16 Feb Rhizome Collective accepting proposals for use of 10 acres in East Austin!

  http://www.rhizomecollective.org/

Announcing the Rhizome Collective’s Call for Grove Field Proposals

We are working to build the world we want to live in. In our worldview, the dominant values of competition, greed and exploitation would be replaced with cooperation, autonomy and egalitarianism. We believe that all struggles against oppression and for self-determination are connected, and that it is important to construct viable alternatives while simultaneously fighting for social justice.  

Greetings from the Rhizome Collective, For the last 11 years the Rhizome Collective has been an important part of the radical community in Austin and beyond. It has been a collection of people and groups involved in creating local alternatives and solutions to global problems. For 10 years it was based out of a warehouse in East Austin that served as a home to wide variety of social justice organizations, a demonstration center for urban sustainability, and community art projects, events, and parties.  

Tragically, in March of 2009, we lost our warehouse, and with it, the ability to continue our work as we had known it. Though we continue to own the Grove Field, a ten acre piece of land in East Austin, the activities that had thrived in our warehouse and that were at the heart of our collective, were unable to be transplanted to such a different landscape. Fortunately, much of the work that had taken place in the warehouse continues in other locations around town. As collective members focus on continuing these important projects in different locations, the Rhizome Collective has become fragmented and the Grove Field has been left unused.  

Though the Rhizome Collective in its current form is unable to make use of this land, we recognize its amazing potential and feel heartbroken to see it unused while we are focusing on our other projects. Therefore, we have decided to offer the land and collective’s other assets to community groups and individuals committed to utilizing them to achieve the ideals the Rhizome Collective was founded on.  To that end we are accepting proposals for projects that we hope will bring in ideas from committed, energetic, creative people who are excited to take advantage of this valuable resource in the name of social justice.  

This is a very broad call and is very open to whatever ideas people have. It is important to us to see this land and these assets put to use, without accelerating the gentrification process that the Montopolis neighborhood area is being assaulted with.  This land wants to be a tool for its neighborhood and community’s struggles without being a charity.  It is important to us that this land be utilized without paving it over and running off the deer.  This is an opportunity to show the city that development should benefit the people of an area, not the developer.  The Rhizome Collective invites you and your group to help build the future of Grove Field.  

Please review the attachments and application materials before submitting your proposal.  Please only submit complete applications.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.  And please feel free to spread this call far and wide.   We look forward to hearing from you!   In Solidarity,

The Rhizome Collective 

P.S.- Please do not respond unless you have read the full text of the call for proposals which can be found on the above website, or more specifically, here

http://www.rhizomecollective.org/node/83

thank you so much for reading this and please spread the word!