Using Creativity to Address Complex Community Problems
Contact us at:
yvonne (at) regoparkgreenalliance.org
RPGA Studio is a Queens-based nonprofit studio that uses art, design, technology, and education to address community issues and expand economic opportunity through creative practice. The studio works with communities across New York City including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Many projects start when someone in the community brings a problem to the studio and asks for help.
Diversity in nationality, income, race, sex, and ability is vital to the success of the organization. The organization is led by Yvonne (she/her), Executive Director, and board members Ras (they/them), Abigail (she/her), Deborah (she/her), Dana (she/her), Elsie (she/her).
Empowering Women
Since 2020, RPGA Studio has partnered with New York City’s Domestic Violence and Empowerment (DOVE) Initiative to address bullying and other root causes of domestic violence through creative practice. Programs have included Women Who Build, youth workshops, public art campaigns, and art sessions with survivors and their children in confidential residential settings.
Women Who Build Project
Creating a framework where 250 women learn and share
Building skills while advocating for changes in how women are portrayed in the construction industry
Building a tiny home to practice what we learn
Age of the participants who learn new skills with us ranges from 17 to 65+
Teaching women all over NYC and then having them teach more women
Creating opportunities, access, and equity in our communities through activism
Dance & Social Issues
Investigating Domestic Abuse through dance workshops that explore desire, control, and toxicity.
Safety and Community Investment
Our mural program focuses on safety and community investment. Through public art projects, we have transformed dark and neglected spaces in our neighborhood, working with agencies such as the New York City Department of Transportation and the Long Island Rail Road to address infrastructure conditions that affect residents’ daily lives. These projects have included painting underpass murals, advocating for repaving areas beneath rail lines, and helping increase lighting so families can move through these spaces more safely. As women, we are deeply aware that poorly lit and neglected spaces often become sites where women experience harassment or violence. By bringing light, color, and attention to these areas, the mural program helps make public spaces feel safer while strengthening community investment in the neighborhood.
Mural and Gardens
Designed mural and vegetable garden with 40 elementary school girls.
Designed and built a 2,000 sf garden space with young girls and NYC Parks.
Revitalized an underpass with a mural, new sidewalks and underpass lights
Designed and built a sculpture with college women interns.
Created a school mural program with teachers and girls
Revitalized underpass space with a mural and new lights.
Be The Museum
@Forest Park NYC
Collaborating Artists
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Felicita Chipak- @TheArtisticPaw
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Katherine Toukhy- @kathoray
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Peery Sloan- @peery.sloan
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Randy Naraine- @passportpianist
In collaboration with several artists, Be The Museum @ Forest Park, has transformed the park into a vibrant placemaking area, sparking introspection, connection, creativity, and community conversation.
By reimagining traditional museum spaces, we have empowered women artists, bringing art into the heart of our community, allowing people of all ages and backgrounds to experience and appreciate art in a new and inclusive way. Thank you to our collaborating artists and to our community.
Rethinking How Art Can Be Used to Get People Outside and Healthier
Co Creating Sculptures increases knowledge and fitness
Running 5K's helps others grow their body and learn to make healthy choices
Giving out canvas bags designed by community artists in parks
Creating salads so good the kids thought it was candy
VR designed artwork to promote less litter in our community
Our Popup Library in park brought people out for reading, walking in the fresh air, enjoying healthy snack
Using Art To Beautify and Activism to increase Quality of Life, Safety, & Health
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Public Performances for reimagined possibilities for local public community spaces
Teaching skills to empower local community members and revitalize public spaces
Learn installation techniques to keep public art costs down
Teaching youth how to take charge and empower others
Using crocheting to address homelessness in our comunity
Working in the community is contagious
Artist Frameworks
Scarcity mindset - rooted in the othering of self and judgemental comparison to the other. The need for exclusivity over sharing; belief in limits over surplus. Instead of looking inward one looks outward for nourishment. This looking outward may lead to involvement in non-horizontal networks and abusive systems, the belief that change isn't possible, and the movement toward acceptance of destructive ideologies. The ego may also start to drive decision making in disruptive ways including the belief one must get to the top and the disconnection from relational and nurturing infrastructures.
Be The Museum
Framework
Be The Museum is a framework of Artists Daria Dorosh and Yvonne Shortt. The goal of the framework is to disrupt the scarcity mindset and patriarchal selection systems commonly encountered in the art world. This framework empowers the artist, gives the artist autonomy over their artwork, builds a sustainable practice, builds confidence, helps the artist be introduced to collectors they might not have met otherwise, helps the artist explore their own objectives for their practice, and ultimately gives the artist a way to work toward their goals on their own terms.
