featuring wonderful thing. It enables The LP to power-up its local artists, workshop participants, scholars, and workers from the Houses. investment in multiracial, multigenerational, and The community-focused newspaper multidisciplinary art making, community building, project created a civic forum that and leadership development. brought together participants from the neighborhood to discuss shared cross- racial issues of concern such as the state of public housing and immigration. Community Partner: Hamilton- Madison House. 6 The Laundromat Project The Laundromat Project 7 PRACTICE 2017 Residency Projects 2018 Residency Projects Joseph Cuillier Zeelie Brown The Black School Rose Petal Refuge: Mental Wellness (Harlem) Workshops for Queer & Trans* People of Color Inspired by community-run schools (Harlem) founded throughout Black American history, The Black School: Harlem In Rose Petal Refuge, Soulscapes is an experimental art school that act as spaces of sanctuary for queer combines art-making workshops with and trans* people of color, upholding presentations and group discussions on spirit, self-love and emotional wellness. radical Black political theory. During the During the course of the project, healing Create Change residency, The Black and mental wellness workshops took School: Harlem took up residence in place inside each installation and Brotherhood/Sister Sol where visiting incorporated sensory experiences using artists taught art-making techniques herbs, aromatherapy, taste, and guided such as creative writing, screen printing, meditation. In addition, each Soulscape collage, photography, and other forms featured pairings of bleach paintings– of image-making. Community Partner: serving as subtle delineations of space Brotherhood/Sister Sol. for collective engagement and action– along with custom-made music to set the intimacy of each workshop. Community Partners: Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, Swale. Ahmed Tijay Mohammed Sal Muñoz Ubuntu – I am because we are Yes, Femme! A Community Space for (Hunts Point/Longwood) Femmes of Color (Brooklyn) The African proverb “ubuntu (uu- boon-tuu, Nguni-Bantu),” meaning Yes, Femme! A Community Space humanity towards others, serves as for Femmes of Color, is an extension the cornerstone for Tijay Mohammed’s of Sal’s ongoing multifaceted series, residency project, Ubuntu – I am The FEMME Project, which features because we are. Anchored in West photographs and interviews with femmes African culture and traditions, the project of color. The body of work confronts the focused attention on the South Bronx erasure of trans and cis femmes of color connection to migration and created a while giving them space to articulate their gathering space to celebrate women, identity in their own words. The project particularly those living within the included a convening of femmes of color community. Primarily using African wax throughout New York City to celebrate fabric and incorporating other assorted femininity via interactive activities materials and objects, participants and a curated meal. The launch of an created mixed-media portraits in tribute exhibition of The FEMME Project at to loved ones, neighbors and other Mayday Space (Brooklyn) complemented women in their lives. Community the convenings and shared private Partners: Mothers on The Move, community-building experiences with the African Life Center & ArchCare Senior greater public. Community Partners: Life. Brooklyn Museum, Mayday Space. The Laundromat Project 9 PRACTICE 2018 Residency Projects (cont’d) Leslie Jimenez A World Inside Drawing (Harlem) Throughout the course of her LP residency, versions of the drawings, as interpreted Leslie facilitated a series of collaborative by the artist. A World Inside Drawing art-making workshops with families in the celebrates community members and Sugar Hill section of Harlem. During