Using Creativity to Address Complex Community Problems
Contact us at:
yvonne (at) regoparkgreenalliance.org
RPGA Studio is a Social Practice non-profit, that uses art + design + technology + education + activism to address community issues. Communities we focus on include Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. The methodology is question-based, and the approach is personal—much of the work starts in a little house in the community. Many of the projects happen because of someone in the community bringing a problem to the studio and asking for help. Diversity in nationality, income, race, sex, and ability are vital to the success of the organization.
An Open Call for Bird Media
Bird Behaviors
RPGA Studio is working in our community, thinking about the correlation between bird behavior and bullying.
These videos show how birds interact with each other in a natural environment and give some insight into how bird behavior can help us have broader conversations about ourselves.
Be The Museum
@Forest Park NYC
Collaborating Artists
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Felicita Chipak- @TheArtisticPaw
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Katherine Toukhy- @kathoray
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Peery Sloan- @peery.sloan
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Randy Naraine- @passportpianist
In collaboration with several artists, Be The Museum @ Forest Park, has transformed the park into a vibrant placemaking area, sparking introspection, connection, creativity, and community conversation.
By reimagining traditional museum spaces, we have brought art into the heart of our community, allowing people of all ages and backgrounds to experience and appreciate art in a new and inclusive way. Thank you to our collaborating artists and to our community.
Land Art Research
Thank you NYC Council member Schulman and NYC SBS for funding a public art project that is installed in our community for beautification, collaboration, and sustainability.
Over the last few years RPGA Studio has been moving toward using more natural materials in our public sculpture. We believe its important to question how we work, why we work, and the materials in our work to create a more sustainable world. Click here to see some of the landscape artists we wanted to share with you.
We’ve also compiled a list of artists working with natural materials, to learn more click here.
Working On Natural Pigment
How to determine if your soil has pigment:
How to filter pigment from soil:
How to identify rocks for pigment making:
Museum for Contemporary Artists
@Forest Park
Museum for Contemporary Artists (MfCA) is part of the Be The Museum project. The Be The Museum project asks what do we as artists value and then encourages us to redefine the word museum and create that definition for ourselves and our community. MfCA @ Forest Park is a project in nature in Queens, New York based on redefining the word museum.
Rituals in kindness
Museum for Contemporary Artists (MFCA) is part of the Be The Museum project. The Be The Museum project asks what do we as artists value and then encourages us to redefine the word museum and create that definition for ourselves and our community. Our first project at MFCA is to harvest a small amount of pigment from Forest Park then create gifts in the form of thank you cards for some of those who volunteer here. Each card will have a painting using pigment from our beautiful park and paper made from grass and soil from around the country showing we are all connected.
How to make a bird feeder
Our second project at MFCA is about using natural materials to create sculpture. In this way we use materials in a sustainable way, devaluing permanence within art and acknowledging how it has led to destruction within our ecosystem. Here we create art not on the walls but in the trees and forest beds.
1. Find a fallen tree.
2. Cut the bark with a knife.
3. Detach the bark with a putty knife if needed.
4. Drill small holes throughout bark for drainage
5. Drill larger holes on each corner to attach twine or vines for hanging.
6. Hang your bird feeder from your home, away from trees.
How to create a dwelling for small forest creatures
How to create a fairy home in the woods
How to listen, smell, and see the forest
How to create music and connect with the fauna and flora
How to create movement alongside nature
Structures from natural materials
Guiding questions for this museum
As we drive through a cross-country road trip, the definition of a museum transforms. A museum, a place for artifacts and stories, is normally confined to halls and galleries while being bound by systems and rules that burden the artist and creative process. On this cross-country road trip we contemplate some questions that can help change the status quo and shape us in how we build MfCA@ForestPark.
