Film Screening: Stories from Neighborhoods Now
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
7:00pm – 8:30pm
Film Screening: Stories from Neighborhoods Now
Tuesday, July 25, 7–8:30 pm
Van Alen Institute, 303 Bond Street, Brooklyn
Join us for a special film screening and conversation with filmmaker Kate Levy plus Neighborhoods Now partners Dale Charles, Bed-Stuy Gateway BID, and Leslie Ramos, 82nd Street Partnership.
Neighborhoods Now was a community-led design initiative to help NYC recover and rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched in spring 2020 by the Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute, Neighborhoods Now connected community organizations with 200+ designers, engineers, lawyers, and more to support their visions for a more resilient future.
In 2022, Kate Levy documented the work of neighborhood leaders and their design teams as they enlivened and programmed public space, provided support to small businesses, and envisioned thriving futures for their neighborhoods. Her series of short films captures a critical moment of recovery from the pandemic in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.
About the Films
Neighborhoods Now — Premiere! (18 min)
Neighborhoods Now was a community-led design initiative to help NYC recover and rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched in spring 2020 by the Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute, Neighborhoods Now connected community organizations with 200+ designers, engineers, lawyers, and more to support their visions for a more resilient future. Together, these interdisciplinary teams enlivened and programmed public space, provided support to small businesses, and envisioned thriving futures for neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.
Neighborhoods Now Presents: 82nd Street Partnership (8 min)
The 82nd Street Partnership works night and day to support the many immigrant-owned small businesses in Jackson Heights, Queens. The neighborhood was hit hard by the pandemic, but the Partnership is bringing their neighbors back out into the community by enlivening a small local park with music and dance representing Jackson Heights’ incredibly diverse cultures. With her Neighborhoods Now team, Executive Director Leslie Ramos and her colleagues are setting their sights on bigger changes to Jackson Heights’ public spaces.
Neighborhoods Now Presents: Bed-Stuy Gateway BID (8 min)
The Bed-Stuy Gateway BID supports 300+ small businesses in Bed-Stuy’s bustling commercial corridors. With the support of Neighborhoods Now, the BID launched Winter Wonderland, an annual holiday market at Bed-Stuy’s Marcy Plaza that showcases dozens of locally-owned businesses each holiday season. Growing from a small pilot launched at the height of the pandemic to an established annual celebration, Winter Wonderland aims to be a lively community anchor for years to come.
About Kate Levy
Kate Levy (b. 1984, Royal Oak, Michigan) is a filmmaker and multimedia artist. In collaborations with community organizers, she has produced projects related to water, education, police violence, immigration and environmental and economic justice. She has exhibited her installation and film work at galleries, museums, and film festivals. She is a past MacDowell fellow, a Patagonia Works Media grant recipient and beginning in August 2023, she will be the Stuart B. and Barbara Padnos Distinguished Artist-In-Residence at Grand Valley State University.
To learn more, visit katelevydocumentary.com.
About Dale Charles
Dale Charles is the Executive Director of the Bed-Stuy Gateway BID, where she represents a growing, eclectic community of entrepreneurs, nonprofit and arts organizations, families, artists, advocates who are proud to call Bedford-Stuyvesant home. Previously, she was the Director of Economic Development at IMPACCT Brooklyn and was a small business owner for more than twenty years.
About Leslie Ramos
Leslie A. Ramos is the Executive Director of the 82nd Street Partnership. She has extensive experience working with small businesses, City agencies, and the Latino community, bringing a wealth of knowledge in economic and community development practices. She began her career at the Office of Management and Budget, and has also served as Assistant Commissioner for Finance at the Department of Housing Preservation & Development.
Neighborhoods Now is an official selection for the 2023 Dumbo Film Festival! Following our July 25 premiere, Neighborhoods Now will screen during the festival, held October 19-22 at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge.