#grasstronaut

Would like to take a moment to highlight a cool website we really support: grasstronaut.com — run by our friend Elise (a former Topshelf intern!). The website touts itself as

"a resource for grassroots arts organizations / venues / artists / thinkers / projects / ideas / puppies to share, connect and learn about issues facing yourselves and your communities."

We think they're doing and highlighting important things and would encourage you to snoop around their website!

I made a pretty picture for an article about the sustainability of DIY art spaces. Lots of thanks to Elise from Grasstronaut for letting me work in a new style that I’m excited about.

Go here to read all about! Or see a roughish copy ‘n’ paste below.

HELP A PROJECT OUT! There was a recent, devastating fire at the mixed-use warehouse home to AK Press, 1984 Printing, and a bunch of residents. Oakland deems their building still unoccupiable. In the meantime, will you help with their recovery? You can donate to their GoFundMe here. If helping out non-monetarily is more of your thing, read about other ways you can help in their recent update here.

THE FIGHT CONTINUES! We’re somewhere towards the end of one of five (five! as many fingers as you might have!) attempts by UC San Diego to zap The C.H.E. Cafe off the face of the campus. The 35-year-old San Diego DIY space released a statement of occupation by their community on March 24th– that’s the day UC was going to enact the eviction. A community of students, faculty, alumni, and San Diego neighbors successfully protected the space from eviction. Since then, there’s been no response from the university, and they’re moving forward even stronger with a mural-painting day with Mario Torero on April 16th as well as opening up the space to student organizations to request.

SPACELESS BUT NOT FORGOTTEN! The Division Arts Avenue Collective (The DAAC) may be without a home, but they’ll be programming in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood temporarily as part of the Rumsey St Project, a temporary public art experiment in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

WRITE REVIEWS! Like reading zines, and having something to say about it? Give one of the many amazing Pioneers Press titles a review for them. Get in touch with Jessie Duke at [email protected], and read more about it at the bottom of their spring newsletter here.

PLAY IN THE BAY! There’s an annual Bay Area Latinx Punk Fest, it celebrates punk Latinxs/Chicanxs/Indigenxs, and you can sign up to play or host a workshop before May 1st.

DIY-CUMENTARIES! A trailer just dropped/launched/premiered for Taking Space: A Documentary, a new exploration into Southern Californian DIY venues fighting, surviving, and thriving. The recent resistance of The C.H.E. Cafe eviction makes a big ‘ol cameo.

PAID YOUTH FELLOWSHIP! Paid. Youth. Fellowship. You read it right. Work with Mayday Space in Bushwick to support the space in their radical community organizing. This opportunity is for Brooklyn youth ages 16-24, and it goes for ten months. Deadline to apply is April 24.