At a moment when individual, collective, and structural transformation is urgently needed, can the simple act of cultivating food hold the key? Department of Transformation, The Clemente, and Project EATS (a living installation and network of urban farms created by artist, activist, and entrepreneur extraordinaire Linda Goode Bryant) are excited and thrilled to co-organize Companion Planting, a hands-on, half-day program celebrating the power of collaboration and creativity to catalyze transformative action and provide collective nourishment at the intersection of artistic practice and food justice.

Beginning at Project EATS’ Essex Market rooftop farm site, Companion Planting will begin with a mindful group movement exercise led by Sofia Reeser del Rio, Curator and Associate Director of Programs for The Clemente. This will be , followed by a session of gardening in the farm’s raised beds, before concluding with a community meal conceived by trans-disciplinary artist Zacarias Gonzalez, accompanied by a conversation exploring the intersection of creative practice, urban ecology, and food sovereignty.

Epitomized by la milpa, the traditional Mesoamerican medley of corn, beans, and squash also known as the “three sisters,” companion planting is the practice of intercropping to engender mutually beneficial relationships among diverse guilds of plants. This symbiotic interdependence—corn supporting beans to climb, beans providing nitrogen to the soil, squash providing ground cover and living mulch—is a powerful testament to a simple truth: we grow stronger when we grow together.

Organized by Sam Rauch for Department of Transformation, Companion Planting brings together two vital cultural and civic anchors of the Lower East Side: The Clemente, a multi-arts institution supporting New York City’s Latinx creative community since 1993, and Project EATS, a living installation and citywide network of small-scale, high-yield urban farms and associated programs founded by legendary artist, activist, and entrepreneur Linda Goode Bryant. Gather and grow together with us!

RSVP here!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Zacarías González (b. 1984, Cuba) is transdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in NYC. Their practice looks at place-specific strategies for designing with life, rather than against it, particularly within the fields of agroecology, public architecture, and public health. Their work considers interconnectedness in the face of overlapping global crises, often using food as a container in which we explore our relationships through long-term participatory projects, interventions in public spaces, filmmaking, and writing. González’s current long-term project is earth life.

Their work has been supported through collaborations with: The Institute for Public Architecture, KERMESSE and Galerie Derouillon, Creative Time, The Storefront for Art and Architecture, MoMa PS1, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn Museum, Recess Art, Socrates Sculpture Park. They have previously been a visiting lecturer at The School of Visual Arts and New School University Eugene Lang College.

Sofía S. Reeser del Rio is a New York City based curator, scholar, multidisciplinary artist, and educator whose practice. Specializing in Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean art, she produces exhibitions that champion LGBTQ+ and self-identified female creatives from Puerto Rico. Her work integrates ecological working models, community wellness initiatives, and sustainable cultural production.

Sofía is Curator and Associate Director of Programs at The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center in NYC, where she leads cutting-edge digital storytelling, archival research, and innovative community gathering initiatives. As Co-Curator of Historias and Project Lead of Nueva York Chronicles, in collaboration with Libertad O. Guerra, she is redefining how Latinx narratives are collected, archived, and shared through interactive, multimedia platforms. Her visionary leadership has been recognized through multiple awards, fellowships, and residencies, underscoring her commitment to advancing knowledge justice and rethinking art, science, and civic practice as catalysts for sustainable community engagement.

ABOUT THE CO-ORGANIZERS

Project EATS is a living installation created by artist, activist, and entrepreneur Linda Goode Bryant. For fifteen years, Project EATS has been transforming vacant lots and rooftops into neighborhood-based farms supporting farm stands, pantries, prepared food, art projects, and community programs, catalyzing creativity and cultivating not just fresh produce, but opportunities for leadership, economic empowerment, and food sovereignty across New York City. The integration of Art and Food increases the use of imagination, creativity, commitment, and determination as tool for reshaping social, economic, cultural and environmental conditions towards an empowered Life. Project EATS: Art that Feeds.

Department of Transformation (DOT) is an artist-organized group founded by designer, curator, and educator Prem Krishnamurthy, that prototypes experimental methods for togetherness, learning, and collective healing. Through workshops, events, publications, exhibitions, and institutional consulting (+ karaoke!), we support others in their own processes of change. We believe that by transforming the arts, we can transform ourselves, our communities, and our world.
DOT is proud to have a 2025-2026 micro-residency at The Clemente.

The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Education Center is a Puerto Rican/Latinx multi-arts institution rooted in the historic Lower East Side/Loisaida, where it has served as a vital cultural anchor for more than three decades. Founded on principles of artistic freedom and cultural equity, The Clemente celebrates and preserves Puerto Rican and Latinx traditions while embracing a multi-ethnic and international vision.

