Organising ABUELOS
2024
Graphics: DesignerPhilly
Organising ABUELOS
How do we prepare for a community space in which culture, radical hospitality and architecture are crafted to meet the moment?
In 2024, the MAIA team are making a fundamental shift to step into the next stages of making transformative cultural infrastructure tangible. We’re working on a spatial justice proposal to move land from a private commodity into a community entity, held in perpetuity for Black thrivance.
Through this platform, we will create ABUELOS, a cultural centre with accommodation, as a site of radical hospitality and artistry. This is not speculative. Working closely with visionary and brilliant collaborators, from our community, to the design team, to artists-in-residence, to legal, finance and governance partners, we are excitedly embarking on the next phase of the journey to materialise this space and are looking for co-conspirators to organise with.
Organising ABUELOS is a programme that ran from 23-26 October 2024, in which we invited our community, peers and those we have yet to meet, into a collective enquiry that informs how ABUELOS becomes real.
If you want to read more about some of ABUELOS' structural layers, what we're organising around and what shaped the curation of this programme, please check out our Medium.
So, who’s ready to build? Let’s Recap…
WEDNESDAY, 23rd OCTOBER
ART SCHOOL [11am — 4pm]
Open House [6pm — 8pm]
THURSDAY, 24th OCTOBER
ART SCHOOL [11am — 4pm]
Black Visions + Legacies [6pm — 8pm]
FRIDAY, 25th OCTOBER
ART SCHOOL [11am — 4pm]
Land + Community Preservation [6pm — 8pm]
SATURDAY, 26th OCTOBER
WORKSHOPS
ABUELOS Architecture: A Community Deep Dive [10.30am]
The Peopledem’s Skills Audit [11.45am]
Disability Justice and Architecture [1.00pm]
TALKS
Introducing ABUELOS [10am]
Land, Spatial Justice + Reparations [10.30am]
Climate + Ladywood [11.45am]
Resituating Cultural Infrastructures [1.00pm]
ART SCHOOL
One of MAIA’s tools for community engagement, ART SCHOOL invites participants to explore topics affecting Ladywood and beyond through creative prompts and materials. This process weaves personal imaginations into the design and making of ABUELOS.
We worked with Alima Rico, illustrator and visual notetaker, to document the sessions artistically. Below are highlights from her work and participant contributions:
ART SCHOOL fostered a transformative space of trust and collaboration, allowing participants to connect personally and collectively. Starting with curiosity, rather than architectural plans, helped convey ABUELOS’ cultural depth.
ART SCHOOL prompts provided fertile ground for the community to build trust and unashamedly connect with one another. The space was as emotional as it was practical and radical – creating a supportive, focused entry point for attendees to start their journey with us. In this work, starting with architectural plans is not always the most effective way to convey the cultural depths of ABUELOS; but starting from a shared point of curiosity can be helpful. While we did not expect the intimacy that naturally occurred within the group, we are reminded of the reasons why this organisation has a focus on Black life even though the challenges that we are faced with are widespread. Throughout the sessions, participants drew on their personal experiences to guide them through their responses – and organically and authentically supported one another in their artistic expressions.
Black Visions + Legacies
Our second evening featured community film screenings of Bathsheba and Tomorrow is Built Today, two films exploring the intersection of Black life, self-determination, and space.
Bathsheba (2024)
Written and Directed by Myah Jeffers
Run time: 15m
A grieving widow facing eviction finds unexpected solace in her new tenant.
[WATCH HERE]
Tomorrow is Built Today (2023)
Directed by Tim Oshodi
Run time: 23m
The story of Lewisham’s pioneering Black-led self-build movement, told by those who overcame institutional barriers to create award-winning eco-homes.
[WATCH NOW]
Following the event, a discussion ensued (as they do in YARD). We made a record of some of the key themes that emerged during this discussion.
Land and Community Preservation
On the third evening, our panel discussion and film screening focused on Land + Community Preservation. Guests included Nabil Al-Kinani, Lynda McFarlane, Kathy Jane Hopkin, and Dr Marco Di Nunzio, all of whom are actively organising to preserve land and nurture communities.
Key Themes:
Land Ownership vs. Stewardship: The need for models like community land trusts that prioritise people over profit.
Systemic Issues: Exploring how imperial and colonial ideologies still shape land ownership today.
Resistance and Alternatives: Advocating for systemic overhauls to create equitable, community-centred land systems.
Screening: Boyz N The Hood (1991)
Director: John Singleton
Run Time: 1h 52m
Boyz N The Hood dissects themes of race, relationships, and systemic violence in South Central Los Angeles.
We recognise and extend gratitude that this work is being generously uplifted by folks in so many ways, including by people unable to attend these events. If you are looking to support the project with skills, resources or advocacy, please email Amahra Spence at as@maiagroup.co. If you are curious and want to know more about ABUELOS, please email Mariam Aslam at ma@maiagroup.co.