ReportBacks
- Julia B. Wilson
- Round Table discussion
- Rad Arts
- Banner Making – Thursday Night
- Artist Union
- Workers Center
- West indie parade
- S17- Sat, Wash Sq park.
Arts & Labor
Meeting Minutes
September 11, 2012
Facilitation: BR / Minutes: AS
AG, KP, BW, AB, BR, TJ, AS, LP
Started out talking, as individuals, about how we felt given the 1 yr anniversary, our experiences looking back and looking forward.
ReportBacks
Julia B. Wilson
BW- talked about craft, short, new people there. Excited to hear new voices. Felt like it could have lead to some projects. Many disciplines represented and brought much information to the talk.
LP – Good idea to do a follow up for a discussion possibly of the reading. Will be interested in helping to facilitate. BR – suggest to contact LW
Round Table discussion
BR – AS MS are thinking to bring people in many roles and positions to come together to discuss in relation to the capitalist system. October 25th. At Urban Housing Works.
Rad Arts Report Back
BW – Rad Arts is bringing material to Washing SQ Park on S17.. Not much else has happened in the Rad Arts Group. Meeting Friday 2pm, @BW space can be opened up for working on visuals.
Banner Making – Thursday Night
LP – Strike Debt is making banners at EFA, open to A&L for banner making. Thursday noon also doing a trip to Materials for the Arts, if anyone needs to come along or send a wish list.
BW- Can the space be used Friday? – LP- Friday afternoon maybe o.k., just need to double check with EFA. Space is big and open, come see what’s possible.
Artist Union
TJ – K.R.O. Is coming to New York, Swedish Union. Wants to bring her to the group. Hoping to organize something for the group. She is also going to meet other unions for her research. LP and BR would like to help out.
Workers Center Reports back
KP – and AS meet with the taxi works alliance, setting up meeting with other worker centers in NYC and are seeing how the work. Meeting soon with lawyer for undocumented workers. Meeting with ___________ to understand how to organize within the arts since we are all very diverse.
BW- interesting to here about all these workers can organize workers centers.
KP- how I see it is that they (taxi workers alliance) focus on problems, build a campaign, and then gather support from it. Also they have reach into politics, politicians that help assist in the cause. We can follow their lead for a bit.
BW- they are in the model of submitting grievances and they work on them.
TJ – not sure if this is off topic. Feels like the artist are the problem with organizing a union. Something I think we need to convince that unions are in their interest.
AB – This art world is within capitalistic and individualistic, me, me ,me. Art school is a solitary project. Collectivism is coming in style. All people are art workers wat ever they do, and we are all contributing to this system.
LP- I agree, but I also think we need to build education into this project.. As individual training, atomizing can make people very vulnerable. Seem that this is amplified in art. Have people see the benefit each other via teach-ins.
AB – I thought the movement would bring in all the radicals but its business as usual.
Report back on the West indie parade
BW- Joined in the TWA float at the West Indian parade. As soon as we unrolled the Occupy Wall Street banner and cops made them put it away and then they tried to kettle them. They would not talk to them. 30 cops surrounded the 15 occupy people. Libertarians we allowed to march.
S17
Sat, Wash Sq park.
10:30 start – Folk festival will be in the park, working together. Teachings, shirt making will be in the park. Tables are o.k. but maybe best not to.
Side announcement at Sat -2-4pm, Labor Alliance meeting, does A&L want to be there?
Sun. Foley Sq.
10:30 – March to the concert at Foley Sq. Permit concert 1-6pm. Open structure to schedule day of, just come. Sunday night is supposed to be a march.
Monday 7am. Meeting in various locations before hand. Soft block wall street and various locations. Some groups are secret, some are open. Call to dress business. Many direct action trainings sessions. How to plug in.
AB – These meeting are good to learn about how to deal with the police. Tactics on how to go limp to prevent injury.
BR- Check Google group.
AS- Bike Block – 6am Seward Park, Essex and Canal. For breakfast bikers, and prepare for the day.
BR – Debt square project, basically “quilting project to have people visualize their debt, lots of fabric, to sew and discuss debt in both positive and negative connotation of it.
BW – Do it both days? Nervous about cops finding reason to clear stuff out. Sunday is permitted safer to bring table. Willing to bottomline being there for both days
BR – Positive thing about Sunday is that it gives us more time to get our act together
AB – Cool if strike debt and A+L could be in the same vicinity.
BR – Sure we can figure it out.
AB – Strike Debt Monday lower SE Manhattan and come up, training on Thursday is open, will know more after that. Went to S17 Spokes council was only A&L person so went with Strike Debt. Don’t know what the plan is yet
BR – On Monday want to be able to run around.
AB – Strike Debt planning theatrics in the street, leaving banners, boulders, temporary blockaids.
BW – Part of blockaid on N17 cop interaction, scary.
RH – Have the map, preliminary plan, copies of the schedule, some things will change. Not online yet but will be made public. Main thing is people coming to affinity group training, want as many people to come to these leading up to S17. Want people to have their own agency, four zones are set up.
AB – Spokescouncil was one way to form affinity groups. If A&L wanted to be an affinity group if they could
AS – Supposed to be prepping debt squares. Have a meeting this Friday. Getting materials ready, people won’t have huge attention span.
BR – Bring debt squares to EFA on Thursday.
BW – Can meet BR in the morning and help load things in the car and meeting later at EFA. Whatever time works can meet.
BR – Would be good to have one space to all be together.
AB – Would anybody be interested in me facilitating an email between some of these people and Strike Debt. Will do that so we can coordinate. Will do that tonight.