The Clemente’s mission is to steward a vibrant, polyphonic space that amplifies diverse voices, fosters intergenerational exchange, and supports the creation of contemporary, multidisciplinary work. Through affordable studios, performance venues, and collaborative platforms, we provide essential resources to artists, small arts organizations, and independent producers who reflect the richness of New York City’s cultural landscape. Guided by the legacy of our namesake, poet and organizer Clemente Soto Vélez, we are committed to building culturally grounded, multigenerational leadership, local power, and mutuality.

NuevaYorkinos and Capicu invite you to the opening of La Incubadora, a multimedia immersive experience that uses domino and tile game culture as a vehicle to celebrate Black, Caribbean, and Chinese heritage of Lower Manhattan. Through archival materials, interactive games, and community-driven programming—including workshops, artist talks, open mics, and film screenings—La Incubadora seeks to create space for Black, Brown, and immigrant New Yorkers to convene, connect, and navigate the realities of an ever-changing city, together. Come join us for our Opening Night Reception! We'll start the night with a panel and open-form conversation with cultural preservationist Djali Brown-Cepeda, Tido Cabrera of Capicu, and Rochelle Kwan and Alice Liu of Chinatown Records, followed by a tour of the exhibit and activation at Room 406.

RSVP here.

Panellists:

Djali Brown-Cepeda is a Capricornian cultural preservationist and visual storyteller. Rooted in the tenets of reclamation and rematriation, her work as a film and television producer centers oral tradition and lived experiences as a tool of cultural restoration. The founder of NuevaYorkinos, an oral history archive dedicated to documenting and preserving NYC's Latine and Caribbean culture and history through family photos, oral history, and ephemera, she is a book worm and self-taught public historian, with a penchant for all things red, black, and green. An Olorisha Yemayá, memory worker, alchemist. A steward of remembrance. A Mother to a Sun. An eldest daughter and vinyl collector of Caribbean, Afro Native, and Southern heritage. Fifth generation Gullah Geechee from unceded Wecquaesgeek territory in Lenapehoking (Upper Manhattan, New York City). She enjoys tending to her altars and conspiring with the Universe for all good things. You can find her annotating her books sipping on wine she usually can’t afford, or any pilsner or lager. Prefers a cup of dark roast coffee, speaking to spirit, and being barefoot on the grass. Wherever she goes, so do her ancestors.

Tido Cabrera, born and raised in New York, is a cultural producer and community organizer. He is the founder of Capicu! NYC, a party and lifestyle brand that celebrates Nuyorican, Afro-Caribbean, and Latin American heritage through dominoes, DJs, and dancing.

Rochelle yiuyiu Kwan is a DJ historian & educator homebased on Lenape land in New York City's Manhattan Chinatown. She takes on her childhood name yiuyiu 瑶瑶 for Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 to activate the music, memory, & history of the community archive of over 30 record/CD/tape collections inherited from her family & neighbors. She has the most fun bringing the music out of the archive onto the streets & into the living rooms we share – all alongside her family, neighbors, & loved ones, who first made her into a DJ and taught her so much along the way. As a community-taught & -powered DJ historian, she especially loves training up our next generations of DJ historians of all ages to bring the music of our homes & families to life with us. She leads storytelling projects and training with Think!Chinatown and so many more community classrooms, so we can all learn to look to our loved ones to pass down & celebrate our histories together. She will always be a dancer first.

Alice Liu is a longtime resident, intergenerational small business owner, and community organizer born & bred in NYC's Chinatown. With her family, she heads Grand Tea & Imports, a tea and Buddhist goods store in the heart of Chinatown. She is Think!Chinatown's star Community Outreach & Production Lead, with her love for hanging out with and learning from neighborhood aunties & uncles. As a budding DJ historian with Chinatown Records, she embraces her childhood as a 90's kid who grew up alongside Mandarin and Cantonese hits that spanned from the 80's to whatever is on the radio at the moment. As an adult, whenever these songs pop back into her life, they feel like a visit from an old friend. In recent years, she has been centering this feeling when she makes playlists for family gatherings, smiling whenever she catches stoic aunties and uncles unknowingly humming along.

School may be out for summer, but the season of learning never ends! Department of Transformation is pleased to announce Let’s Stay Together, an intimate prototype for a public skill-building workshop. Whether you’re an educator, artist, designer, curator, musician, therapist, writer, thinker, chef, facilitator, gardener—or, really, any kind of maker!—this experimental workshop is an opportunity to pause, reflect, and connect with other curious humans around cultivating tools for collaboration, conflict, and co-creation.

