Abolitionist Toolbox Series
The Crenshaw Dairy Mart is pleased to present abolitionist toolbox, a new series of program workshops, roundtables, and oral histories examining the local contemporary and historical legacies of Black artists and artists of color-founded arts spaces in Los Angeles. The series examines an intergenerational stewardship of community through built micro-economies as sanctuary spaces for safety, placemaking, skill-sharing, communal learning, archiving, storytelling, and coalition-building. These intergenerational conversations between contemporary and historic community arts spaces empower community members through historical isolation, divestment, and erasure. Through the lens of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart artist collective’s vocabulary of collaboration with a myriad of multi-hyphenate artists (for example, artist-organizer; artist-gallerist; artist-curator; artist-writer; artist-educator; artist-administrator), abolitionist toolbox explores survival tools for Black artists and artists of color in the contemporary landscapes of abolition and the creative economy. As part of abolitionist toolbox, the Crenshaw Dairy Mart will record and archive a contemporary history of the rapidly gentrifying community of Inglewood in the tradition of oral histories, concurrently mapping a coalition of Black-led-and-founded artists spaces in Los Angeles.
Collaborating artists and organizations include Dr. Avriel Epps, Black Girls Code, Patrisse Cullors, Kelsey Reynolds, Avery Collinsbyrd, Waunette Cullors, gene aguilar magaña, Terrick Gutierrez, and Jacqueline Alexander-Sykes of St. Elmo Village.
This workshop series is made possible by Teiger Foundation.
AI Bias & Surveillance Resistance
Join us for a family friendly day to learn about AI and technology featuring a book reading and workshops for littles and adults.
Dr. Avriel Epps will read her new book ‘A Kids Book About AI Bias’ followed by a conversation with Patrisse Cullors about artificial intelligence, systemic biases in technology, and how to support younger generations as they inherit a strange new world. Followed by two workshops:
Workshop A) This family-friendly workshop explores how artificial intelligence (AI) makes decisions and how bias can impact fairness in technology. Participants will learn through discussions, hands-on activities, and training their own AI models using Google's Teachable Machine. Real-world examples from social media, hiring, and policing will show why AI bias matters and how it affects people differently. Families will discover ways to make AI more fair and explore careers in ethical AI and technology. No coding experience is needed—just curiosity and a desire to make tech more inclusive! – This workshop is intended for entire families with school-age children to participate. – 15 SLOTS OPEN –
Workshop B) Surveillance Resistance: We will explore ways to disrupt surveillance technologies through art.
Facilitators: Dr. Avriel Epps and Patrisse Cullors
Wear What You Make: Block Printing and Stitching in the Sun
This hands-on workshop invites participants to slow down, be in community, and build their abolitionist toolbox through the tactile practices of block printing and hand stitching. Together, we’ll explore how making can be both a method of reflection and a practice of liberation.
We’ll begin by intentionally arriving together—taking time to connect, reflect, and ease into the space with a few short journal prompts that ground our making in intention, care, and curiosity. From there, participants will learn the fundamentals of both block printing and hand stitching—accessible, transferable skills that can be carried into everyday life and practice. In the final portion of the workshop, participants will bring these methods together by creating wearable or shareable patches that carry messages of joy, memory, resistance, or rest.
Facilitators: Kelsey Reynolds and Avery Collins-Byrd
Collage and Assemblage
Join LA-based artists Terrick Gutierrez and Jacqueline Alexander Sykes, of St Elmo Village, for an afternoon full of found object art.
Inspired by Noah Purifoy’s work following the 1965 Watts Uprisings, Jacqueline Alexander-Sykes (Executive Director of St. Elmo Village in Mid-City), and LA based artist Terrick Gutierrez have developed an afternoon workshop centering the art of found-object assemblage. Community members will follow the practice of using found objects to tell a story, reinterpreted through their reflections, interests and memories, as well as learn more about the history of the art, and its ties to Los Angeles.
Facilitators: Terrick Gutierrez and Jacqueline Alexander Sykes
Pass It On: Telling and Hearing Stories for Survival
Stories are a form of human technology and have been essential to keeping alive cultures under siege. From the pulpit to the picnic to the Nobel Prize podium, folks have shared both wisdom and warnings, while also naturally archiving our stories for the next generation. This event invites a storytelling call and response, in the spirit of community. Rooted in ancestor authors Toni Morrison’s and Toni Cade Bambara’s commitments to crafting and heeding stories, we will share and hear our own stories, trusting in their inherent wisdom.
Facilitator: Dr. Courtney Baker
Financial Literacy: Understanding your Relationship with Money
Get ready to dive deep into your money mindset and gain financial empowerment that will change your relationship with those dollar bills!
Financial Literacy. Do you want to learn more?? Every financial challenge holds the key to a lesson—unlock it, and you will grow in both wealth and wisdom. Financial struggles are temporary; the lessons they teach can last a lifetime. Success with money starts with clarity—know where you are, where you want to go, and the steps to get there.
Facilitators: Loretta Fields Powell and Javi Merritt
Stitching Our Stories: A 4-Part Hand Quilting Workshop Series
A hands-on series exploring community, cultural preservation, and storytelling through the slow, shared practice of whole cloth quilting.
Inspired by the legacy of the Freedom Quilting Bee and the creative traditions of Black women artists like Faith Ringgold, bell hooks, Alice Walker, and Nikki Giovanni, this four-part workshop series invites participants to slow down, gather in community, and practice the art of whole cloth hand quilting.
Together, we will learn simple, powerful stitches and be introduced to basic embroidery and appliqué techniques, while also engaging with short readings and personal writing. Each participant will create their own quilt over the course of the series, which will be shared at a culminating community showcase on Nov 9.
Each session blends quilting, reflection, and conversation as we explore how working with fabric can be a means to tell stories and hold memories. This is a space for care, storytelling, and creative inheritance– but also a space for letting go of perfectionism. We will play, improvise, and make with joy.
Facilitator: Kelsey Reynolds
Black Being presents Breathing Room: Restorative Practices for Liberation
This Fall, join us as we slow down, breath and lean into our bodies
This event is all about showing how freedom and wellness go hand in hand. Through meditation, breathwork, movement, sound, and plant meditation, participants get to explore rest, presence, and resilience.
We'll discuss the role of abolition in wellness, connecting personal healing with collective liberation. The goal is to provide education, experiential sessions, invite folks to BlackBeingLA's Community Week, and help folks leave feeling grounded, restored, and inspired.
Facilitators: Allison ‘Alli” Simon, Jade Smith, Ché F.M, and Brittany Pollard
Archiving Our Histories: Community Digitization Day with Black Image Center
For our final abolitionist toolbox workshop of the year, we are partnering with Black Image Center and Madelyn Inez, owner and lead archivist of Ode2LA, for a beautiful afternoon of preserving Black and local histories. We’ll be offering free digital archiving services for the community, while fostering intergenerational storytelling, memory sharing, and cultural preservation.
Besides hands-on digitization, we will have community collage and scrapbooking stations, where participants can use materials provided to build their own art projects. This workshop will join together the practice of archiving with the opportunity for creative expression and artmaking.
This program is great for anyone looking to start their digital archiving journey and those curious about maintaining a personal and family archive. By building our personal and community archives, we can take control of our memories and stories for generations to come. Have a family member or community member that could use some help starting their archiving journey? Bring them in!
Facilitator: Madelyn Inez