C Drew - Street Artist Adventures

If you want to know what freedom looks like study A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists Response To Illegal State Tactics) actions to defend their rights. You will not find any reports of their fight in any national media or anywhere else but on their yahoo groups pages.

If you want to be part of our future leadership to gain our speech rights in Chicago you need to follow their actions, read their letters and study their tactics. Their fight is our fight. This is a national issue. If they should ever fail, free speech for artists in this nation will have no place to look to for comparison.

Here is a link to their yahoo groups page.

Here is a link to Robert Lederman’s latest message.

The BID’s Mr. Lederman refers to are the Business Improvement Districts that represent the wishes of the corporate interests - the major landowners who attempt to write all the rules. They feel they own the streets and parks which belong to the public. Let me give you an example of this in Chicago. The photo above is from my Art-Action printing and giving away patch-art in front of the Merchandise Mart on Saturday during Artropolis - the major annual weekend art convention hosted by the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. One of the two security guards for the “Mart” pictured in the background trying to figure out what to do about me said when I first began to setup, “I don’t think the company is going to let you do that.”

Naturally, he was referring to the Merchandise Mart, his employer. I said, “I’m on the public sidewalk. Your company does not own the public sidewalk. Call the police if you wish.”

My point is if you know who calls the police, you know who writes the laws that take your rights away. The owners of the Merchandise Mart and the others who own buildings in the Loop represent our “BIDs” in Chicago. With this knowledge you are ready to read Mr. Lederman’s letters to NYC artists and understand how their fight is the same as our fight.

A.R.T.I.S.T. members came out in a heavy rain to defend their speech rights. We have some building to do in Chicago to gain our speech rights. Let’s start by making the Patch Art Project fun for artists and the public while promoting the artists who contribute to designs to be printed and given away in public.

We need more of you to take our Sunday workshop more seriously and we need to build a solid core leadership through this summer’s actions. Expect another letter - hopefully this week - detailing my Artropolis experience. Thanks to all who helped distribute fliers and patches this last weekend.

Enjoy.

c drew