Space is limited—RSVP today to hold your spot!

Led by award-winning designer, curator, and DOT founder P! Krishnamurthy, we’ll gather together to unpack the kit of experimental creative and relational tools that DOT has brought to schools, museums, festivals, and other institutions around the world—from Texas to Thailand and tons of places in between. Together, we’ll help develop skills that can sustain and enrich the lives of emerging and established creative practitioners alike. Expect participatory learning, stretching our individual envelopes, connecting with new creative folks—and even, perhaps, a little karaoke! ;)

Please note that due to ongoing construction, Studio 309 is only accessible by stair. Please contact us with any questions or concerns about accessibility access.

🤑Current Students / Recent Graduates $20

🤑🤑Educators: $30

🤑🤑🤑Professionals: $40

Note on fees: This four-hour workshop is offered on a sliding scale based on career / professional experience. We ask participants to self-identify their level of income and experience, and to use this in guiding their contribution to DOT. Your contribution allows DOT to make workshops and programs accessible for a wide range of participants. Please register here.

Transforming Texts- An experimental reading group

When: Wednesdays March 5, April 2, May 7, June 4, 2025 @ 6-8 PM

Where: Room 309 @ The Clemente

Organized by: Department of Transformation

RSVP HERE

Can we redefine our futures by redefining our forms? How might the act of reading together—over a cup or three of tea— itself be transformational? Join us on Wednesday, July 2, for the fifth meeting of “Transforming Texts,” Department of Transformation’s experimental reading group. 

This month, we’ll discuss “Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World’s Greatest Tea” by Jeff Koehler, in a session co-facilitated by tea expert Max Falkowitz, featuring a very special Darjeeling tea service! 

“Transforming Texts” is led by Prem Krishnamurthy and Sam Rauch of Department of Transformation, with contributions from a rotating cast of brilliant co-facilitators. This program is free and open to the public, supported by The Clemente. Graphics by Mark Foss @markjfoss

For more info, contact hello@dept-of-transformation.org 

Transforming Texts- An experimental reading group

When: Wednesdays March 5, April 2, May 7, June 4, 2025 @ 6-8 PM

Where: Room 309 @ The Clemente

Organized by: Department of Transformation

RSVP HERE!

Can we redefine our futures by redefining our forms? How might the act of reading together itself be transformative? Transforming Texts takes place monthly in 2025 as part of the Department of Transformation’s residency at The Clemente. This free and open program invites participants to propose complex, challenging, and otherwise urgent texts for collective investigation. Through a collaborative process, the group will both identify specific readings and develop experimental formats for engagement, drawing on a wide range of disciplines and modes of practice to cultivate a community of creative connectivity while building an ongoing bibliography of transformative texts for our times. 

This month, we’ll discuss “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” the foundational text of critical pedagogy by Brazilian philosopher and teacher Paolo Freire, which proposed education as the practice of freedom. In a session co-facilitated by Katie Freeman and Sam Rauch, we’ll explore the liberating potential of learning through a combination of movement and collective knowledge-production exercises from Brazil to Indonesia.

Transforming Texts is led by Prem Krishnamurthy and Sam Rauch of Department of Transformation, with contributions from a rotating cast of brilliant co-facilitators. This program is free and open to the public, supported by The Clemente. Graphics by Mark Foss @markjfoss

For more info, contact hello@dept-of-transformation.org 

Transforming Texts- An experimental reading group

When: Wednesdays March 5, April 2, May 7, 2025 @ 6-8 PM

Where: Room 309 @ The Clemente

Organized by: Department of Transformation

Can we redefine our futures by redefining our forms? How might the act of reading together itself be transformative? Transforming Texts takes place monthly in 2025 as part of the Department of Transformation’s residency at The Clemente. This free and open program invites participants to propose complex, challenging, and otherwise urgent texts for collective investigation. Through a collaborative process, the group will both identify specific readings and develop experimental formats for engagement, drawing on a wide range of disciplines and modes of practice to cultivate a community of creative connectivity while building an ongoing bibliography of transformative texts for our times. 

Transforming Texts is organized by Department of Transformation founder Prem Krisnamurthy and curator Sam Rauch, with additional co-organizers to be announced. 

To register, RSVP HERE

For more info, contact hello@dept-of-transformation.org 

Jonathan Bruce Williams + Payal Parekh: Conscious Connection

When: Sunday May 4, 2025 | Workshop @ 4–6pm |Reception @ 6–8pm

Where: Studio 309 at The Clemente

RSVP!  

