Escombros Vivos (Live Debris)Taylor Cass StevensonPortland, OR and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil$5,000 Another of our 2009 Grants-to-Artists recipients, Escombros Vivos is a traveling series of events and installations dedicated to sharing and establishing new reuse traditions in Portland, Oregon and Rio de Janeiro. In exchanging practices that promote experimentation with reused materials, the project ultimately aims to dissolve stigmas both…Keep reading >>

East Hollywood Utility Box Art ProjectKaren MackLos Angeles, CA$6,000 The Utility Box Art Project, is the next of our 2009 grant recipients and is a guided collaboration and mentorship program, pairing artists with youth to design and create murals on utility boxes. The team first conducts a neighborhood mapping process in which the artist and youth study neighborhood issues and…Keep reading >>

During clean up Doxie noticed Bud-e one of our resident poets secretly installed the name plate designed last summer during the Temple build. Thank you Bud-e! After the arson attempt last fall the pillar was cleaned up and spare pieces affixed, not to cover the damage, but illustrate how the the Detroit Dream Project is a Phoenix from the ashes…Keep reading >>

This just in from artist and environmental water activist, Linda Gass: Dear Friends, I’ll be giving a presentation entitled “Raising Environmental Awareness for Water through Textile Art” Sunday, May 17th, from 2-4 PM as part of a special program at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Also presenting is Adam Parris, from the Bay Conservation and Development Commission,…Keep reading >>

Another of BRAF’s 2009 Grant Recipients: DiscardedBenjamin JonesBrooklyn, NY$1,000 Discarded is a wooden creature crafted entirely from furniture discarded on the streets of Brooklyn. The creature stands roughly 30’ long x 7’ wide x 8’ tall at its highest point. Much of the furniture used is kept, as much as possible, in its original (discarded) form, allowing participants to speculate…Keep reading >>

It is our favorite time of year at BRAF. Time to announce our 2009 Grant Recipients: Cardboardia (Cardboard Town Free!) Sergej Korsakov MOSCOW $7,500 Cardboardia ‘towns’ are temporary, collaboratively built and inhabited towns manifesting in Moscow, Russian, Finland and Germany in the summer of 2009. Carboardia is, in essence, a role playing community, where guests can create a new identity…Keep reading >>

May 15, drop anchor and walk the plank at OVERBOARD, an all-night dance party to benefit FIGMENT. For one night only, we will transform a haggard ferry dock into a merry port of call, featuring the siren songs of the city’s finest bands, DJs and performers. Maritime, mermaid, sailor, pirate, deep sea creature or other nautical attire is encouraged. Scuba…Keep reading >>