Download the Be The Museum framework here (PDF)
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Rooted And Replicated Artist Open Call
Rooted and Replicated: Artists Investigating Institutional frameworks will look at the existing frameworks that support a scarcity mindset. The method we are using to assemble the team is the Artist Open Call framework. Our practice will combine conversation for contemplating core questions and the creation of art to understand and perhaps demonstrate new ideas/concepts to dismantle scarcity for ourselves and within non-profit art institutions. The artist initiators of this call are Shelly Bahl, Daria Dorosh, and Yvonne Shortt
Yvonne will send a followup email to verify addresses for those not selected to send 25.00 for taking part in the artist open call plus to explore a creative session at the Museum for Contemporary Artists discussing this topic (125.00 stipend),and to get permission to share our answers with some institutions.. Emails will go out by by May 19th 11:59 pm.
Residency Participants Selected : Amy Sinclair, Katie Cercone, Seema Pandya, Yasmeen Abdallah, and Ava Nembhard
Funders
SAWCC.
RPGA Studio, Inc,
Research And Development @ AIR Gallery
Drawing Performance by Jodie Lyn See Chow
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Algorithm Bias
This video was first seen at a private university where a woman of color had been reduced to a silhouette by a camera algorithm. After seeing the video the university made the decision to purchase a new algorithm. Eventually, the video went on to be seen in Times Sq.
A Net of Resilience
Collaborative Net-making Workshop
Resilience comes from connections with others. We all trap ourselves in a net of our own fear and shame sometimes. But a safety net we make together with a group of supportive people helps us survive and thrive.
In this collaborative art workshop, we created a net using rope with dancers and community members, had discussions around resilience, and created dance pieces.
Juniper Valley Park
Funding for this program provided through the Mayors Office initiative to end Domestic Violence awarded through Council member Holden and administered through Safe Horizon.
Sanctuary
Hair Sanctuary, Socrates Sculpture Park (Long Island City, NY) 2021
RPGA Studio created Sanctuary together with a community of women artists. It is a space for discussion and self-reflection. Each Sanctuary includes sculptures created inspired by narratives collected from communities. Hair Sanctuary shares Hair stories which touches topics such as race, identity, equality, life, death and the list goes on. Listen to the hair stories here.
If you would like to share your hair story, email a voice recording or a paragraph to: share.hair.stories@gmail.com.
One of the Afro picks installed around the Hair Sanctuary. It’s inspired by one of the stories: “My hair is the difference between life and death.”
Cinder blocks in our community have long symbolized decay but in this installation they are used to build a sanctuary.
Sanctuary, Underground Railroad Education Center (Albany, NY) 2021
Students from the local community worked with RPGA Studio, learning how to use a level, circular saw, mortar, and to sculpt using porcelain clay.
As you walk around the sanctuary little pieces exist in the holes of the cinder blocks. They are fragments: A grandmas shoe, relaxer, a piece of braided hair.
Bringing Youth and Seniors Together for Action and Dialogue
Senior learning to use a miter saw
Senior learning to crochet from high school student
student learning to paint from an elder
Beautifying school fences to connect seniors and elementary school kids
Adults land children working together to revitalize spaces
Bringing members of the community together of all ages for transportation safety
Creating with Community & Getting People To Take Action using Public Art as a Tool
Revitalized space used by thousands daily and taught design and painting skills to 30 youth
Collaboration with DIVAS to teach and have others take action
Collaboration with the DOE to advocate to reopen a park. Raised $100,000 and reopened a park.
Collaboration with houses of worship,
businesses &
NYC agencies to revitalize a downtown hub. Raised $160,000 over 11 years
Mural that raised over 130,000 for increased services
The mural collaboration helped bring in a CASA grant for the following year for the partner organization for continued revitalization.
Boots on the ground to address safety, homelessness, and empowerment
Collaborative build of a kiosk
Kiosk on the street for transportation safety advocacy
Signing transportation safety petition
Creating salads so good the kids thought it was candy
Community conversations
Popup reading library kiosk
Empowering Youth, Schools, and After School providers through art, design, and technology
Through in-school and after-school programming, students learn tools across disciplines, practice what they learn, teach what they learned, and use it to improve their community. See 3 examples of our impact on students and communities below.
1.Innovative design & Implementation: students designed and tested Hanky Family Kit plus advocated for structural fixes in their bathrooms. Awareness helped Raised $230,000 by activating parents for participatory voting. The kit for students promoted hand sanitization, personal responsibility, and innovative bathroom practices for 800 kids
2. Innovative Problem solving: To decrease bullying and religious tension in one school, students designed, funded, and are currently implementing the Acts of Kindness Video Game Club. They created a framework whereby each week students who are kind are nominated for the video game club. Students can be nominated by other students, lunchroom monitors, and administration. The nicer you are the higher the chance you have of being selected for the club for 1 week. Students designed and held a video game fundraise,r raised 1000 for the hardware and got administration by in. This year the club will be run by the principal/
3. Teaching what we learn: Created a curriculum in 3d design and fabrication and trained over 30 after school providers including Woodside on the Move and Divas For Social Justice. RPGA also created a design tournament that impacted over 10,000 families throughout Queens over 7 years
Women Who Build -
Artists Who Own
Tool Lending Library
