“Art is not neutral. It either upholds or disrupts the status quo, advancing or regressing justice. We are living now inside the imagination of people who thought economic disparity and environmental destruction were acceptable costs for their power. It is our right and responsibility to write ourselves into the future.” ― Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

Will you make a year-end contribution to ensure that Urbano can continue to grow and flourish in 2024 and beyond?

Urbano is a nonprofit that brings together practicing artists, local youth, and community members to learn and experiment through place-based projects. We foster public and participatory art as a vehicle for personal transformation, community cohesion, and social change. Since launching in 2009, Urbano has promoted the model of the artist as citizen, uplifting youth to tackle social issues in their community through artistic collaboration. Our community is made up of practicing teaching artists, youth artists, arts administrators, and those who defy category working to support one another through mentorship, artistic exploration, and public presentations of our work.

Like every individual and group, the COVID-19 pandemic radically transformed how we work. In 2020, we decided to close our physical space in Jamaica Plain. By closing our longstanding space, we've created additional opportunities to expand our work throughout the Greater Boston area, partnering with The Foundry in Cambridge to host workshops and events.

At Urbano, our eye is always towards interconnectedness and evolution. This year, we culminated our programming theme, Our Planet, Ourselves with three artists in residence. Dancer and choreographer Mary Teuscher posed the question, "How will the future perceive our world and its people?" Collaborating with community participants, they presented a multimedia dance performance titled "Myths for the 20th Century." Participants invented dance moves, made comic strips, built props, curated playlists, crafted costumes, and more while centering the themes of care and co-evolution.

With their spring sound art program, Artist-in-Residence Amber Vistein and participants asked “Who Has a Voice?” offering a hybrid installation-performance creating new sonic worlds. Over the course of the workshop, participants listened critically to both a wide variety of sound art and their everyday environments, gathered sounds, and learned sound recording, editing, and mixing skills.

This fall, Hannah Niswonger brought her mission to “cultivate each individual’s ability to make something useful and beautiful with their hands” to The Foundry with a 10-session ceramics workshop. Participants experimented with ceramics and devised their own sustainable objects for use. The program concluded with a showcase of the students’ finished works and a hands-on ceramics exquisite corpse activity led by the students. We are excited to share that Hannah Niswonger will be joining us in 2024 to build upon this work, offering another engaging ceramics workshop.

This work doesn't happen without your support. In the face of radical transformation of our social and civic lives, Urbano stands firm as a stalwart for community-engaged arts in the City of Boston. We do what artists do best and pivot, or as adrienne marie brown would say, we “emerge.” Will you stand with us to make sure that Urbano exists in the future?

Stella Aguirre McGregor
Founder + Executive Artistic Director
Urbano Project

Empowering Urbano, Crafting a Tomorrow

By The Urbano Project

Empowering Urbano, Crafting a Tomorrow

As you look back on the past year and envision the future you aspire to, we hope you'll consider a donation to Urbano.