The Future Belongs to the Loving

Opening Day of Collaborative Events + Reception

May 3rd, 2025

Collaborative Creating 11am - 6pm

Exhibition Reception 6-8pm

Exhibition on view: May 3 - July 31, 2025

Curators and Organizers: Patricia Miranda, Michael Sylvan Robinson, Natalya Khorover, Jenn Cacciola, and Sarah Valeri

The Deadline has passed- however the project is evolving and ongoing. If you have an idea for a collaborative project or are an organization interested in the project- email us at mapspace.art@gmail.com

There is no fee to enter or propose projects.

Description:

How can artists strengthen the connections and care that foster community in these challenging times of environmental and political crisis? As we encounter individuals and institutions self-censoring in an effort to be “safe,” we come together to hold and celebrate art that is joyous, openly activist, and politically explicit. This project offers the empathetic space of art to encourage practices of artivism and craftivism and to support artists who facilitate community-building. As artists, we can join together to create pathways away from isolation and anchor us in resilient communities to face the challenges ahead.

Some terms:

Craftivism is a social process of collective empowerment, activism, and expression incorporating elements of anti-capitalism, solidarity, and feminism centered on practices of craft.

An artivist is an artist who uses their work to promote social change and challenge injustice.

Themes:

Feminism

Health, Rights, and Autonomy of women and women-identified persons

Violence against particular communities and all humans

LGBTQ-BIPOC issues

Ecology and Environmental issues (all aspects)

Alternate Economies for grassroots communities

Art+Craft and Activism

Your theme here!

Details:

On May 3rd, 2025, at MAPSpace we will activate the space with a full day of events, making and creating art together on individual and collaborative artworks. The day will conclude with an exhibition reception.

We invite you to collaborate with us for the May 3rd event, and throughout the duration of the exhibition. Whether you are an artivist, craftivist, or artist who typically doesn’t consider yourself an activist, we welcome you to join us for this act of care and coalition-building. We hope this project will also be a seed for future artivist projects.

We welcome all genres of art! Everyone is needed to build hope, resilience, and care in our communities. We are open to ideas big and small.

If you are interested in proposing a workshop, presentation, collective event, or artwork to be included in the exhibition and beyond, please use the submissions Google form linked below. Workshops and presentations may be highly informative with actionable wisdom or may prioritize less structured time spent in collective making. Activist organizations interested in participating in events and partnering with artists are also welcome. Our focus is projects and workshops that emphasize community, collaboration, and change, and that might collaborate with organizations that are doing on-the-ground change work. We welcome radical political work and artworks that emphasize the joy and love of resistance.

Let’s grow this nationally!

This program is in-person and deeply local. We are also interested in partnering with artists, artist-run organizations, galleries, institutions, community groups around the country who are interested in creating simultaneous programming where you are. If you are an artist or org who would like to initiate something in your area- apply with your project. We will coordinate all programs under the project and website. Groups will independently design, initiate, and control their own programs, to be listed with all under the The Future Belongs to the Loving Project. The NY contingent will not organize, interfere, or fund these projects- we hope this can be a country-wide community effort!

NOTE: This is a volunteer artist-run project. Our main goal is to join together in person to make, create, and resist. For these reasons, only work that can be hand-delivered will be accepted. We do not have funds or staff to handle shipped works, or to fund projects. Work can be for sale or not. The gallery commission is 50%. 25% of this will go to causes decided by the committee and/or the community of makers. The remainder will fund the program website, supplies, and exhibition materials.

Residency

We are also developing a possible Residency at MAPSpace for summer 2025. This would be for groups of 3 or more artists, artivists, craftivists, activists, and organizations who want a free space to work together on action-oriented projects. This is not a studio residency for one artist. If you are interested in more info, check the box in the application and stay tuned!