Democracy as Creative Practice

Presented by Village Preservation in collaboration with FABnyc
Democracy is fragile, as we are learning. Can we renew it by fostering more democratic ways of interacting in our neighborhoods? The East Village has long been home to cultural institutions that play a key role in bringing communities together. What role might they play in promoting a more vigorous form of everyday politics and stimulating a collective commitment to democratic engagement?

Join us as we grapple with these questions around a Long Table, a format created by artist Lois Weaver to foster open-ended, non-hierarchical participation. We will be joined at the table by neighbors, representatives from many of our leading arts organizations, and, we hope, you.

Our host for the evening will be Dr. Andrew Zitcer, an urban planner and cultural organizer based in Philadelphia. He is the co-creator of Democracy as Creative Practice: Weaving a Culture of Civic Life. Dr. Zitcer will facilitate our Long Table conversation and help us prepare for the event with prompts that get us thinking about the relation between arts and political engagement.

Join us at the Long Table as we engage in a collective practice of democratic co-creation. Participants thus far include:

Pepe Flores (Co-Founder, La Sala de Pepe)

Molly Garfield (Co-Director, City Lore)

Andrea Gordillo (Cultural strategist and local civic leader)

Judy Hussie-Taylor (Executive Director, Danspace Project)

Lyn Pentcost (Co-Founder, La Sala de Pepe)

Sara Zatz (Artistic Director, Engagement, Pink Fang, formerly known as Ping Chong and Company)

C. Joi Sanchez (artist, WOW Cafe Theater)

maura nguyen donohue (Great Jones Repertory Company)

Andrew Zitcer is the director of the Urban Strategy graduate program, and an associate professor of Arts Administration. He teaches courses in civic engagement, research design and methods, creative placemaking, and cultural policy. Andrew’s research focuses on cooperative social and economic practices, as well as the role of arts in sustaining democracy. He is the author of Practicing Cooperation: Mutual Aid Beyond Capitalism (University of Minnesota Press, 2021) and co-edited with Tom Borrup, Democracy as Creative Practice: Weaving a Culture of Civic Life (Routledge, 2024).