BY: AMIRA TURNER
When Mayday Space, a Bushwick-based community arts center, first opened its doors in 2014, its organizers sought for the space to be an accessible neighborhood resource. Now, nearly 10 years later, Mayday Space is struggling to keep its doors open. Within the last decade, Bushwick has seen high rates of gentrification, vastly changing the landscape of the neighborhood. Mayday Space has lost foundation funding, putting its vision of a space where people can create, organize, and celebrate together is at risk.
On October 12, in partnership with the fundraising group Artists for Mutual Aid, Mayday Space hosted an Artisan Bazaar complete with vendors, tattoo artists, tooth gems, DJs, and drag performances to raise money to keep Mayday Space’s doors open. Participants were encouraged to purchase raffle tickets to win prize packs donated by local artists, farmers, stores, and performers, with all proceeds going to Mayday Space. The event was well attended, with a steady stream of locals, activists, and artists flowing through the space to shop and enjoy performances from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The events kicked off with both a land acknowledgment and a ‘hood acknowledgment’, recognizing how Bushwick’s historically Black and Latino communities have been pushed out in recent years. Mayday Space volunteer Ryan Page expressed the organization’s commitment to addressing this, stating “Bushwick, Brooklyn is a neighborhood heavily impacted by gentrification, displacement, and hyper-policing. We acknowledge our responsibility and commitment as a community space in this hood to support and defend long-term residents and neighbors to stay here. This is a critical focus on our work.”
Mayday Space’s work to keep its events accessible to diverse artists hasn’t gone unnoticed. Non-Binary Chinese-American artist Sally Chen shared their struggles finding places like Mayday Space to sell their prints, “I grew up in Bensonhurst in South Brooklyn, and I have never really seen a market especially prioritizing BIPOC voices, like queer and trans people,” they continued, “and nowadays, with the ones that are more accessible or easier to get to in the city sometimes the price point is insane.”
Finding space to vend art has become increasingly difficult for New York artists, with the recent New York Police Department and Parks Department crackdown on vendors in parks, like Washington Square Park and Union Square. “It’s one of the only places you can be that wouldn’t actually charge you a table fee,” local artist Maria Lena shared about their experience vending at Mayday Space, “And what’s been happening recently is cops have been coming into places like Washington Square Park and doing really big sweeps and that’s been intimidating people, making them feel unsafe to pursue their livelihood and pursue their passions.”
Volunteer Ryan Page acknowledged Mayday Space’s other community commitments, including their bi-weekly community food distribution, fundraisers for Gaza, abortion fundraisers, and free music program for BIPOC youth. For activist Annam Joy, an Artists for Mutual Aid Volunteer, Mayday Space has been a place to organize. “I came here four years ago, and this is where I met my entire activist community.” Through Mayday Space, Joy has been able to mobolize their activist community,” Joy said. “Since then, we’ve been involved with various social justice efforts around the city, mainly with the North Brooklyn pipeline coalition fighting against the National Grid North Brooklyn pipeline.”
Mayday Space’s organizers released a statement on Instagram detailing current plans for the remainder of the year, “Our immediate goal is to keep the space open until the end of the year to honor existing bookings. With support from our community, we are also exploring different volunteer models to continue to provide space for Bushwick mutual aid efforts and grassroots groups fighting to make our city a more just, livable, and fun place for all.”