NYC Community Gardens featured at the 1st Moscow International Forum,
16 October 2014
By Magali Regis, NYCCGC Board Member
I was invited to participate in the 1st Moscow International Forum. The theme this year was: Culture - Look into the Future. The event was organized by the Department of Culture of Moscow and took place from the 15th to 18th of October 2014. The Forum brought together 24 international experts in the fields of culture and art, science and education, architecture and parks, as well as business and creative industries. Representatives of various urban institutions such as libraries and theaters, museums and parks, cultural centers and music labels, film companies, festivals and art fairs, universities, and many others also participated. The Culture Forum took place at the Manege, Moscow's premiere Exhibition Hall, and was free of charge to the general public. Over 25,000 attended. Beyond lectures and panel discussions, the Forum also included performances, concerts, exhibits, a fashion show, films, pop-up cafes, and gift shops at the venue.
My presentation on New York City community gardens was within the context of Parks and Culture. The title of my lecture was Community gardens: Crossroad of cultural diversity in New York City Creating & preserving green space for communal use & community development through social, cultural, horticultural and environmental expressions
It felt good to share with them what we do. I started the presentation by giving them a brief history of community gardens in New York in the past 30 years, the struggles we've been through during the Giuliani administration, the Garden Agreement, and then talked about the different types of gardens and urban farms we have in different communities, their role in bringing communities together, their role in the culturally diverse landscape of the city, where we are now, and our goals for the future. I had a PowerPoint presentation with great photographs of many of our gardens contributed by a lot of the gardeners themselves and a few professional photographers. I talked about Earth Celebrations, LUNGS' annual Harvest Arts Festival, Art around the Park at Tompkins Square Park, to name a few.
All the presentations were simultaneously translated (English to Russian and Russian to English). The Parks panel - which my presentation was part of - had about 40 people in attendance. There were four panelists, two representing international experiences; myself and Galina Likhterova (Israel), and two representing parks in Moscow: Sergey Georgievsky and Oleg Shapiro. Since the panel's title was A District's cultural identity & local communities as the basis for development of public spaces, I also thought it was fitting to include the 596 acres narrative since their mission is to help people access land for community use. The comments and questions afterward were interesting, ranging from how community gardens are funded, to the quality of NYC soil to whether industrial food producers viewed us as a threat to them. All in all it was a great experience of sharing and networking and it also gave me the opportunity to explore and discover Moscow".
More info on www.moscowcultureforum.ru or you can check the Moscow culture forum facebook page.
Manage Exhibit Hall
Manege conference areas
Magali Regis (far right) with other international panelists
Interpreter's booth (English to Russian, Russian to English)
Magali's presentation on NYC Community Gardens
Magali's presentation on NYC Community Gardens
