UPCOMING EVENTS
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UPCOMING EVENTS 〰️
Flatbush African Burial Ground: A Sankofa Walk
Come join us for a powerful experience at the Flatbush African Burial Ground! Our Sankofa Walk event will take you on a journey through history, honoring those who came before us. This in-person event is a chance to connect with our roots, reflect on the past, and dream of our collective future. Let's walk together and embrace the spirit of Sankofa - looking back to move forward. Don't miss this opportunity to pay tribute to our ancestors and learn more about this sacred ground. See you there!
Greening Bed Stuy Now and Then: A Sankofa Walk
Come join us for a refreshing and informative "Greening Walk" through the vibrant streets of Bed Stuy! We'll explore the neighborhood's rich past and learn about present green initiatives, from community gardens to eco-friendly businesses. Meet us at the Jackie Robinson Park Playground Tennis Courts for a fun and educational stroll. Let's celebrate the beauty of our shared history and nature in the heart of the city together!
Historic Sites in Conversation
History as Healing: Reclaiming Stories of Black Resistance and Resilience in Public Space. Flatbush Burial Ground
Join us online for an engaging discussion as we delve into the rich history of the Flatbush African Burial Ground with our speaker, public historian Shanna Sabio.
Located at the intersection of Bedford and Church Avenues in the heart of Flatbush, this sacred space served as the final resting place for enslaved and free Black individuals in Brooklyn from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s.
Together, we'll explore trauma-informed strategies to preserve Black history by placing it within the broader context of national and global narratives using the Flatbush African Burial Ground as an example.
Black Historic Sites in Conversation is a series of virtual talks in collaboration with different Black heritage sites & cultural centers in the greater NYC area, about the ongoing work of preserving, interpreting, and celebrating Black history and historical figures.
This program is supported by the Mellon Foundation.
Parallel Walk: Paris + Brooklyn
This Saturday, Shanna Sabio, co-founder and co-director of @growhousebk, will lead a walk centered around Sankofa, a philosophical principle from the Akan people which means “go back and fetch it." When contemplated deeply, it is an Afrofuturist principle that bends time and space to recover and reclaim lost histories, suppressed lessons, and infinite future possibilities. How do we broaden the realm of possibilities beyond what has been done before?
Space (on this walk) is limited. Register here
During a time of displacement, the rolling back of affirmative action, book bans and the demonization of Critical Race Theory, it’s of the utmost importance to reclaim Black and Indigenous stories and histories. This walk will bend time and space, asking participants to engage empathy, imagination, and their senses to breathe life into history as a future visioning tool.
Sabio's walk is the second part of this Parallel Walk, with part one taking place last weekend in France, led by Cara Michell in partnership with Anna Matip and Association Amicale Franco-Camerounaise de Saint-Denis in Saint Denis. Parallel Walks are a CTHQ series of artist-led walks that take place in two locations, connected through a shared political, social, contextual, or geographic theme.
Image description: Two images of neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Saint Denis, France are overlaid with "Parallel Walk with Grow House, November 11, Brooklyn, CTHQ"
Collective Ownership - Development without Displacement
Forget monopoly, we're playing Trustville - a game developed by New York City Community Land Initiative (AKA NYCCLI "Nicely"). The game explores how alternative models of land ownership and affordable housing development, such as mutual housing associations and CLTs, can benefit extremely low-income and homeless peoples. Throughout the game, players model CLT board meetings where they must advocate on behalf of their character, and ultimately pool resources to develop a vacant lot for community benefit.
Community Day of Action + Remembrance
Join us as we honor our ancestors through a day of action and remembrance at the African Burial Ground. We’ll clean up the site, collect coats and warm items to donate to local families in need, and take the first public walking tour of the year.
Black August Day of Remembrance + Action at the Flatbush African Burial Ground
To close out Black August, we’ll spend time at the Flatbush African Burial Ground in a day of remembrance and action.
12 noon - 1 pm:
Site cleanup
Tree pit planting
1 pm - 2:30 pm:
Walking tour
2:30 pm - 4 pm:
Art + site beautification
Community photos
The Body as the Archive - Inner Knowing
A collaboration between Good Mirrors Aren’t Cheap and GrowHouse NYC
Our vision for The Body as the Archive six-part workshop series is to co-create an intimate collective of Black and brown women seeking self-discovery and community. Our bi-monthly hour long sessions held on Sunday afternoons will serve as a source of affirmation and inspiration for our collective imaginations.
We designed The Body as the Archive to coincide as closely as possible to the new and full moon phases in order to harness its energy and manifest a truly sacred (virtual) gathering space.
On Zoom.
Registrations are currently closed. Join our newsletter for updates on when registration will open again.
The Body as the Archive - Touch
A collaboration between Good Mirrors Aren’t Cheap and GrowHouse NYC
Our vision for The Body as the Archive six-part workshop series is to co-create an intimate collective of Black and brown women seeking self-discovery and community. Our bi-monthly hour long sessions held on Sunday afternoons will serve as a source of affirmation and inspiration for our collective imaginations.
We designed The Body as the Archive to coincide as closely as possible to the new and full moon phases in order to harness its energy and manifest a truly sacred (virtual) gathering space.
On Zoom.
