The Utah Phillips Centre
Donation protected
Hey buddy, spare some change?
The Utah Phillips Centre for the Hobo Arts -- named after legengary folk singer, poet, labour organizer, beardy bad-ass, and fellow member of the IWW, Utah Phillips -- is the union hall of SLOW, the Street Labourers Of Windsor. We are members of the Industrial Workers of the World and we organize folks in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, who make all or part of their living on the street: buskers, scrappers, panhandlers, security guards, and others. We are located at 956 Tecumseh Rd. East in the storefront of what used to be a factory in a century-old building. We've spent months and thousands of dollars pooled from our own pockets to renovate the space, which had been empty for a decade, stretching our money by doing all the work ourselves.
(Our storefront with its temporary sign. The windows have seen better days and will need replacing. )
We're proud of what we've accomplished with so little, and the space is now open and operating! But there's still a lot of work to do, and so much more we can be doing with the space if we can raise the money to do it.
(Here's a shot of the front of the storefront with its comfy couches and basement rec room aesthetic.)
We want to be responsible citizens of Windsor, and to give back to the city which is so good to us, so we open our doors to the general public four days a week and offer free coffee and snacks along with a place to socialize. Our busker members offer free music classes to anyone who wants to learn to busk, and we act as a drop-off for anyone with a used musical instrument gathering dust in a closet so that we can give it to the busker hopefuls who need one. We also have a fully-stocked crafting station where we teach people how to make traditional hobo art like spoon rings and walking sticks.
(Another shot of the storefront, this time looking forward from the back. The coffee urn is always hot and full for visitors. At the far end you can see our lunch counter.)
In addition to the storefront, there's a large meeting space in back which we plan to offer free of charge to any group or individual who wants to use it. The floor needed work (there were actual holes in it), so we bought and laid down a new wood underlayment. Sadly, we ran out of money before we could buy carpeting.
(Here's the meeting space. It's large enough to hold 50 people. We made the table out of wood salvaged from an IKEA bed donated to us by a neighbour. Eventually we hope to have a large stock of folding card tables which can be arranged as required for maximum versatility. That unpainted wall is becoming a feature wall made from wood recovered from old shipping pallets. You can see the humble nucleus of what will become our reading library.)
(Looking forward in the same meeting space. We recently had some ceiling tiles donated to fill in those empty spaces in the drop ceiling.)
We want this space to be sustainable over the long term, and that means figuring out ways to make the space pay for itself without interfering in its role as a free organizing and socializing space for both ourselves and the community. To do that we'll allow street artisans to put their crafts for sale in the storefront (the store gets 25%, they keep 75%). We also plan to get a couple of vending machines with both a variety of snacks and meeting supplies such as pens and stationery for the convenience of people using the meeting space and a small, regular revenue stream for us.
We need the financial help of generous folks to get this place fully functional, but we've put a lot of thought into how to keep it going over the long haul. The space is a little rough around the edges, but that's okay -- so are we.
Here's a partial list of changes we're planning to make if we can get a little help from some friends in getting this thing really moving:
* Vending machines to make the space sustainable.
* A full bathroom with shower and bath so visiting travellers from out of town can wash the grime off their necks.
* Glass-topped display cases so we can feature the work of lots of street artisans.
* Complete sound-proofing for the meeting space so we can have musical performances without bothering the neighbours.
* Carpet tile as a cost-efficient way to help deaden noise.
* Another 25 matching banquet chairs (we have 25 already) to allow us to fully utilize our big meeting space.
* A full-size 14'x2' sign for the light-box above the store.
* A wall mural of Utah Phillips commissioned from a local artist to help brighten the place and to celebrate the man whose life and music are an inspiration to those of us who still keep the hobo traditions of road, rail, and dusty street alive.
Thank you, folks, for anything you can contribute. The city of Windsor, like its haggard sister Detroit across the river, is going through some hard times. This is very fertile soil for the seeds of grassroots labour organizing and any resources you can contribute will flourish and grow into something much larger. If you can afford it, a small monthly donation of $5 or $10 will help us a great deal in smoothing over unanticipated expenses and unforseen emergencies after our big fundraising push is over.
A sampling of the largely positive national media coverage we've received so far:
CBC: New Windsor union includes city's panhandlers and buskers , Street Labourers of Windsor setting up union hall on Tecumseh Road
National Post: Windsor’s panhandlers and street performers unionize for ‘rights everyone else has’
Vice: Windsor Panhandlers Want to Unionize
“The big system can be pretty overwhelming. We know that we can’t beat them by competing with them. What we can do is build small systems where we live and work that serve our needs as we define us and not as they ‘re defined for us. The big boys in their shining armor are up there on castle walls hurling their thunderbolts. We’re the ants patiently carrying sand a grain at a time from under the castle wall. We work from the bottom up. The knights up there don’t see the ants and don’t know what we’re doing. They’ll figure it out only when the wall begins to fall. It takes time and quiet persistence. Always remember this: They fight with money and we resist with time, and they’re going to run out of money before we run out of time” -- Utah Phillips
The Utah Phillips Centre for the Hobo Arts -- named after legengary folk singer, poet, labour organizer, beardy bad-ass, and fellow member of the IWW, Utah Phillips -- is the union hall of SLOW, the Street Labourers Of Windsor. We are members of the Industrial Workers of the World and we organize folks in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, who make all or part of their living on the street: buskers, scrappers, panhandlers, security guards, and others. We are located at 956 Tecumseh Rd. East in the storefront of what used to be a factory in a century-old building. We've spent months and thousands of dollars pooled from our own pockets to renovate the space, which had been empty for a decade, stretching our money by doing all the work ourselves.
