Erasure? Conversations on Graffiti (+updates)

[ghazaleh]

ERASURE? Conversations On Graffiti

Is graffiti art or crime? Vandalism or beautification? What is the connection between gang related activities and graffiti culture? What is good graffiti and what is bad? These are questions we'd like to address at the first large scale project of TheStoreFront Community that will take place on Saturday September 20. Property owners around the GTA, a few in our own neighbourhood of Bloorcourt and Bloordale Village, have been ordered by the City to remove commissioned art / graffiti from their properties. We would like to build dialogue on this issue with an exhibit, neighbourhood tour, discussion and interactive pieces to collect information from the public. Through documentation of our event we want to make a mark as TheStoreFront Community, measure our collective power and put our communication strength to the test with an issue that affects the urban landscape.

Do you know of similar occurrences with graffiti erasure around Toronto? Take a picture, mark the location and bring it into TheStoreFront Community. If you are a graffiti artist, know of talented graffiti artists, have knowledge, resources and connections, help us make this event a powerful collective voice for the public and the city to act upon. Come to our regular meetings on Tuesdays at 6:30 or send us an email with your interest for getting involved and any links you may have.

Submissions for our graffiti exhibitions begin now. Deadline is Tuesday September 9 at 9:00 PM.
We have a massive space ready to be transformed.

Also Need volunteers to help out with the event.

Contact us:
[e-mail]

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Movie Nights Thursdays at 9:00 PM
At the back of TheStoreFront – projecting on wall out in the alleyway

Starting this week with: Refugees of the Blue Planet
http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=54349

Description:

“Each year, millions of people the world over are driven to forced displacement. From the Maldives to Brazil, and even closer to home, here in Canada, the disturbing accounts of people who have been uprooted are amazingly similar. The enormous pressure placed on rural populations as a result of the degradation of their life-supporting environment is driving them increasingly further from their way of life. The Refugees of the Blue Planet sheds light on the little-known plight of a category of individuals who are suffering the repercussions of this reality: environmental refugees. They are constantly growing in number and often have no legal status, even though their right to a clean and sustainable environment has been violated. In French with English subtitles.”

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Next meeting Tuesday August 12 at 6:30

Keith Rushton (Chair Graphic Design) and Bruce Hinds (Chair, Environmental Design) and Rafael Gomez founder of ThinkTankToronto and Economics professor from Glendon (UofT in January) will attend the meeting as well to talk about the institutional support and research integration in the fall. They would like to also hear the ideas that we have so they can find ways to integrate into their classrooms and find support for implementing them as projects. Very casual like the last two weeks, we take notes on brown paper and then type them up. As the meetings grow we’ll grow too in our structure.

Also Javid Alibhai Youth Outreach Coordinator from Chrsitie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre will be attending to talk about the graffiti program they have.
Scott Mills, the officer who runs the Crime Stoppers graffiti program (watch video on front page) has shown a lot of interest in our project. Connections are growing — we need all the support we can get to make this event successful.

Please feel free to treat this like a potluck. Bringing food and sharing is always fun. =)

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More info on TheStoreFront Community (website is under construction)

TheStoreFront Community is a studio, research lab and meeting place in a neighbourhood's business district. Our mission is to collect and analyze information, collaborate on the execution of ideas that connect people in the community through a better appreciation of art, culture and sustainable design.


Our projects are about:
• Exploring opportunities for building community
• Looking at problems constructively
• Tackling issues from multiple viewpoints
• Connecting people and resources
• Strengthening the community for all stakeholders
• Enriching creativity and diversity

Three project types:

1. Large projects
• Focus on upcoming event for majority of meetings’ time
• Open for leaders to organize future events
• Take at least one month to organize
• Involve a lot of people and many talents used from the studio
• Involve the community in larger discussion
• Exposure to issues at stake
• Larger, well planned and promoted events, themed exhibits or related artwork, with guest speakers and special activities
• Focusing on larger issues by connecting with groups and organizations, for example:
- Graffiti event (currently planned for September 20)
- Biking event
- Music related event
- Greening education
- Highschool Art event
- Ethnic Culture event
- TABIA event
- Themed Art shows
- OCAD shows

2. Small projects / Regular events (operation details below)
• Can be planned and done in a couple of weeks
• Can be individual or group projects i.e. interactive sound installation or performances
• Nice and intimate, bringing back to local community and celebrating its uniqueness.
• Small and spontaneous events
• Examples:
- Pot-luck dinners/community lunches
- Pot-luck music nights
- Bike-fix nights/workshops
- Arts and crafts community evening
- Craft workshops
- Poetry reading nights
- Movie nights
- Issues night: everybody speaks their mind about what they think needs fixing in the neighborhood
- Kids nights – reading series, arts and crafts, socio-enviro
- Green tips event
- Interactive sound installation or performances


3. On-going projects
• Involve efforts over longer period of time
• Can involve efforts connecting to City departments
• Can involve OCAD classrooms / thesis projects / independent studies
• Can involve students, faculty and classrooms from various fields of study in other elementary schools / middle schools / high schools / colleges / universities
• Involve in depth-research and collection of information and ideas
• Examples:
- Community identity research project
- Community photo-album project
- Neighbourhood Documentaries
- Building databases of local resources / services


We are proud sponsors of community events:
Can provide design services for promotions

Examples:
BIG on Bloor Festival
The Delawares Street Party
Afri Village Fest

Please contact me for more information.


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Ghazaleh Etezal

Director, TheStoreFront on BloorW
http://thestorefrontcommunity.com

BIA Zone Research Coordinator, ThinkTankToronto
http://thinktanktoronto.com

Design + Communications, BIG Festival
http://bigonbloor.com

647-261-5201
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