Registrations are currently closed. Join our newsletter for updates on when registration will open again.
The Body as the Archive - Vision
A collaboration between Good Mirrors Aren’t Cheap and GrowHouse NYC
Our vision for The Body as the Archive six-part workshop series is to co-create an intimate collective of Black and brown women seeking self-discovery and community. Our bi-monthly hour long sessions held on Sunday afternoons will serve as a source of affirmation and inspiration for our collective imaginations.
We designed The Body as the Archive to coincide as closely as possible to the new and full moon phases in order to harness its energy and manifest a truly sacred (virtual) gathering space.
On Zoom.
Registrations are currently closed. Join our newsletter for updates on when registration will open again.
The Body as the Archive - Olfaction
A collaboration between Good Mirrors Aren’t Cheap and GrowHouse NYC.
Our vision for The Body as the Archive six-part workshop series is to co-create an intimate collective of Black and brown women seeking self-discovery and community. Our bi-monthly hour long sessions held on Sunday afternoons will serve as a source of affirmation and inspiration for our collective imaginations.
We designed The Body as the Archive to coincide as closely as possible to the new and full moon phases in order to harness its energy and manifest a truly sacred (virtual) gathering space.
BlackSpace + GrowHouse NYC
Sponsors: GrowHouseNYC - MailChimp - The Kresge Foundation
BlackSpace’s Juneteenth 2021 celebration Imagining Black Utopias in the Afro-Now will lift up the spirit of community liberation manifested by Juneteenth as an inspiration for infinite Black utopias in the present and future.
Over the last year, we’ve tended to our collective’s vision and now we invite you to our ground-breaking moment and welcome you to re-join us in community. For us. By us.
The Body as the Archive - Taste
A collaboration between Good Mirrors Aren’t Cheap and GrowHouse NYC
Our vision for The Body as the Archive six-part workshop series is to co-create an intimate collective of Black and brown women seeking self-discovery and community. Our bi-monthly hour long sessions held on Sunday afternoons will serve as a source of affirmation and inspiration for our collective imaginations.
We designed The Body as the Archive to coincide as closely as possible to the new and full moon phases in order to harness its energy and manifest a truly sacred (virtual) gathering space.
On Zoom.
Registrations are currently closed. Join our newsletter for updates on when registration will open again.
Flatbush African Burial Coalition
There's an African burial ground in Flatbush, right on the corner of Bedford and Church Avenues.::::
Community residents want this land to form the start of a Flatbush Community Land Trust that will be in the hands of long-term residents.::::
Tonight, we're engaging candidates for city council district 40 on the lot.
GrowHouse Community Agreements
are the default agreements during all coursework and events
0
Do no harm.
We address issues without attacking people’s identities.
We hold a zero tolerance policy towards anti-Blackness, racism, sexism, xenophobia, fatphobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, and hate speech.
1
We lead ourselves before we lead others.
We seek to understand ourselves and our impact on others, practicing self-awareness and self-control and taking responsibility for our actions. To be self aware is to ask: “What impact am I having”? “Who is better at this than me”? “This is not working, what do I need to change”?
2
Practice active listening — listen to understand before you make yourself understood. We balance between listening and speaking - also known as take space, make space.
3
What’s said here remains here. What’s learned here leaves.
Everything said in this space is confidential. We may all talk in general terms with others about the ideas we share in our discussions, but we will not attribute specific statements to specific people.
4
Accountability not blame. We commit to learning, accountability + growth.
We will not blame ourselves or others for getting something wrong on the first try. Instead of asking “who’s to blame?” we own our impact and ask “what can we learn from this?”
After we have learned new information, however, we will hold ourselves and others accountable for that new information.
5
We feel and reveal our feelings.
We will talk about our emotions + spirits as much as our intellectual understanding of an issue. This is difficult work – society teaches us that only our intellects matter and emotions have no place in rational conversation.
We dare to disagree – connecting to our emotions provides us with invaluable insights.
We hold space to allow each other to sit with our emotions; we do not pretend to know the breadth or depth of another person’s feelings, or the most fruitful direction for their thoughts.
6
Never shade - always feedback.
We won’t always agree and we will offer our thoughts with candor and won’t engage in gossip.
Gossip is defined as saying something about someone that you would be unwilling to say to that person in the same way.
We commit to sharing our concerns directly with each other, and encourage each other to do the same.
7
What we appreciate, appreciates.
We appreciate each other for our gifts, wisdom, and successes. This allows each of us to grow our strengths in a supportive community where we are seen not just for the value we produce, but as our fullest, most authentic selves.
This is a step in repairing the harms of a society that sees Black people as bodies, while simultaneously profiting off our genius. We put our genius to work with each other and respond with gratitude.
8
Center healing and restoration as necessary parts of every growth cycle.
We break the cycle of workaholism and stress, allowing our work to unfold joyfully and in honor of our dignity and humanity.
We incorporate cycles of rest and rejuvenation into our work.
9
We commit to generative conflict and an environment where we all “win”.
We see conflict as an opportunity to clarify, grow, and collaborate. Together, we respond to conflict in ways that we all “win”.
We state our desires and needs, trusting each other to respond not with judgment and defensiveness, but with thought partnership to brainstorm solutions if needed.