(Our storefront with its temporary sign. The windows have seen better days and will need replacing. )
We're proud of what we've accomplished with so little, and the space is now open and operating! But there's still a lot of work to do, and so much more we can be doing with the space if we can raise the money to do it.
(Here's a shot of the front of the storefront with its comfy couches and basement rec room aesthetic.)
We want to be responsible citizens of Windsor, and to give back to the city which is so good to us, so we open our doors to the general public four days a week and offer free coffee and snacks along with a place to socialize. Our busker members offer free music classes to anyone who wants to learn to busk, and we act as a drop-off for anyone with a used musical instrument gathering dust in a closet so that we can give it to the busker hopefuls who need one. We also have a fully-stocked crafting station where we teach people how to make traditional hobo art like spoon rings and walking sticks.
(Another shot of the storefront, this time looking forward from the back. The coffee urn is always hot and full for visitors. At the far end you can see our lunch counter.)
In addition to the storefront, there's a large meeting space in back which we plan to offer free of charge to any group or individual who wants to use it. The floor needed work (there were actual holes in it), so we bought and laid down a new wood underlayment. Sadly, we ran out of money before we could buy carpeting.
(Here's the meeting space. It's large enough to hold 50 people. We made the table out of wood salvaged from an IKEA bed donated to us by a neighbour. Eventually we hope to have a large stock of folding card tables which can be arranged as required for maximum versatility. That unpainted wall is becoming a feature wall made from wood recovered from old shipping pallets. You can see the humble nucleus of what will become our reading library.)
(Looking forward in the same meeting space. We recently had some ceiling tiles donated to fill in those empty spaces in the drop ceiling.)
We want this space to be sustainable over the long term, and that means figuring out ways to make the space pay for itself without interfering in its role as a free organizing and socializing space for both ourselves and the community. To do that we'll allow street artisans to put their crafts for sale in the storefront (the store gets 25%, they keep 75%). We also plan to get a couple of vending machines with both a variety of snacks and meeting supplies such as pens and stationery for the convenience of people using the meeting space and a small, regular revenue stream for us.
We need the financial help of generous folks to get this place fully functional, but we've put a lot of thought into how to keep it going over the long haul. The space is a little rough around the edges, but that's okay -- so are we.
Here's a partial list of changes we're planning to make if we can get a little help from some friends in getting this thing really moving:
* Vending machines to make the space sustainable.
* A full bathroom with shower and bath so visiting travellers from out of town can wash the grime off their necks.
* Glass-topped display cases so we can feature the work of lots of street artisans.
* Complete sound-proofing for the meeting space so we can have musical performances without bothering the neighbours.
* Carpet tile as a cost-efficient way to help deaden noise.
* Another 25 matching banquet chairs (we have 25 already) to allow us to fully utilize our big meeting space.
* A full-size 14'x2' sign for the light-box above the store.
* A wall mural of Utah Phillips commissioned from a local artist to help brighten the place and to celebrate the man whose life and music are an inspiration to those of us who still keep the hobo traditions of road, rail, and dusty street alive.
Thank you, folks, for anything you can contribute. The city of Windsor, like its haggard sister Detroit across the river, is going through some hard times. This is very fertile soil for the seeds of grassroots labour organizing and any resources you can contribute will flourish and grow into something much larger. If you can afford it, a small monthly donation of $5 or $10 will help us a great deal in smoothing over unanticipated expenses and unforseen emergencies after our big fundraising push is over.
A sampling of the largely positive national media coverage we've received so far:
CBC: New Windsor union includes city's panhandlers and buskers , Street Labourers of Windsor setting up union hall on Tecumseh Road
National Post: Windsor’s panhandlers and street performers unionize for ‘rights everyone else has’
Vice: Windsor Panhandlers Want to Unionize
“The big system can be pretty overwhelming. We know that we can’t beat them by competing with them. What we can do is build small systems where we live and work that serve our needs as we define us and not as they ‘re defined for us. The big boys in their shining armor are up there on castle walls hurling their thunderbolts. We’re the ants patiently carrying sand a grain at a time from under the castle wall. We work from the bottom up. The knights up there don’t see the ants and don’t know what we’re doing. They’ll figure it out only when the wall begins to fall. It takes time and quiet persistence. Always remember this: They fight with money and we resist with time, and they’re going to run out of money before we run out of time” -- Utah Phillips
Organizer
Andrew Nellis
Organizer
Windsor, ON
