Art and Food as Creative Platforms for Neighborhood Revitalization
 
Project Partners

Artful Life, Working Classroom, Partnership for Community Action (PCA), Centro Savila, South Valley Economic Development Center (SVEDC), South Valley Academy, Agri-Cultura Network, Enlace Comunitario, Encuentro, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, Peanut Butter & Jelly Family Services, Prosperity Works, and Valle Encantado.

 

Funders and Supporters

The project is funded by a planning grant from the Kresge Foundation's "FreshLo" program, the PNM Resources Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation and the City of Albuquerque. 

​Artful Life Project Director: Michelle Otero

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Phase One: Arts Engagement (2016-2017)

This project involved over a year of community workshops which informed the design of three Community Tables/Works of Art. 
 
Artful Life and Working Classroom artist teams worked with South Valley residents at PCA, Centro Savila and the SVEDC to design the tables through multigenerational visioning and art-making workshops.

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In tandem with the above creative process, farmers from the Agri-Cultura Network--ACN--(a farmer-owned cooperative committed to creating a sustainable food market for South Valley) received stipends to provide workshops and technical assistance to local growers.

 

About Albuquerque's South Valley
The South Valley is home to 40,000 residents: 80% of whom identify as Hispanic/Latino, 17% Anglo, 2% Native American, and 1% African American. Bordered by the Río Grande and home to immigrant-owned businesses, small farms, and many families who trace their roots back to the arrival of the Spaniards in the 1700s. 
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Many South Valley residents have experienced generations of being land-rich and cash-poor. More than one hundred years after statehood, the descendants of early settlers are still reeling from the abrupt shift from a collaborative economy to cash, from shared resources to privatized land and water.
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For more information, contact Michelle Otero, Project Director.