Rise Up! The Art of Activism on the Lower East Side is an oral history-based place-marking project honoring sites of cultural and arts activism. This exhibition includes thirteen stories, among countless neighbors, past and present, whose spirit and striving, character and creativity have rendered the Lower East Side a bastion of artful agitation.
Rise Up! has been enriched by advisors whose deep roots and broad visions have guided our selection of local landmarks and knowledge-bearers for inclusion in this project. They continue to connect us to people, places, histories, and traditions that make the Lower East Side a neighborhood where residents are empowered to resist, rock the boat, and rise up.
We acknowledge that this exhibition is mounted on the traditional land of the Lenape Peoples, past and present, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. We thank trailblazers we have lost for fostering a community where their descendants can step forward, organize, and face the challenges of their time.
The Rise Up! exhibition is not and does not aim to be comprehensive. Instead, we hope to offer snapshots into grassroots, innovative, and necessary strategies for setting change in motion and shaping the world we want. Many of these cultural resistance narratives are underrepresented, overshadowed, and told in isolation. We hope that Rise Up! helps to promote representation, point to inter-connections, and paint a robust portrait of the powerful people—artists, activists, and allies, alike—from the Lower East Side.
