ABOUT WE ARE THIS CITY
MISSION
The mission of We Are This City is to develop high impact community projects and exhibitions that are fun and engaging.
VISION
We Are This City projects create community made canvasses which are distributed to local artists and then exhibited at local businesses to increase value and visibility for our community as well as the artists involved.
WHAT WE DO
We Are This City Community Art Projects
In September 2015, We Are This City hosted two community-driven events titled “ABQ BALLOON BLAST,” in which more than 70 youth and families participated. These interactive art experiences invited community members to participate in fun, celebratory exchange while creating abstract art by throwing balloons filled with paint at a designated building and 10 MDF panels. These panels were then cut into 2×2’ sections and distributed, by invitation, amongst 73 artists to add their creative vision.
The ABQ Balloon Blast exhibition was first exhibited in We Are This City’s pop-up show in Nob Hill, which 1,000+ people attended over two evenings in December 2015.
The City council sponsored We Are This City to tour the collection to San Francisco which was exhibited at 111 Minna Gallery in the “Burque to The Bay” exhibition.
In February 2016, We Are This City partnered with Breakin’ Hearts, Harwood Art Center and The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce to do a community-driven event titled “HANDS ON ABQ,” in which more than 500 youth and families participated. This interactive art experience invited community members to participate by dipping their hands in paint and leaving their handprint on 10 MDF panels. These were then cut into 2×2’ sections and distributed amongst 80 artists to add their creative flair and then shown in multiple shows at Nob Hill Bar and Grill and Dialogue Brewing.
In September 2016 We Are This City collaborated with All Kinds Festival and Microwave Skateshop to do ABQ FOOTPRINTS, a project that encouraged youth and families to walk around in paint on 10 MDF panels. These are now cut into 2×2’ sections and are being distributed amongst 80 artists to add their creative flair.
We Are This City was chosen to do the stage design at the 2016 TEDxABQ main event which incorporated the ABQ Balloon Blast collection and at the same time 10 artists performed their processes live on stage for We Paint ABQ.
In March 2017 We Are This City collaborated with Up With People and FreeRange Spaces to do ABQ UP WITH PAINT, a project that gave 100 people from 20 countries the opportunity to spray 10 wood panels with fire extinguishers filled with paint. These were cut into 11’x11′ sections and distributed amongst local artists to add their creative flair.
In May 2019 We Are This City collaborated with United Soccer Team, Meow Wolf and One Albuquerque to do UNITED by PAINT, a project that gave the soccer players and 100+ students from 3 different middle schools the opportunity to kick soccer balls rolled in paint at 10 wood panels. These are now cut into 11’x11′ sections and distributed amongst local artists to add their creative flair.
Albuquerque Voice Projects
The first Albuquerque voice project was the Albuquerque Manifesto poem written by Hakim Bellamy, the poem was inspired by We Are This City to shine positive light on who we are and what we are doing here in Albuquerque. The poem was made into a video by We Are This City, Hakim Bellamy & Concept Flux and has had great reception from the community. The City of Albuquerque recently remixed the poem in their One Albuquerque campaign.
VALUE
Because of the extraordinary participation of the artists and our community, We Are This City has recognized the need to develop similar work in Albuquerque and in other cities, in a professional manner that compliments the quality of art, the community and the caliber of its creators.
Further, the We Are This City art projects offer a powerful and compelling mechanism by which to increase the national and international recognition of creative capital — and thus to extend the visibility and viable markets for creative professionals, beyond the boundaries of their local communities.
We Are This City has developed a strong community, through our projects, initiatives and partnerships and with the successes that our exhibitions and related professional development programs have achieved. We Are This City continues to leverage our relationships, the momentum and the support to develop something bigger within our community so that not only Albuquerque but our sister communities can grow and be proud of what we are doing and who we are as creatives. We believe that the economic and social impact of We Are This City has profound value to governments, schools, organizations, businesses, artists, festivals and to all of the communities at-large.
We Are This City is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.