STooPS Bed Stuy is a mission-based organization I founded in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY 11 years ago. We produce all-ages, family-friendly events presenting a variety of art forms from local Bed Stuy and Brooklyn creatives. We aim to be an aid in softening the harshness of gentrification by creating connections between long-time community entities such as homeowners and local business owners and newer folks that are pinned as the propellers of gentrification like artists and newcomers. We believe if these entities can connect through meaningful interactions, changes will be made in more alignment, or at least in consideration of long-time community members and stakeholders especially Black and Brown folks, which strengthens the whole community and preserves the iconic culture that makes Bed Stuy attractive.
2024 Summer Festival
Our festival brings together artists, cultural historians, homeowners, business owners, and vendors. With more than 1700 RSVPs, our community engaged with 13 artist presentations on neighborhood stoops, sidewalks, and storefronts along with an awards ceremony that honored local Bed Stuy Legends. For our theme, Bed Stuy Legends and Legacies, we created STooPS style awards (created by STooPS artist Ladie Ovila) while artists used this theme to create portraits of Lena Horne, sing songs about Bed Stuy, and so much more. We received media coverage from news outlets such as NY1 and Pix11. And this year, we tried something completely new; we had 2 art crawls and a block party, thus the STooPS 2024 Summer Festival (our biggest one yet!) The block party wouldn’t have happened so well without our three partners: Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church, St. Philip's Episcopal Church, and the 200 Decatur Stuyvesant Block Association. And we can’t forget the home and business owners who offered their space throughout the festival and Shanna Sabio adding a cultural and historical perspective as the art crawl guide.
Why we are raising money
Last year was our first crowdfunding event. We raised $17,000 with a team of 4. This year, we have a part-time team of 5 and want to keep their work sustainable and pay them a living wage. We are missing $20,000 in our annual budget and are looking to our community and friends to help us fund and carry us into our 12th year.
Although we are able to rely on our established relationships and our loyal team, increasing costs of living and other rising expenses present challenges in keeping the same budget year after year as we aim to continue making our programming free to the community.
What happens if we raise our total amount
If we reach our goal of $20,000, this will help cover the costs for artist fees, technical fees, and staff to make the 2025 Summer Festival happen. We’ve already set a date! We want to make sure we can pay for this incredible event that brings so many parts of our community together.
Continuing this annual tradition is a cultural staple, and it is so important to our community!
Last summer, we received feedback that the 2024 Summer Festival was "Energizing, inspirational and welcoming" and full of "Fun. Community. Culture."
We thank our local and global community for your support!