Sawubona Lab: Biker Boyz Bike Shop
Donation protected
The Learning Tree is an association of neighbors and arts collective that specializes in Asset Based Community Development (ABCD). We identify and invest in the individuals, organizations, and the community to see and celebrate the abundance in our neighborhood. Simply put, our neighbors are our business partners. We find the gifts and talents of our neighbors, and we organize around them. The Design Team are some of the artists, poets, photographers, videographers, and writers discovered within The Learning Tree’s neighborhood.
We’re gearing up for our Sawubona 46208 project (“Sawubona” is a Zulu greeting which means “I see you”). Beginning in February 2017, we will continue to assemble our Design Team around a series of meals to begin to layout specific timelines, best practices, and strategies. Beginning in May 2017, our lead writer would train and cultivate a staff of writers/poets from the neighborhood. We would collect and document stories and shape them into monologues and short plays. Stories of residents and their history with the neighborhood, stories of the impact of segregation. Stories of young men caught up in police sweeps and other police actions. Stories of incarceration. Stories of re-entry. Stories of finding themselves. Stories of survival and hope.
By September 2017, we would stage “pop up plays” staged on neighborhood porches, abandoned homes, and street corners (to highlight the conditions and gentrification of the neighborhood as well as reclaiming those spaces). We will partner with Spirit & Place to host special events.
Our lead videographer would train and cultivate a staff of filmographers from the neighborhood. They would film those plays (and the process of creating them). The plays are a way for us to facilitate and do discovery. When we stage the performances, we would also record the conversations that come out of the performances. The film will eventually creating a documentary on the story of the impact of incarceration on our community which we would eventually submit to the Heartland Film Festival.
We want to mine the stories of our residents and hear their ideas about how to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood. They are the experts. We will also take the video to the IUPUI School of Public Health, providing them grassroots data for them to analyze as we coordinate efforts to improve neighborhood health.
Our aim has always been about economic development for the neighborhood residents. We want to invest in them and provide economic opportunities for them. We want to build their financial portfolio, through employment and vocational opportunities. Our gatherings have produced tangible impact within the community. Through it, for example, one of our neighbors is on track to now secure their own house. One of our writers, who was sleeping in his car when we met him, ended up becoming roommates with another one of our residents (a man who was incarcerated and has a heart to mentor young men). We would stage specific performance and screenings for community stakeholders and institutions. We want to create opportunities, getting some of our residents in front of people they normally wouldn’t come in contact with so that people can share their mutual social capital, to share stories, and to build trust.
As such, the bulk of the investment will go toward paying our artists. Other costs associate with the project would include rent for space for rehearsal and the renting of equipment to stage the productions.
We’re gearing up for our Sawubona 46208 project (“Sawubona” is a Zulu greeting which means “I see you”). Beginning in February 2017, we will continue to assemble our Design Team around a series of meals to begin to layout specific timelines, best practices, and strategies. Beginning in May 2017, our lead writer would train and cultivate a staff of writers/poets from the neighborhood. We would collect and document stories and shape them into monologues and short plays. Stories of residents and their history with the neighborhood, stories of the impact of segregation. Stories of young men caught up in police sweeps and other police actions. Stories of incarceration. Stories of re-entry. Stories of finding themselves. Stories of survival and hope.
By September 2017, we would stage “pop up plays” staged on neighborhood porches, abandoned homes, and street corners (to highlight the conditions and gentrification of the neighborhood as well as reclaiming those spaces). We will partner with Spirit & Place to host special events.
Our lead videographer would train and cultivate a staff of filmographers from the neighborhood. They would film those plays (and the process of creating them). The plays are a way for us to facilitate and do discovery. When we stage the performances, we would also record the conversations that come out of the performances. The film will eventually creating a documentary on the story of the impact of incarceration on our community which we would eventually submit to the Heartland Film Festival.
We want to mine the stories of our residents and hear their ideas about how to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood. They are the experts. We will also take the video to the IUPUI School of Public Health, providing them grassroots data for them to analyze as we coordinate efforts to improve neighborhood health.
Our aim has always been about economic development for the neighborhood residents. We want to invest in them and provide economic opportunities for them. We want to build their financial portfolio, through employment and vocational opportunities. Our gatherings have produced tangible impact within the community. Through it, for example, one of our neighbors is on track to now secure their own house. One of our writers, who was sleeping in his car when we met him, ended up becoming roommates with another one of our residents (a man who was incarcerated and has a heart to mentor young men). We would stage specific performance and screenings for community stakeholders and institutions. We want to create opportunities, getting some of our residents in front of people they normally wouldn’t come in contact with so that people can share their mutual social capital, to share stories, and to build trust.
As such, the bulk of the investment will go toward paying our artists. Other costs associate with the project would include rent for space for rehearsal and the renting of equipment to stage the productions.
Organizer
Amanda Wolf
Organizer
Indianapolis, IN
