Penny Arcade Hosts Arts For Living Show: Artist Feed The L.E.S.

March marks one year since the world went on lockdown due to COVID-19. As social distancing measures remain in place, Abrons Arts Center continues to creatively adapt to digital platforms, and today revealing details for Arts For Living Show: Artists Feed The L.E.S., a virtual fundraiser to benefit the Henry Street Settlement Food Access Initiative. Debuting on March 26th at 7PM ET, and hosted by iconic performance artist and activist Penny Arcade, Arts For Living will feature new video commissions --filmed in and around the Lower East Side-- created by local residents including Tripp Jones with Alejandro Hidalgo, Elroy Gay with Alicia Mersy, Annie Tan with Andy K. Boyce, Eugene Puglia with Alon Sicherman, Billie Alexopolous, Stephanie Renee, and Michaella Shiamilis, and Barbara King and Sandra E. Walker with Gogy Esparza, Linda Diaz with Alex Gurevich.

Tickets for Arts for Living are free and available at www.abronsartscenter.org. Donations will be accepted online with 100 percent of proceeds going to support the Food Access Initiative. As well, on March 26th, a limited edition run of Arts for Living shirts, designed in partnership with Lower East Side clothing brand The Good Company, will be available for pre-sale; 100 percent of the price of every shirt sold be donated to the initiative.

There will be ASL interpretation for this event.

"Abrons is a unique organization, an experimental arts center nestled within a large social service agency," says Craig Peterson, Artistic Director at Abrons Arts Center. "At first glance, these distinct identities can appear an odd alliance. But we don't see it that way. We believe that arts programming is a social service and because of our connection to Henry Street Settlement, Abrons was able to pivot quickly when the pandemic shut down arts organizations across the City. By early April 2020, we launched a food pantry staffed entirely by artists, technicians and arts workers. This fundraiser is not only a way to support our ongoing work to feed our neighbors, it's a celebration of the vibrant artist communities living and working in the LES who have stepped up in this time of crisis."

"Arts For Living, a nod to Abrons' original name, exemplifies the values of Abrons. During this challenging time, we remain committed to amplifying the creativity of our neighborhood, whether that be through the presentation of art or in the support of mutual aid projects like our Food Access Initiative," says Ali Rosa-Salas, Director of Programming, Abrons Arts Center. "As we acknowledge a year since the devastating COVID-19 pandemic began ravaging our communities, we hope that Arts For Living can be a celebration of the many dynamic ways that Lower East Side artists have continued to create and inspire in spite of recent challenges."

Participating artists were nominated by a committee of local residents, artists, and organizers. The final projects were selected by the Abrons Programming Team. The Nomination Committee included David Garza, Adam Zhu, Canal Street Research Association, Lauren Boyle, Julie Muz, Mei Lum, and Randy Luna.

Video Works presented in the Arts for Living showcase include:

• Storyteller Annie Tan, with the support of filmmaker Andy K. Boyce, tells the story of how her block, Broome Street between Eldridge and Allen Streets, made national news in 2011 when it was declared the "Smelliest Block in New York." In this piece, Tan invites us to see her beloved street through her eyes, as she reflects on the effects that the headline has had on her neighbors.

• A video portrait of Elroy Gay, a long time Lower East Side resident and founder of the urban apparel brand "Tha 6th Boro," which is the name many locals refer to the Lower East Side. Co-directed by Alicia Mersy and shot on and around Avenue D featuring local residents wearing "Tha 6th Boro" garments, this work is a reflection on how Gay showcases community pride through fashion.

• Lower East Immortal is a short film that captures a soul from the Lower East Side, one who is slowly being torn apart while trying to keep the one thing they love alive. Featuring two original songs and spoken word by Tripp Jones with visuals by Alejandro Hidalgo, this work chronicles how a lost soul searches for a way to keep the beautiful place they learned how to survive in alive while also dying inside.

• On February 11th during the new moon, the spirit of Lillian Wald (Henry Street Settlement's founder), was seen on the streets of Lower Manhattan. She was spotted walking down Henry Street singing a song she wrote about her life, her legacy, and missing her human form on this Earth. Written and performed by comedian Eugene Puglia, I Lillian........... is a humorous musical speculation on what our institution's founder would think of the Lower East Side in 2021.

• St. Augustine's Episcopal Church on the Lower East Side is one of the last remaining churches in New York City that has maintained the architectural integrity of its "slave galleries," which is the upper level of the sanctuary where enslaved people and freed Black people were forced to worship segregated from the white congregation. In this short film directed by Gogy Esparza, we meet Barbara King and Sandra E. Walker, two life-long Lower East Side residents who have led the charge to preserve these sanctuary spaces, the undertold history of slavery in New York City, and it's impact on our neighborhood.

• Water Seeks is a performance video of Linda Diaz's song of the same name. The piece is an homage to her hometown neighborhood of the Lower East Side, and to her mother's words which have guided her as she continues to learn and grow: "water seeks its own level."

All proceeds from the Arts for Living virtual fundraiser will benefit Abrons Arts Center's Food Access Initiative, which began in April 2020, with the launch of an emergency food pantry in partnership with Henry Street Settlement and Vision Urbana. Currently operating out of its historic Playhouse theater, the initiative is staffed entirely by theater technicians, artists and arts workers. Abrons' robust artistic community stepped up in ways we could not have imagined, helping to deliver 700 bags of groceries to families each week. In addition, through a partnership with Our Hearts, Abrons currently has a mutual aid community fridge located in front of our building on Grand Street.

"Arts spaces and arts workers are surprisingly quite well suited to food pantry work - something we realized as we pivoted from arts work to food distribution work in April 2020," says Jon Harper, Arts Center Director of Operations and Henry Street Director of Emergency Response Food Distribution. "And, if I've learned one key thing in this time, it's the axiom of the only constant thing being change. We never have a week go by without some kind of wrench getting thrown in the works and then having to figure out how to deal with and still get the food out to people, something we've done every week since last spring without fail."

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