Close out the week with a tour of the strangest and loveliest Privately Owned Public Spaces (“a plaza, arcade, or other outdoor or indoor space provided for public use by a private office or residential building owner in return for a zoning concession”) in Lower Manhattan. What are these odd corners? They’re our spaces–what do we do with them? Everything from civil resistance, to a place to rest if you don’t have a home. Hint: The most famous POPS is Zuccotti Park.

Led by Culture Push staff. Sign up needed.

Party! Dance, eat, talk. A small home space as social utopia. Dancing leads to conversation leads to dancing leads to…who knows? Join Culture Push Fellow Noemí Segarra Ramirez for a post-hurricane Puerto Rican perspective on urgently practiced utopia.

Capacity is limited – Sign up needed.

This exercise will surprise you with investigative prompts throughout the day. Just sign up and make sure to leave your mobile number so we can send you messages. Regular SMS charges may apply. Changes in states of attention very likely.

5 – 9 PM
Location: TBD

Debrief on the Everyday Spy Training exercise in the Random Bar*.

*The “Random Bar” is a daily meeting in a different location each night. YKON and CP staff will be available at the location to discuss the events with participants and mentally prepare for the next day. Locations are noted if known, otherwise TBD. All locations will have food and drink, either from the bar, or provided by CP & YKON.

This popular education workshop will explore grassroots social movements, the problems they seek to address, and the stuckness and confusion they experience under neoliberalism.

Culture Push Fellow '14 Pattern Detector will lead participants in viewing movement-media: audio and video clips of documentaries, speeches, raw footage and interviews that illuminate the nature and consequences of these problems. There will be a discussion about the incomprehensibility of phenomena such as neocolonialism, imperialism, social change and global warming, and how the corporate media obscures understanding of these issues. Please note that this session will involve viewing and discussing materials some may find upsetting. Workshop length: 2 hours. Bathroom and water available on site. You can find the protocol from here.

Exact time TBD, but will be in the evening for 2 hours
Location: TBD

In this exercise you will deep-dive into another world — the world of social insects! Throughout your regular day, aricoco will prompt you to explore insect-inspired altruistic modes of behavior as a way to tap into new, and perhaps more productive, realities.

Advance sign-up is required to participate in this exercise.

5 – 9 PM
Location: TBD (sign up to receive the location)
Debrief for the Metamorphic exercise in the Random Bar.* Sign up for the exercise and you’ll receive the location of the Random Bar.

*The “Random Bar” is a daily meeting in a different location each night. YKON and CP staff will be available at the location to discuss the events with participants and mentally prepare for the next day. Locations are noted if known, otherwise TBD. All locations will have food and drink, either from the bar, or provided by CP & YKON.

This exercise must be walked to be truly experienced. Walis Johnson will lead a walking tour that reveals the effects and historical artifacts of redlining (the Federal practice of systematically discriminating against Black homeowners). Sign up to take part and receive preliminary information on redlining.
Location TBD

6-9 p.m. Walking the Red Line exercise will segue into the Random Bar*, discussion at a place TBD in Bed Stuy or Crown Heights.

*The “Random Bar” is a daily meeting in a different location each night. YKON and CP staff will be available at the location to discuss the events with participants and mentally prepare for the next day. Locations are noted if known, otherwise TBD. All locations will have food and drink, either from the bar, or provided by CP & YKON.

Always wanted to use power tools, but never had the chance? CP Fellow Yvonne Shortt will lead an exercise, as an extension of her Women Who Build-Artists Who Own project, in relaxed self-empowerment and profound dwelling. Sessions will take place in 30 minutes intervals, starting with tea and conversation, followed by a mutual learning session with a power tool. Each session can host 1-3 people. Sign up ahead of time for a 30 minute time slot!

4:30-7:30 p.m. Debrief of Tea and Tools exercise with Yvonne Shortt and the Rego Park Green Alliance, and prepare with YKON and Culture Push for the week ahead. Snacks and drinks provided by YKON and Culture Push.

Limited capacity—please sign up here for the Random Bar so we know how many chairs to put out.

**The Random Bar is a daily meeting debrief in a different location each night. YKON and CP staff will be available at the location to discuss the day’s events with participants and mentally prepare for the next day. Locations are noted if known, otherwise TBD. All locations will have food and drink.

This YKON Tutorial will initiate you as a Practical Utopian into the week of 7 Exercises with a special how-to session which you won’t find online (yet). Join us at the Armory (our Random Bar* for the night) and we’ll walk you through a simple 3-step program that will sharpen your practical utopian skill set and prepare you for the upcoming week. Come get your Practical Utopian identifier, and learn about what the week will bring.

*The “Random Bar” is a daily meeting in a different location each night. YKON and CP staff will be available at the location to discuss the events with participants and mentally prepare for the next day. Locations are noted if known, otherwise TBD. All locations will have food and drink, either from the bar, or provided by CP & YKON.