Art + Farms = Artfarms

With a lot of the neighborhood’s old Polonia bones still intact, it is time to look to new and innovative ways to spur development into the area.  I try to be realistic about the ever changing landscape of the Broadway-Fillmore.  There are many vacant and abandoned homes and a lot of empty parcels of property throughout.  With a combination of historic Polonia’s bones and creative ways to bring life to the neighborhood, Broadway-Fillmore can move into a new age to lift it back up.

An exciting new project in the works is something called Artfarms.

This is from Inhabitat:

Like the broken windows theory, ARTFARMS was created to turn around the stigma that the vacant land of the East Side of Buffalo gives to potentially interested developers. By creating a citywide project that activates these lots, ARTFARMS will not only reenliven the areas surrounding it, but draw the attention of developers to the potential of these properties.

ARTFARMS’ solution is to combine urban farming with art, engaging the community while also yielding a tactile benefit — fresh food. Thus far, the project has chosen artists Millie Chen, Warren Quigley, Ethan Breckenridge, Kyle Butler, Michael Beitz and Megan Michalak to create site-specific pieces for vacant lots around Buffalo. Each artist will design pieces that invite the community in, while coexisting with a partnering urban farm on the lot.

Here is a conceptual photo of Wilson Street for the project.
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Here is a video from David Lagé where he talks about the project.

This isn’t a silver bullet idea either.

Lagé from an Atlantic Cities article:

“I’m not saying that it will be the end use down the road, but it’s a step in escorting it towards whatever it will be in the future,” he says. “Artfarms is ultimately about providing a kind of background concept that the neighborhood can use to move forward on its own and develop its own new activities in the area.”

This project could add to some of the exciting things already going on in the neighborhood to help change it.

ALIVE!

For more about Artfarms, visit their website—> http://www.artfarms.org/