Little Berlin Fairgrounds (donation link)

This project needs support! It received a grant from the 2012 Knight Arts Challenge to convert a vacant lot into a space for visual arts, performance events, workshops, and community gathering. It's a matching-grant, however, and must meet the grant amount in order to be fully received. As this space develops, I'm hoping it can become an inter(national) meeting ground -- I'm definitely future-thinking of city exchanges. Philadelphia is a wonderful city, vibrant and raw. It's not far from NYC and Washington DC. It has an intense manufacturing history, and Viking Mill, the building in which the gallery Little Berlin resides, was one of the fore-most producers of textiles during the 1800s. It had a 250-horse power steam engine! Unfortunately, manufacturing disappeared and left many unemployed. The area is redeveloping, however. The Kensington neighborhood is becoming an artist hub because of plentiful vacant factory buildings and warehouses and cheap rent. The Frankford Ave Arts Corridor participates in First Fridays and features many artist-run galleries. The Fairgrounds lies a block west of the Corridor. The community would benefit from a vacant lot (long used for prostitution, drug deals, and dumping) transformed into a garden to be utilized for positivity and growth.