More Than a Repair Café: A Full Day of Participation, Art, and Community
Repair Café El Barrio’s Fourth Anniversary on Sunday, September 13, will bring together many different forms of repair: objects, stories, relationships, neighborhoods, and the systems we share.
The day will begin at 11 am with our symposium, The Infrastructure We Make for One Another, a collaborative conversation exploring how New Yorkers create the spaces, networks, and shared resources that allow communities to care for one another and thrive.
Our panelists bring together perspectives from technology, community environmental action, education, experimental art, cultural preservation, and access to creative space:
Rolinda Ramos, Director of Programs at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109
Mark Hurst, host of Techtonic on WFMU and founder and host of the Gel conference
Sebastián Martín, founder and CEO of Cambio Labs
Harley Spiller, Ken Dewey Director of Franklin Furnace Archive
Emily Coyne and Nicole De Santis, representing Clean Bushwick Initiative
Rocío Salceda, founder and Creative Director of Repair Café El Barrio, as host and moderator
Together, we will consider community infrastructure not only as something constructed by governments or large institutions, but also as something people make for one another every day through access, advocacy, education, environmental action, cultural preservation, technology, and shared resources. We will expand the discussion to include the audience, keeping the conversation participatory, lively, and open.
And expect the unexpected! The symposium will conclude with a surprising participatory artwork that will invite the audience to experience its ideas in an entirely different way.
The symposium is free, but seating is limited. Reserve your spot here.
The symposium will conclude between 1 and 1:30 pm. Refreshments will be served.
At 2 pm, the anniversary celebration will expand throughout El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 with a Community Activation Fair featuring workshops, art, storytelling, fashion, and participatory activities—including a very special Repair Café rooted in togetherness.
The building will be filled with activities and initiatives from organizations and artists including Big Reuse, NYC Fair Trade Coalition, Repurposeful Ancestry Lab, Community Climate Hub, Time’s Up, Trees New York, Matt Lopes-Jensen, Eivy T2T, and Juju Lee. The LES Ecology Center will collect textiles and e-waste outside, while participating organizations offer information, demonstrations, and hands-on activities throughout the building.
And this is where it gets really special for us. For the first time, Repair Café Brooklyn, Repair Café Queens, Repair Café NYC, and Repair Café El Barrio will work elbow to elbow under the same roof to serve the community. It will be a wonderful opportunity for repairers, organizers, and visitors from across the city to meet one another, exchange knowledge, and strengthen New York’s growing repair network.
Steps You Can Take Now
Reserve your place at the symposium here. Seating is limited.
If you would like to bring something to be repaired between 2 and 5 pm, contacting us in advance is recommended but not required. You are also welcome to stop by anytime from 2 to 5 pm to meet all these wonderful initiatives and enjoy the afternoon’s activities. No RSVP is needed for this part of the day.
