![\"Marlon](\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/picMarlonForrester200626w.jpg\")
<\/a>Marlon Forrester, one of the 14 artists of the residency program, says they hope the protest will \u201cbring light to this issue, which is Northeastern\u2019s treatment of AAMARP\u2014it\u2019s been a 42 year relationship\u2014and its ability to really understand that Black Lives Matter, specifically Black Artists Matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNortheastern at the beginning of the pandemic had closed off campus per the quarantine order,\u201d Shea Justice, one of the resident artists, said via email. About two months ago, \u201csome of the artists had to get materials from their studios and discovered the locks to the building had been changed with no communication from the school of their intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Renata Nyul, Northeastern\u2019s vice president for communications, says via email, \u201cDue to Covid-19, the facility is closed. There should be a sign on the door with information about how to get temporary access.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat response is, I think, an indication that they\u2019ve put in place what they want for their narrative,\u201d Forrester says. \u201cThis is what they can use now to create an alternative narrative using Covid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not a Northeastern student or don\u2019t have a Northeastern ID, which we don\u2019t have, you can\u2019t access\u201d the school\u2019s online portal to get building access, Forrester says. He says that Northeastern continues to allow other uses of the building including a print production facility and university storage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did write a letter to [Northeastern] President [Joseph] Aoun and he did not respond,\u201d says L\u2019Merchie Frazier, another of the program\u2019s resident artists.<\/p>\n Update June 27:<\/strong>\u00a0Ralph Martin, general counsel at Northeastern, emails this message: \u201cWe do not understand the purpose of today\u2019s protest. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and in compliance with public health guidelines, Northeastern University closed its Boston campus on March 17. All university buildings\u2014including the warehouse at 76 Atherton Street\u2014were closed and access was made available only upon special request.<\/p>\n “It is important to note that the artists associated with AAMARP do not pay rent to Northeastern and have never paid rent, despite occupying space in Northeastern buildings for more than 30 years. The university has been working with AAMARP leaders on a mutually agreeable plan to relocate the artists this fall, at significant cost to the university. Because the pandemic effectively put these discussions on hold for a period of time, the university will extend its plans to relocate the artists until the end of the 2020 calendar year.<\/p>\n “We are grateful to the artists\u2014and all in the Northeastern community\u2014for adhering to public health guidance and moving to remote work during the pandemic. By doing so, they have helped combat the effects of Covid-19, and enhanced the safety and well-being of the entire community.\u201c<\/p>\n This new standoff between Northeastern and the resident artists echoes a dispute two years ago. On June 28, 2018, Maria Cimilluca, a Northeastern vice president for facilities, sent a letter to artists in the program ordering them to move out of program studios at 76 Atherton St. by that July 13 \u201cbecause of hazardous conditions\u201d in the building. Artists said the school changed the locks and didn\u2019t issue them new keys. At the time, Northeastern spokesperson Renata Nyul wrote, \u201caccess to the artist space has never been revoked.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor at least five to 10 years, there\u2019s been this harassment by Northeastern, this police presence by Northeastern,\u201d Frazier says.<\/p>\n Under pressure from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Northeastern University repeatedly pushed back the deadline for when it said the artist residency prorgram must vacate a school building.<\/p>\n Northeastern then insisted that artists from the program keep quiet about the negotiations as they continued. Over the past year the residency program looked into moving to a Masonic building in Boston\u2019s Uphams Corner, but the deal didn\u2019t come to fruition.<\/p>\n The African American Master Artists In Residence Program was launched by artist, teacher and activist Dana Chandler in 1978 in a building Northeastern owned in Boston\u2019s Roxbury neighborhood. It was a landmark project in its recognition of Black artists, in the amount of space offered, in the length of the residencies (three years to start, but many allowed to stay much longer; some current resident artists have been there decades), and it was \u201crent-free.\u201d \u201cThus enabling the artists to produce works at a level of intensity none has ever been able to attain,\u201d organizers wrote in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n Chandler served as the director until the 1990s. Amid budget cuts, \u201cin 1991, they pushed my amount of time to work as director to one day a week and in 1993 they fired me,\u201d Chandler told me previously. He said he maintained a studio there until 2004, when he relocated from Boston to New Mexico. Over the years, the program moved from Leon Street to a Huntington Avenue building, then back to Leon Street, and in recent years at 76 Atherton St.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to use that building for something else,\u201d Frazier says. \u201cThey have plans for that building.\u201d<\/p>\n Forrester says, \u201cThey\u2019ve decided that maybe this is the best way to have AAMARP residents out of the building and use this as a way of forced transition or eviction.\u201d<\/p>\n The resident artists say the lockout has hurt their ability to make art and to apply for grants. \u201cWe have to work in order for us to eat,\u201d Gloretta Baynes, director of the artists residency program, said in the press release. \u201cThis is absolutely ridiculous. Black Artists Matter. They must open these doors now.\u201d<\/p>\n Previously<\/strong> Aug. 13, 2018: Northeastern Delays Deadline For Landmark Black Arts Program To Vacate Boston Building, Some Artists Object To Negotiation Ground Rules<\/a><\/p>\n Oct. 31, 2018: Black Arts Residency Program Continues Negotiations With Northeastern As Deadline To Get Out Passes<\/a><\/p>\n If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n All content \u00a9 copyright by Greg Cook or its original creators.<\/em><\/p>\n Artists involved in the African American Master Artists In Residence Program at Northeastern University say that the Boston school has again locked artists out of the building the four-decade-old program for Black artists has long occupied in Jamaica Plain, and is trying to push the artists out of the facility. \u201cAfter two years of negotiations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[408,785,207],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17340"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17376,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340\/revisions\/17376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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\nJuly 3, 2018: Northeastern Says Landmark Black Artists Residency Program \u2018Must Vacate\u2019 Jamaica Plain Building<\/a>
\nJuly 25, 2018: Mayor Pushes Northeastern To Give Landmark Black Artists Residency Program More Time To Vacate Boston Building<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
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