This Week in Chelsea: January 31-February 6, 2022

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In This Week’s “THIS WEEK IN CHELSEA”

In Order of Appearance:

Midtown South Community Council Meeting / Community Board Applications Accepted Through March 1 / Community Board 4′ s Full Board Meeting / Chelsea Reform Democratic Club Assembly District 75 Candidate Forum /  Fountain House Gallery Group Exhibition /  Hudson Guild Gallery Exhibit / Participatory Budgeting is Back 

Image courtesy of MSCC

Tuesday, February 1, 9:30am-10:30am via Zoom: Midtown South Community Council Homeless and Housing Meeting | Held to “share knowledge, ideas, and resources to identify problems and find solutions to the homeless and housing crisis,” this meeting of the Midtown South Community Council (MSCC) is open to all. For the Zoom link, click here (passcode = 535128). Special guests for the Feb. 1 meeting include documentary filmmaker Jeff Seal (creator of the doc New York’s Worst Landlord) and NYC Assembly District 75 candidate Layla Law-Gisiko. For more info on MSCC activities, click here.

Image courtesy of Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine

Through March 1: Manhattan Community Board Applications Accepted | A result of last year’s Primary and General Election process, newly installed Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has already embarked upon on of his marquee responsibilities: Appointing new members to Manhattan community boards. In order to be considered for appointment, a complete application must be submitted online or postmarked by no later than 5:00 pm Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Click here to see the application, which is a doozy, and must be completed in one single sitting–so be sure and preview it before embarking upon it.

Image via the CB4 website

Wednesday, February 2, 6:30pm via Zoom: The Full Board Meeting of Manhattan Community Board 4 (CB4) | The meaty matters dined on by CB4’s various committees come to fruition at this monthly gathering of the board’s full membership, where action-oriented letter penned by those committees are voted on by the full board. Also, this monthly gathering is your chance to participate in the Public Session. Sign up for a slot and get two minutes of uninterrupted time to speak your mind. For the link to sign up, click here. For the Zoom registration link to the meeting, click here. For the Feb. 2 agenda and background materials, click here. And, for the home page of the CB4 website, click here.

Wednesday, February 2, 7pm via Zoom: Chelsea Reform Democratic Club (CRDC) Presents  a Gathering of NY State Assembly District 75 Candidates | “After the retirement announcement of Assembly Member Richard Gottfried,” notes the CRDC, “Chelsea Democrats have an important decision to make about who will represent us in Albany.” This online event is your chance to see and hear the candidates, as they appear before the CRDC–which is the club of retiring Assembly Member Gottfried (click here for our recent coverage of Gottfried’s announcement). For the Zoom link to the Feb. 2 event, click here.

Maria Bronkema’s “Robbie’s Dream of the Future” (2021; Pencil, watercolor on watercolor paper; 15 × 21 in, 38.1 × 53.3 cm). | Image via Fountain House Gallery

Through March 2: “Futures” at Fountain House Gallery | Fountain House Gallery–representing artists with mental illness–presents this  group exhibition on view through March 2, and curated by Barbara Pollack. “Post-2020, predicting the future is perhaps an antiquated game, given how the sudden onset of the pandemic surprised all prognosticators,” said Pollack, co-founder of Art at a Time Like This, a nonprofit platform serving artists and curators in the 21st century, as they live through crises and comment on social issues; she will serve as the lead curator of Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity, opening at Asia Society in June 2022. “Combining boundless imagination with low-tech materials, the nearly 20 artists of Futures create a new way of dealing with our hopes, fears and anxieties, conjuring visions that cannot be seen through telescopes or crystal balls. From apocalyptic nightmares to over-the-rainbow fantasies, the artworks in this exhibition underscore the limits of politicians, scientists and astrologers to find a new way of envisioning imminent change. Only artists, like these, seem capable of creating images that are dynamic and capture the diversity of the future, or more accurately, ‘futures,’ since this holds a different meaning for each.” To preview selected works, click here. Note: Masks and proof of vaccination are required for entry to Fountain House Gallery. To learn more about the gallery (702 Ninth Ave. at W. 48th St.), click here.

Through Wednesday, February 2 at Hudson Guild Gallery I (Hudson Guild Fulton Center, 119 Ninth Ave.): The Light Over The Horizon (Light Art by Tom Fitzgibbon)| Viewing hours are Tues.-Fri., 10am-5pm. See the below flyer for more details or click here. Hudson Guild Galleries are located in the Elliott-Chelsea Houses (W. 26th St.) and in the Fulton Houses (Ninth Ave.). The galleries partner with nearby neighbor Google, as part of the Google Arts & Culture online platform. In doing so, Hudson Guild shares works by artists whose work has appeared in the gallery spaces over the past two decades. “It also,” the Gallery curators note, “gives us the opportunity to create permanent records of many different kinds of shows which are presented each year in the galleries, while also advancing our mission to make the arts accessible to all.” NOTE: Hudson  Guild Galleries are free to attend, but you must observe these five points of protocol. #1: Visitors are asked to spend no more than 15 minutes inside the galleries. #2: Visitors who wish to stay in the galleries for more than 15 minutes must fill out the Hudson Guild Health Screener in advance before entering the galleries. To access the Health Screener, visit hudsonguild.org. At the top of the first page it says “Click Here for a Health Screen” which will take you di­rectly to the registration page. #3: Visitors must have their temperature taken by reception staff before entering the theatre and will not be permitted to enter if their temperature is above 100 degrees. #4: Visitors must wear masks at all times while in the building. #5: Visitors will observe social distancing of three feet from other visitors while in the galleries. 

Participatory Budgeting Returns to New York City Council District 3 | Sure, he recently handed out COVID tests, and spoke passionately on TV about the joys of Chelsea street corners bereft of huge piles of garbage… but what has Councilmember Erik Bottcher done for you lately? How about set aside a cool million, to be distributed among projects created by District 3 residents? Known as Participatory Budgeting (PB), the popular Cheddar/Lettuce Distribution program, which in its first year was responsible for creating West 20th Street’s beloved Chelsea Green pocket park, is set to return once again–End Date, April 22, 2022.  Area residents (think Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Greenwich Village, West SoHo, Hudson Square, Times Square, Garment District, Flatiron, Upper West Side) vote on a variety of proposals. The winning entry is fully funded, and what’s left after that gets distributed to the second, third, etc. winners until the money has been spent. To visit Bottcher’s Councilmember web page, click here. To visit the District 3 PB page, click here. There, among other nuggets, you’ll find this dandy: That $1 million, culled from the Councilmember’s budget allocation, “can be used for physical infrastructure projects that benefit the public, cost at least $50,000, and have a lifespan of at least 5 years. For example, projects such as local improvements to schools, parks, libraries, housing, and other public spaces can be funded. Ideas are then evaluated and voted on by residents of the district.”

 

This Week in Chelsea: January 31-February 6, 2022 is posted on