WOW!!!  You got us there!  In LESS THAN 1 DAY we raised more than $4000 to push us past our goal of $10,000.   In short, you rock!  We're so grateful for such an amazing community. 

Quick update to say our kickstarter campaign is more than halfway toward the finish line and we have just under 1 week to make up the difference. We're close! Can you help?

1) Please share on Facebook and Twitter!  If you've already done that once - thank you!  Would you be willing to plug it again?

2) Email it to friends with a note saying why you support Not An Alternative and No-Space?  A personal nudge from a friend goes a long way.

We can make it, but we need your help to get there!

xox

P.S.  Here are some pics from a recent Occupy Wall Street action -- a candlelight march with Occupy Faith NYC, a network for 1500 clergy from around the city who support OWS. We were also joined by the Council of the Elders, leaders from the civil rights movement.  

Note the banners and the mili-tents!  :)

Hey, we're halfway there!

Hi backers! Can't thank you enough, we're really excited to report that we're more than halfway to our fundraising goal of $10,000, with 26 days to go!  (Big ups to Jeff Hnilicka, co-founder of F.E.A.S.T, for the donation that tipped us past the $5000 mark).   

Potential backers: it's not too late to support this project! We haven't been as attentive to pushing this out as we would like to be, in part because we're so consumed with projects right now!  If you need a little convincing, here's an update on what we're up to and what kinds of things these funds will go to support. 

What are we up to, you ask? Here's an update!

Space build-out + public events    

Lots of progress here, the floors are done, shelving, desks, we have wifi (!) and things are functional enough for coworkers now, so Not An Alternative + collaborators are successfully ensconced with office, coworking, and meeting space.  Using it already as a hub for coordinating new projects.  

Still have a little ways to go for the space to be open for public programming.  We're aiming for a launch at the beginning of December, and we have a great event lined up with David Graeber (anthropologist, author, and activist - one of the initiators of the Occupy Wall Street movement this summer). Event hosted by Jacobin Magazine.

We got a grant to rent a raw warehouse space for art production for Not An Alternative projects that will function symbolically and tactically, coordinated with Occupy Wall Street and community groups on the front lines of the economic crisis. We have a 12 hr assembly line going daily now, with lots of volunteer builders, artists and organizers in and out. Exciting!  Will be ready to send updates and photos soon...

We also just launched a new project and website called #whOWNSpace, an initiative by DSGN AGNC with Not An Alternative and DoTank:Brooklyn, which involves the mapping of POPS (privately-owned public spaces) in NYC. First phase = research, Second phase = pedagogy (with the Public School NYC), Third phase = actions designed to reclaim the commons. 

If you're interested in getting involved in any of the above, let us know: info@notanalternative.net. We'd love to hear from you.

Programming 

While we haven't opened No-Space for public programming yet, we're doing programming in other venues in the interim. No rest for the weary. Some samplings:

October 20: Creative Activism and Occupations in Spain, with artist/activist Leo Martin from Barcelona. Event hosted at NYU's Hemispheric Institute as a part of The Yes Men's Yes Lab.

November 3: Cheeky Actions from the Plane Stupid Climate Movement, celebrated UK-based campaigners John Stewart and Dan Glass were detained and deported at JFK, so we rescheduled and hosted a virtual Skype event with them at NYU's Hemispheric Institute, in collaboration with the Yes Lab. Worked out great, and low carbon footprint to boot! 

November 6: Global Revolutions: U.S., Middle East & North African Uprisings, key organizers from Egypt, Tunisia, and Iran will be joining organizers from Occupy Wall Street this evening at Liberty Square (aka Zuccotti Park) for a teach-in / speak-out and skills share.

That was a long update, but there's lots going on. And thus a semi-neglected Kickstarter push. We're planning to ramp up the Kickstarter publicity this week so we can get closer to our goal of $10k.  Anything raised above that will go to the projects we're producing for #OccupyWallStreet, including winterizable architecture.   

Can you help us push this out this week?  Here's how!

1. Facebook: post the kickstarter video on your Facebook profile with this link 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/naa/nospace

 2. Twitter: send a tweet of your choosing (below are samples, but feel free to come up with your own!). Tip: it helps to include "Pls RT" or "please Retweet" in your tweet - always results in a higher retweet rate.

NotAnAlternative's kickstarter video on the neoliberal economy + art/activism, w/ time lapse + 3D animation, pls RT! http://kck.st/qKLUBc

Great kickstarter video from one of my fave art/activism groups NotAnAlternative. Support them and their #OWS work! http://kck.st/qKLUBc

3. Email: send a personal email plug / appeal to a list of pals / cohorts / compadres.  Let them know that you're backing this project, and why.  Peer to peer fundraising is infinitely more effective than general publicity or posts. Cuz people trust and like people that they trust and like, makes sense, right?  

This takes about 10 minutes longer than posting to Facebook, but the personal plug and referral will be about 10 times more effective at generating new donations, so if you can spare the time and you want to see this funded, please go for it!  We're happy to help with sample copy, just let us know!

Cheers,

Not An Alternative  

xoxo

Hi there! 

Not An Alternative is working on a number of projects related to #OccupyWallStreet, and we'd love to invite your participation.  

1) Over the next 6 weeks, we will coordinate an "art build" operation with the intent to launch a series of projects and actions that are both symbolic and tactical, in collaboration with members of #OccupyWallStreet and local and national community-based groups on the front lines of the economic crisis.  To pull this off we need you! We're calling on folks who can wield paint brushes and drills, have design skills and/or logistical organizing chops, can shoot video or take pics, or drive trucks...starting this week! Sign up here to get involved.

2) DSGN AGNC, Not An Alternative and DoTank:Brooklyn have just launched #whOWNSpace. The project arises from the questions that the #OccupyWallStreet movement has brought up about ownership and use of space in NYC and other cities.  It takes three forms: research, pedagogy, and action. More deets below. 

Cheers, 

 

 

ABOUT #whOWNSpace

#whOWNSpace is a collaborative started by DSGN AGNC with Not An Alternative and Brooklyn DoTank, organizations that have been dealing with spatial politics. Other groups, organizations, and individuals will be joining soon, contact us if you are interested.  Our goal is to gain many other collaborators and together learn from what has happened at Zuccotti park -- using design and art as an advocacy tool so that community groups and activists can continue to use collectively owned and organized urban spaces to further their political, social, and economic agendas.

Project goals are:

1- TO REVEAL conflicting rules and ownerships in the increasingly privatized and commercialized spaces that make up the contemporary neoliberal urban condition

2- TO QUESTION those rules and the current state of our "public" space; discussing the intentions and conditions surrounding our open spaces

3- TO ADVOCATE FOR AND PROPOSE new uses and designs that encourage more public and open spaces for neighborhood uses in accordance to the Call to Action for the Rights of Neighborhoods 

We Create Tools that Reveal Spatial Conflict / We Question Private Space / We Question Public Space / We Advocate for Change / We Conceive and Design Alternatives for Collective use

The 1% weOWNu map focuses on Privately-Owned Public Spaces (POPS) as well as institutions of private funding, specifying financial institutions that received bail-out funds in 2008. The goal of doing so, is to direct attention to the constitutions that control the flow of capital. These funding institutions are essential in the transfer of ownership from the city to private interests.