Rethinking How Art Can Be Used to Get People Outside and Healthier
Co Creating Sculptures increases knowledge and fitness
Running 5K's helps others grow their body and learn to make healthy choices
Giving out canvas bags designed by community artists in parks
Creating salads so good the kids thought it was candy
VR designed artwork to promote less litter in our community
Our Popup Library in park brought people out for reading, walking in the fresh air, enjoying healthy snack
Using Art To Beautify and Activism to increase Quality of Life, Safety, & Health
![]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b190a0_d7367c436e6f4c189b79fc99e0975a62~mv2_d_1536_2048_s_2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_avif,quality_auto/b190a0_d7367c436e6f4c189b79fc99e0975a62~mv2_d_1536_2048_s_2.jpeg)
Public Performances for reimagined possibilities for local public community spaces
Teaching skills to empower local community members and revitalize public spaces
Learn installation techniques to keep public art costs down
Teaching youth how to take charge and empower others
Using crocheting to address homelessness in our comunity
Working in the community is contagious
Artist Open Call: Creating in Nature
Artists
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Milena Carvajal George
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Margaret Roleke
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Dana Stewart-Lookkin
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Xandra Louvre
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Sita Sunil
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Leonie Weber
As artists, we use a lot of materials that can be harmful, toxic, and dangerous. At times, the materials we use don't break down and ultimately end up in landfills, harming our communities and our planet. This is the driving idea behind Creating in Nature; a drive to make better choices in art. Selectivity is part of our Artist Open Call Framework. To learn more about this
Download the Artist Open Call Framework here.
New Queens Mural on 73rd Place and 51st Ave.
Flowers is a mural project celebrating the regional flowers and butterflies that make New York beautiful. It is designed by Yvonne Shortt, the community, and local artists.
Funding provided through NYC Councilmember Robert Holden
New Queens Mural on Woodhaven Blvd and Eliot Ave.
It's All Connected is a mural project showing the unperceived unity in our communities, where natural, spiritual and industrial worlds comes together harmoniously. It is designed by Yvonne Shortt, the community, and local artists.
Funding provided through NYC Councilmember Robert Holden
New Queens Mural in Kew Gardens Inspired By Cave/Rock Art
Research We've documented some of the cave and rock art from across the world that is inspiring us in our latest mural.
Ideas Take a look at some initial concepts in progress.
Study Our natural pigment art studies inspire and drive composition, lines, colors, and textures.
Empowering Ourselves While Building Our Community & Networks
Creating a framework where 250 women learn and share
Building skills while advocating for changes in how women are portrayed in the construction industry
Building a design studio to practice what we learn
Age of the participants who learn new skills with us ranges from 17 to 65+
Teaching women all over NYC and then having them teach more women
Creating opportunities, access, and equity in our communities through activism
New Mural on 63rd Drive
Love Yourself and Others
Love Yourself and Others is a mural project to say what we want in our community. It is designed by Yvonne Shortt and the students at PS 206.
This program is made possible by an Innovation Grant awarded by the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. For more information, visit http://nyc.gov/stophate
Funding provided by departments of cultural affairs immigrant initiative funded through NYC Councilmember Lynn Schulman
Artist Frameworks
Scarcity mindset - rooted in the othering of self and judgemental comparison to the other. The need for exclusivity over sharing; belief in limits over surplus. Instead of looking inward one looks outward for nourishment. This looking outward may lead to involvement in non-horizontal networks and abusive systems, the belief that change isn't possible, and the movement toward acceptance of destructive ideologies. The ego may also start to drive decision making in disruptive ways including the belief one must get to the top and the disconnection from relational and nurturing infrastructures.
Be The Museum
Framework
Be The Museum is a framework of Artists Daria Dorosh and Yvonne Shortt. The goal of the framework is to disrupt the scarcity mindset and patriarchal selection systems commonly encountered in the art world. This framework empowers the artist, gives the artist autonomy over their artwork, builds a sustainable practice, builds confidence, helps the artist be introduced to collectors they might not have met otherwise, helps the artist explore their own objectives for their practice, and ultimately gives the artist a way to work toward their goals on their own terms.
Download the Be The Museum framework here (PDF)
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Institutions and collectors have long acted as gatekeepers of art history, culture, and value. Within the Artist as Collector framework, artists are part of the process of deciding what art is remembered. Through a stewardship module formed by a small group, the artist selects the art and becomes its steward. Focused on mutual generosity, this model acknowledges the artist as an art historian, collector, and innovator.
Download the Artist as Collector Framework, here.
