Artichoke Dance Community Based Programs.
Our programs merge performing and visual arts, ecological activism and education. From one hour workshops to programs spanning several years, audiences are delighted and participants gain skills in creativity, movement, research, advocacy, community building, and empowerment.
Artichoke Dance is a national leader in eco-arts activism and community engagement programs.
We work with presenters, organizations and communities to create meaningful place-based programs.
Gowanus Visions involved local artists, high school students, and community organizations through months of activities leading to a day-long festival.
COMMUNITy programs
Our place-based approach engages communities in their most pressing environmental issues. From the Gowanus Canal, one of the nation’s most polluted waterways located in our own backyard, to the Los Angeles River, Biscayne Bay in Miami to isolated rural immigrant communities, our work has both broad impact and involves individuals in life changing work.
A collaboration with Rider University, this program engaged dance, design and sustainability to create an eco-driven production.
SCHOOL PROGRAMS
From elementary schools to universities, our programs integrate dance, sustainability and science to examine, explore and effect local and global issues. Examples include Global Water Dances with elementary schools in Brooklyn exploring local water issues, to Future Currents with California State University examining Los Angeles river revitalization and its potential impacts on the future of the city.
Our 2019 Beach Clean Up engaged 65 volunteers who collected 220 pounds of trash.
Beach Clean Ups
Our annual beach clean up on the shores of New York City have engaged hundreds of hands in collecting and cataloguing thousands of pounds of trash. More and more of what we find is plastic. Performance and participatory visual art builds accompany the collections and provide an opportunity to engage creatively with the found materials.
Workshops for members of Operation Unite New York in 2018 that culminated in a parade through Hudson, NY.
trashion creation
Trashion is fashion made from trash. We use mainly recycled plastic materials to guide participants to create elaborate costumes and ready wearables. From halloween costumes to marches and protests to fashion shows, participants engage in creative reuse while learning about the waste stream and plastic production and recycling.
Sustainable Practices
We work with organizations, schools and communities to target waste materials headed to refashion into useful and artistic objects. Find out more about our past work in this area.