CP – Do you think Monday will be family friendly?
BW – Yes, not around Wall Street, but elsewhere. Greenspaces.
RH – Big thing is assemblies in the evening, not sure if that is figured out yet.
BW – All actions done on Monday by 11:30-noonish.
RH – Will reconvene to have lunch at Ferry Terminal.
BW – Another assembly in the works for a long time that LB and Mark were working on. A place for people to come together to feel supported and have project breakout groups together and connect people, to kick off, here’s all the different ways you can plug in. Push back because it was named after an anarchist figure, a lot of push back from union members that that made it exclusionary. Due to lack of communication they put together their own general assembly in Zuccotti. Working with lawyers, fighting to get it opened back up for Monday. Unfortunately both of these happen at exactly same time. They have now dropped the name, very iffy if Zuccotti thing will work. Trying to merge them. Idea is to make it a safe space. No reoccupations, we all know how that ends
PC – Some people want to try and do that.
BW – Want to bring out birthday cake.
AS – Question, are we making any announcement, do we go to our old list and tell people have to find us or more within our own working group. How public do we want ourselves to be? Don’t have a preference, just asking.
BW – Good to have people know.
RH – We should use the opportunity to communicate to everyone, why it is important for us to be in the street on that day, what is at stake. The power we have is to help rally. Helping to publicize that info.
BR – Seems like we need a website post and email blast. We could send that out if we could get it together.
AB – Good to coordinate with other groups and see where they will be situated. Good to go to one of these spokes. Only other one is Friday spokes council to give a sense of what is where.
BR – What if we could commit to a group of us getting together on Saturday morning to plan and can communicate to the group.
AS – Most people don’t already know what these three days are going to look like. Basic info and language, getting that out is useful. Get our basic info out on Facebook, fast posting, we are here now. Saturday morning might be so crazy.
BW – Labor outreach said they would send something.
BR – Sam is here form labor outreach.
BW – Let’s wait and see what they have done and maybe adapt for art specific stuff.
S – We have stuff we are tying to do an would like to invite you guys too. Because this is a big thing that will be chaotic we’re not trying to be comprehensive. Not so much for Saturday but Sunday. Trying to meet around 2pm to do a labor themed assembly. People into targeting labor-specific spots. Monday 7am meet up points at William Street and Fulton at Fulton 2,3 subway stop. Also a labor affinity group which will meet somewhere else through 99 pickets. They are proposing to meet at transit spot and at 1 or 1:30 trying to meet to organize 26 Federal Plaza near Foley Square. I am tasked with sending out an email about all of those things. Would you guys like something that talks more about what is going on in OWS in general? What do you want out of an email
AS – Very basic info and one way to find up to date information. I think
S – If you guys are thinking about one place for an A&L meeting could include that in an email. By Friday are going to have to finalize that. Would like to get info tomorrow, wanted to write the email up so need to know by tomorrow night if there is something specific for artists. Don’t know what Sunday looks like, it will be a bit confusing but it will all be in Foley Square I think. The advantage that day is having it all in one place.
BW – Framework on S17 website already.
BR – Cool for us to be part of the labor quadrant. Is there one?
RH – 99% is closest then.
BR – (reading from email) 99 Pickets, Strand Workers and others going to meet for targets for morning hurricane. I’d like to be aligned with labor folks.
AS – Agree.
BR – It’s 9pm. Some people need to go. Do we want to decide now what we are doing. The content of an email blast, do we decide it tonight.
AB – Yes, something general should go out to our big list incase they don’t know.
BR – That would include debt squares, call for the square. Do we want to do them on Sat and Sun or just Sun.
BW – Willing to say I’ll there on both days.
BR – We can do them for a few hours, so people can participate in other things.
AS – It’s so volatile, more important to get the works out, not an announcement of that project, just saying it is happening. General schedule is most useful.
BR – Include trainings too that Marissa sent out.
BW – Sent out general S17 overview but not the more labor-centric one. We are supposed to get that tomorrow.
BR – Should we compile the info we already have and commit to participating in 99% labor. All info already in our thread.
BR – Who is going to work on this email?
AB – Can help edit if I get a draft.
CP – I can help with that.
AB – Great to get a draft together by tomorrow night.
AS – I would help but I don’t know what is going on.
RH – Should link to main website since some info is still in flux.
AB – Do we still have Art Strike banner. Iconic, from May Day, we could have that and bring it.
AS – Has another world is possible banner, found it.
TJ – Has additional signs in his kitchen
RH – The more visuals we can put out the better.
BR – Can do this in a Google Doc, someone just needs to start it.
AS – I can start a structure tomorrow.
TJ – Give me a meeting point and I can bring the signs.
R – Don’t know if people got this but can find out info 23559 text at S17 nyc. People will be getting report backs and centralizing info on the ground. Look for those people.
BR – As many of us can we should get to the Friday meeting.
AB – Strike debt has people and resources, needs support from people with more visual knowledge. Will coordinate email to those interested. Okay to mention.
BW – Her studio is available until late on Friday night.
LP – Will try to coordinate EFA for Friday night, might make things easier to centralize there.
AS – Jake will help make calendar.
BW – Might be dance party pop up on Saturday.
AS – For our banners need to ask Catherine if there are more long tubes. The reason we were so visible was because they were so tall
AB – Good that they are hollow.
AS – How big is the banner strike debt wants to make? There are many they are trying to make. Big one but might not try to do that in only two days.
RH – Big ask for people if you can’t be there but want to support these are the things we need, helpful to include that too.
BW – If I can find the link will forward that too. They were writing it, not sure if they have it yet.
Meeting finished.