Artist Open Call Framework
Through the Artist Open Call, artists self-select to participate in opportunities, rejecting the traditional selection process as hierarchical and driven by a scarcity mindset. Artists meet weekly to build trust and connections through Zoom or in-person conversations. This preparatory exploration then impacts the creative process on-site.
It has been prototyped at A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY and Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT.
Download the Artist Open Call Framework here.
Open Community Design
Participating Artists
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Yvonne Shortt
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Alexandra Hammond
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Jennifer Shepard
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Joel Esquite
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Kat Geng-Caraballo
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Jack Henry
Podcast 5 Questions
5 questions is a conversation between artists who are obliterating the scarcity mindset in the art world. Yvonne shortt and Daria Dorosh interview these artists to broaden the reach of these disruptions and keep the ripples of change in motion.
Listen here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/5-questions-with-yvonne-shortt/id1613953289
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Rooted And Replicated Artist Open Call
Rooted and Replicated: Artists Investigating Institutional frameworks will look at the existing frameworks that support a scarcity mindset. The method we are using to assemble the team is the Artist Open Call framework. Our practice will combine conversation for contemplating core questions and the creation of art to understand and perhaps demonstrate new ideas/concepts to dismantle scarcity for ourselves and within non-profit art institutions. The artist initiators of this call are Shelly Bahl, Daria Dorosh, and Yvonne Shortt
Yvonne will send a followup email to verify addresses for those not selected to send 25.00 for taking part in the artist open call plus to explore a creative session at the Museum for Contemporary Artists discussing this topic (125.00 stipend),and to get permission to share our answers with some institutions.. Emails will go out by by May 19th 11:59 pm.
Residency Participants Selected : Amy Sinclair, Katie Cercone, Seema Pandya, Yasmeen Abdallah, and Ava Nembhard
Funders
SAWCC.
RPGA Studio, Inc,
Research And Development @ AIR Gallery
Drawing Performance by Jodie Lyn See Chow
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Dance & Social Issues
Investigating Domestic Abuse with Yvonne through workshops, Chieh and Rosie explore desire, control, and toxicity.
Algorithm Bias
This video was first seen at a private university where a person of color had been reduced to a silhouette by a camera algorithm. After seeing the video the university made the decision to purchase a new algorithm. Eventually, the video went on to be seen in Times Sq.
A Net of Resilience
Collaborative Net-making Workshop
Resilience comes from connections with others. We all trap ourselves in a net of our own fear and shame sometimes. But a safety net we make together with a group of supportive people helps us survive and thrive.
In this collaborative art workshop, we created a net using rope with dancers and community members, had discussions around resilience, and created dance pieces.
Juniper Valley Park
Saturday, May 14th 11am-1pm, 2-4pm
Sunday, May 15th 11am-1pm, 2-4pm
Funding for this program provided through the Mayors Office initiative to end Domestic Violence awarded through Council member Holden and administered through Safe Horizon.
Community Raft Build
RPGA Studio with the community is investigating materials to build water floats such as wood and bamboo. Being near water provides benefits to our mental health including lowering our stress and anxiety and making us feel calm and positive. This project shares the knowledge of raft building for the community to enjoy those benefits with low-cost materials.
> Bumper Raft 4'x6' Assembly Instructions
More build instructions and material lists will be shared online for any community groups to download and build their own raft.
Thank you New York City Department of Cultural Affairs for the funding.
Topsy Hair Salon
Yvonne Shortt and RPGA Studio are looking at hair as cultural identity, beauty, and beliefs. Hair Salon of Topsy installation is one of the latest projects created based on this idea. Many different hairstyles adorned by Topsies represent diversity, and the images will be fabricated as aluminum discs and installed on the fence of Captain Tilly Park in Jamaica Hills, Queens, New York. Thank you Council Member James Gennaro for the funding.
Anti-Bullying
Campaign
The School Fence Project created and promoted community involvement, and invited community residents, parents, and students to help design, build, and install art sculptures around school fences in response to community bullying. The fences are a perfect way to get people to come together and because they are often in the hub of a community they are great for an anti-bullying campaign for reinforcing positive community behaviors. In this Anti-Bullying School Fence Project, students get to express their ideas to their community neighbors. Residents become familiar with the issues students present and are more involved in school systems. According to data from Harvard University, those who bully in schools are more likely to become domestic abusers. Thank you Council Member Robert F. Holden for the funding to tackle domestic abuse at the root cause level.
