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From Henry Street Settlement:
Lower East Side residents (or people who work on the LES) can be part of an exciting video art project at the Abrons Arts Center and appear larger than life – if you act quickly. The Big Art Group, in collaboration with the Abrons, is interviewing Lower East Side residents (or workers) to create a video portrait of our neighborhood and community. These interviews (conducted in a group format) will be videotaped, edited and projected on the Abrons building for the community to see. All participants will be send video links for approval; if they are unhappy with their appearance, their segments will be removed. The interviews will be low key and the questions will be unobtrusive and flexible enough for everyone to answer with ease, for example: How long have you lived in the neighborhood? Do you have a family? The questions are based on the Orestia, the Greek play, and the images and edited interview segments will be used within a live performance as a Greek chorus, intercut with the live action of the company recreating parts of the play. The project is designed to spark conversations around universal issues of democracy and justice. Big Arts Group and the Abrons goal is to include as many LES voices as possible in a conversation about community and giving as many folks as we can the opportunity to participate in a community based project. The questions are not intended to expose interviewees, but rather engage the folks of this community in a meaningful and generative way. Interviews will be conducted on Sunday, April 27, any time between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Each group interview (with six people) will take approximately one hour. Please call Millie Kapp, Engagement Manager for Performance at the Abrons at 212.598.0400 or write mkapp@henrystreet.org.
