Social Justice: The Next Generation
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Social Justice Center 1202 Williamson St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Kenneth Yanga
Sugar Still
Full circle: In 2000, Nan Cheney, an activist and member of the Raging Grannies, helped create the Social Justice Center, a hub for peace and social justice organizations. At this event kicking off a fundraising campaign for the center, Nan’s son, Charlie Cheney, will perform with his touring duo Sugar Still — and the Grannies will be there, too. The center has some ambitious goals to create a business and arts incubator, and a welcoming place for all to gather and build resistance to the shitstorm that is going on around us.
press release: The Future of the Social Justice Center is Abundance, Sharing, and Solidarity
Ring in The Future of Social Justice with live music from Sugar Still (feat. Charlie Cheney), the Raging Grannies, and TBA. Plus food, drinks, games, kidstuff, mini-swap, art and more! Friday July 20, 6-10pm at the Social Justice Center 1202 Williamson.
The Social Justice Center was started in 2000, one could say through the sheer force of will of a Raging Granny named Nan Cheney. Nan envisioned a laboratory for visionary experiments in cooperation, justice, equity, and sharing, and she worked tirelessly to secure a building that social justice-oriented community organizations could share. The world and our Madison community suffered a profound loss when Nan passed away in 2010.
The Social Justice Center wishes to honor her legacy and bring the building she nurtured into its next stage of growth. We intend to bring the Social Justice Center into the Next Generation of Social Justice: Abundance through Solidarity. And we are honored to welcome Nan’s son, Charlie Cheney, to kick off this next phase of development.
Charlie Cheney has been playing great original music in Madison and around the country since his '80s band the Fabric Indicators graced the stages of Club deWash and O’Cayz Corral. More recently he and his bandmate have been touring the country with Sugar Still, offering up whiskey-soaked harmonies straight from the copper line.
Now they will grace our stage at SJC to show us a good time at our open house fundraising party. And they’ll also be joined by the Raging Grannies, the band that Nan helped to form back in the day. These and other multi-generational musicians, activists, and artists will grace our stage and other activity hubs at our rejuvenation kick-off event.
The future of social justice lies in honoring our past while adapting to the cool new possibilities futurist thinking and technology is bringing - like open source everything, peer-to-peer work flows, lots of sharing and exchanging of surplus, global design with hyper-local production, zero margin production, and a truly equitable economy featuring voluntary and joyful wealth redistribution.
Nearly 20 years later, the cast of characters has changed, the world around us is now a dumpster fire, and the Social Justice Center needs an overhaul in order to get back to the state of the art in vibrant cooperation.
The SJC needs $125,000 to begin the renovations and so the SJC is about to embark on a massive fundraising effort. On Friday July 20th the SJC is having an open house at the SJC to kickoff our fundraising campaign. That evening, we will share our plans for the renovations, opportunities to get involved, hear from the community and demonstrate the kind of hub we want the SJC to be on the East side of Madison, and in the process we hope to feature local artists, makers, and products.
We don’t just want to save the SJC, we want to transform it. We want to create an inspiring environment where tenants, community members and social justice groups can share space, share resources, and come together in support of the common good. The Social Justice Center is passionate about being an incubator space, a gathering space, an art space, a makers’ space, a space to access resources, and a space where everyone is welcome and supported in their community.