Community Development through Nature & Narratives
Arts & Science Programs
Thank you Council Members Karen Kozlowitz for the funding for our arts and science programs, including 3D design and printing, stop-motion animation class, and school murals.
Sanctuary
Hair Sanctuary, Socrates Sculpture Park (Long Island City, NY) 2021
Yvonne Shortt and RPGA Studio create Sanctuary together with the community. It is a space for discussion and self-reflection. Each Sanctuary includes sculptures created inspired by narratives collected from communities: In the Underground Railroad Education Center’s garden it commemorates all the everyday people who each took part in the Underground Railroad movement; Hair Sanctuary shares Hair stories which touches topics such as race, identity, equality, life, death and the list goes on. Listen to the hair stories here.
If you would like to share your hair story, email a voice recording or a paragraph to: share.hair.stories@gmail.com.
One of the Afro picks installed around the Hair Sanctuary. It’s inspired by one of the stories: “My hair is the difference between life and death.”
Cinder blocks in our community have long symbolized decay but in this installation they are used to build a sanctuary.
Sanctuary, Underground Railroad Education Center (Albany, NY) 2021
Students from the local community worked with RPGA Studio, learning how to use a level, circular saw, mortar, and to sculpt using porcelain clay.
As you walk around the sanctuary little pieces exist in the holes of the cinder blocks. They are fragments: A grandmas shoe, relaxer, a piece of braided hair.
RPGA Studio has been working with public schools, afterschool programs and community members on public art initiatives. We created this instruction video for them to learn the tips to take good photos of their artwork. We have posted it online for anyone to watch and learn. Feel free to share with others who might be interested!
INSTRUCTION VIDEO:
HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH YOUR ARTWORK WITH A PHONE
Bringing Youth and Seniors Together for Action and Dialogue
Senior learning to use a miter saw
Senior learning to crochet from high school student
student learning to paint from an elder
Beautifying school fences to connect seniors and elementary school kids
Adults land children working together to revitalize spaces
Bringing members of the community together of all ages for transportation safety
Creating with Community & Getting People To Take Action using Public Art as a Tool
Revitalized space used by thousands daily and taught design and painting skills to 30 youth
Collaboration with DIVAS to teach and have others take action
Collaboration with the DOE to advocate to reopen a park. Raised $100,000 and reopened a park.
Collaboration with houses of worship,
businesses &
NYC agencies to revitalize a downtown hub. Raised $160,000 over 11 years
Mural that raised over 130,000 for increased services
The mural collaboration helped bring in a CASA grant for the following year for the partner organization for continued revitalization.
Boots on the ground to address safety, homelessness, and empowerment
Collaborative build of a kiosk
Kiosk on the street for transportation safety advocacy
Signing transportation safety petition
Creating salads so good the kids thought it was candy
Community conversations
Popup reading library kiosk
Empowering Youth, Schools, and After School providers through art, design, and technology
Through in-school and after-school programming, students learn tools across disciplines, practice what they learn, teach what they learned, and use it to improve their community. See 3 examples of our impact on students and communities below.
1.Innovative design & Implementation: students designed and tested Hanky Family Kit plus advocated for structural fixes in their bathrooms. Awareness helped Raised $230,000 by activating parents for participatory voting. The kit for students promoted hand sanitization, personal responsibility, and innovative bathroom practices for 800 kids
2. Innovative Problem solving: To decrease bullying and religious tension in one school, students designed, funded, and are currently implementing the Acts of Kindness Video Game Club. They created a framework whereby each week students who are kind are nominated for the video game club. Students can be nominated by other students, lunchroom monitors, and administration. The nicer you are the higher the chance you have of being selected for the club for 1 week. Students designed and held a video game fundraise,r raised 1000 for the hardware and got administration by in. This year the club will be run by the principal/
3. Teaching what we learn: Created a curriculum in 3d design and fabrication and trained over 30 after school providers including Woodside on the Move and Divas For Social Justice. RPGA also created a design tournament that impacted over 10,000 families throughout Queens over 7 years
Women Who Build -
Artists Who Own
Tool Lending Library