OUR FIGHT TOWARDS TRUE EQUITY AND AGAINST BEING DISPLACED BY THE ORGANIZATION THAT CALLS ITSELF “EQUITY ARTS”
Timeline Links:
> 1 >November 2022, Public Statement # 1 & sign the petition
> 2 > November 2022 Full videos of the Equity Arts Town Hall meeting
> 3 > June 2023, Public Statement #2 June 2023
> 4 > June 2023, Call to action # 1: To the Chicago Department of Planing and Development
> 5 > June 2023, Call to action #2 appeal to the Equity Arts Body and videos
Quick briefing:
Our neighbors Alma Wieser of Heaven Gallery and Vincent Uribe of LVL3 have founded a non-profit organization called Equity Arts (EA), whose stated mission is to be “A place-keeping project aimed at creating restorative space to advance racial equity while cultivating and preserving the arts from displacement”. However, it is known that if they are to buy the building their plan is to evict/displace us, the majority BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists and artist-run spaces inhabiting and operating here, a stark contrast to what they claim to be about. Throughout this five year process, we have been resisting and fighting to keep our place and not be evicted, to have a rent freeze so our artistic projects can remain viable and continue thriving. At the Equity Arts town hall in November of 2022, Equity Arts president Alma Wieser promised us and Tritriangle these protections, although to date they have not followed through. Recently, they were granted five million dollars in funding by the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development towards this purpose, which significantly increases the threat of our imminent displacement. Before the grant gets disbursed to EA we are appealing to the city of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, the Alderman’s office, and the community at large to ensure that Equity Arts is held accountable to both their advertised values and their explicit promises to us as one of the art spaces that undeniably contributes to the artist legacy of this building. We want to take this opportunity to come together as a community to imagine how real and lasting equity can be built in this situation. At this time, we are seeking legally binding protection from Equity Arts that will allow us to remain in our space in the Lubinski building independently.
This page is an effort to document our evidence in this process .
This is a link to our other neighbor space T R I T R I A N G L E , they are also fighting against the displacement by Equity arts.
