HARLEM, NEW YORK: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Akiva Steinmetz-Silber Email: [email protected] | Office: 718-574-0798 | Mobile: 917-657-2504 The Laundromat Project Announces Inaugural Field Day, a Festival of Neighborhoods Join The Laundromat Project (The LP) on September 21st, 2013 from 12 to 5 PM for the first annual Field Day, a festival celebrating neighborhood-based arts and culture in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Harlem, and Hunts Point. Organized by artists enrolled in The LP’s Professional Development Fellowship—part of its flagship Create Change program—Field Day will highlight the rich spectrum of local arts and cultural work already embedded in these three neighborhoods by means of creative collaborations between artists, community members, and local organizations led by The LP. Each neighborhood will feature fun and unique workshops and activities at multiple sites, free of charge and designed for festival-goers of all ages. Check in at one of our three neighborhood hubs: Bed-Stuy: Marmy’s Laundromat, 197 Malcolm X Blvd. (corner of Putnam Ave.) Harlem: The Laundry Room, 143 West 116th St. (between Lenox Ave & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd) Hunts Point: Bronx Auto Glass, 901 Hunts Point Ave. (sidewalk at Hunts Point & Garrison Ave) Upon arriving at the hub, visitors will receive a map and details on where to find the afternoon's workshops and activities, which will include designing neighborhood-themed tote bags, a micro film festival, walking tours, face painting, street naming games, storytelling, jewelry making, and more. Each of the 2013 Create Change artists-in-residence will also be offering workshops and activities based showcasing their laundromat-based public art projects: Mapping Soulville with Aisha Cousins (Bed-Stuy); The People’s Laundromat Theater with Shani Peters (Harlem); and A Portrait of the Block as Community with Art Jones (Hunts Point). While each neighborhood will feature laundromat-based art workshops and spotlight laundromatbased residency projects, other activities will vary depending on location, focusing on each area's local artistic flavor and cultural history: in Harlem, a series of pop-up performances along Lenox Ave, from 116th to 130th Street, will present the stories of neighborhood residents using a range of media— including chalk murals, theater, dance, film, and spoken word. In Bed-Stuy, artist Adeola Enigbokan, together with Create Change Fellows, will offer participants a chance to explore and create new rental leases as a vehicle for transforming relationships between neighbors and landlords. And in Hunts Point, a guided tour of the area's legendary murals and graffiti art by Carey Clark, Visual Arts Director at The Point CDC, will offer visitors a detailed view of how local artists and activists are using creative means to respond to social and environmental challenges and inequities. Many more activities are planned, and more information will be available via The LP’s website prior to the event. Field Day is conceived as an annual festival. It will be the first public event intentionally connecting all of The LP's programs, and offering Professional Development Fellows a platform for collaboratively developing community-responsive public programming. This emphasis on collaboration reflects The LP’s vision that artists can serve as valuable connectors and creative catalysts while leveraging a wide range of creative assets and drawing on the often untapped creativity already embedded in neighborhoods. In keeping with The LP’s commitment to broadening access to the arts for New Yorkers living on modest incomes, all Field Day programs will be offered free of charge. For more info on Field Day, or to volunteer, visit http://laundromatproject.snappages.com/field-day.htm

About The Laundromat Project Mission Incorporated in 2005, The Laundromat Project is a community-based non-profit arts organization committed to the well-being of people of color living on modest incomes. Understanding that creativity is a central component of healthy human beings, vibrant neighborhoods, and thriving economies—we bring art, artists, and arts programming to where our neighbors already are: the local laundromat. In this way, we aim to raise the quality of life in the communities where we live and work. Core Programs & Partnerships Create Change is an annual public artist residency and professional development program designed to support artists seeking to deepen or develop a socially-engaged creative practice. Through Create Change, we commission 3-6 artists of color a year to mount public art projects in their local laundries and invite 15 additional artists of all backgrounds to participate in a professional development series tailored to making socially-engaged work. Works in Progress focuses on community-centered art education through hands-on workshops and public programs at local laundromats and other community spaces. The focus of Works in Progress is to make art education more readily available in our communities–regardless of income, age, or background. We believe it is a basic human right to use our imaginations in service of a better life. In 2013-2014, we will be focusing on three neighborhood initiatives: 1) With the American Promise documentary team, we are developing an arts-based curriculum focused on education equity in Bedford-Stuyvesant; 2) with the Majora Carter Group, we are creating a vibrant neighborhood arts campaign around the theme of sustainability and community resilience in Hunts Point, the Bronx; and 3) building on our long-term presence, we will continue our work in Harlem. Current Supporters A Blade of Grass, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, David Rockefeller Fund, EILEEN FISHER, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Materials for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Community Trust, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, The Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund, the Theo Westenberger Estate, the Union Square Art Awards, and many individual donors. Laundromat Partners: Clean Rite Centers, Fulton Street Laundry, Marmy Laundromat, Inc., The Laundry Room, and Lucky Laundromat. ###