Please join Department of Transformation, Jonathan Bruce Williams, and Payal Parekh for Conscious Connection, an experimental movement and mindfulness workshop conceived for the opening of Consciousness Energy Grid, a presentation of new animated lightbox sculptures by Williams on view from May 4–11 by appointment at The Clemente.

Departing from Consciousness Energy Grid’s sculptural exploration of bodily vulnerability, altered states, and the transformative valence of movement and light, Jonathan Bruce Williams begins this experiential program by demonstrating the creative use (and abuse) of mobile communication technologies to form a chain of uncanny connection that summons the ghosts in our collective machines. Payal Parekh follows by leading participants in an embodied practice that includes stretching, meditation, reflection, and discussion based on Blessed Rest by Payal, an affirmational card deck conceived as a supportive reminder that rest is our collective birthright and a critical aspect of healing.

Following Conscious Connection will be a reception to celebrate the opening of Consciousness Energy Grid.
This program is free; RSVP is requested. Participants are encouraged to wear movement-appropriate clothing and to bring a yoga mat, if possible.

—

BIOS:

Jonathan Bruce Williams is a Lower East Side-based artist and technologist who creates art systems at an intersection of research, imagination, and light. His work explores perception, psychology, and technology through custom-designed apparatuses aimed at healing. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Currently, he is training to become a 200-hour Yoga Alliance certified instructor, focusing on Ashtanga and Vinyasa, integrating movement and mindfulness into his creative approach.

Payal Parekh is a New York-based art advisor and yoga teacher with a passion for promoting wellness and diverse art perspectives. She holds a BA in Art History from Mount Holyoke College 2001 and an MA in Contemporary Art from Sotheby's Institute, London. Payal Arts International, founded in 2008, focuses on consulting artists and advising collectors. As a 500-hour nationally certified yoga teacher, she believes in the power of movement and meditation to improve physical and mental health. Payal has led meditation sessions at Christie’s, David Zwirner Gallery, The Armory Show, Perrotin New York and The Baltimore Museum of Art. In addition, she has served on the board of the American Visionary Art Museum and is currently a member of the Skowhegan Council and an FCA Friend (Foundation for Contemporary Arts) in New York. Her new self-care deck, Blessed Rest by Payal, offers tools for self-reflection and self-care practices to manage stress.

Department of Transformation (D🌍T) is an artist-organized group that prototypes new formats for togetherness, learning, and collective healing. Through workshops, events, publications, and commissions (+ karaoke!), we support others in their own processes of change. We believe that by transforming the arts, we can transform ourselves, our communities, and our world.

Department of Transformation is generously supported by the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center.

For all inquires, please contact hello@d-o-t.nyc 

DOT presents: Karaoke Practice! - Another Protest Song

When: Thursday, May 1 @ 8-11 PM

Where: Francis Kite Club, 40 Loisaida Avenue, NYC

Organized by: Department of Transformation (DOT), supported by Historias

Guest Artists: Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere

Department of Transformation (DOT) and The Clemente are thrilled to announce our next Karaoke Practice! at The Francis Kite Club on May 1, 2025. In this ongoing series of experimental and participatory gatherings, collective voice, performance, and transformation take center stage. 

For this International Workers Day edition of Karaoke Practice!, interdisciplinary artist duo Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere invite your participation in Another Protest Song: Karaoke, a series of experimental events that look to the karaoke songbook as potential for political enunciation through song. First initiated in 2008, this ongoing project invites the public to choose and sing songs of protest, along with pop songs re-contextualized to support the singer’s engaged interests or dislikes.

Karaoke Practice! and Another Protest Song: Karaoke are organized by DOT and presented in partnership with The Clemente as part of HISTORIAS, their multidisciplinary citywide initiative to foreground Latinx narratives in the arts. An experiential investigation of popular song and informal gathering as vectors for vernacular political communication, Nevarez and Tevere’s project considers the poetics of everyday modes of resistance and the ways in which cultural heritage is embodied and transmitted through ritual and song.

Department of Transformation is an artist-organized group founded by designer, author, and educator Prem Krishnamurthy that prototypes new formats for togetherness, learning, and collective healing. As part of DOT’s ongoing micro-residency at The Clemente, Karaoke Practice! sessions at The Francis Kite Club invite the DOT community and the public to explore karaoke as a medium for expression, experimentation, connection, and community. 

As a readymade format, karaoke can generate varying levels of discomfort in people while also demonstrating a person’s virtuosic potential. Karaoke creates community through a shared sense of vulnerability and mutual support. Whether you are a pro or novice, love a good time or just have something to protest at top volume, we invite you to join us and make your voice heard!

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS:

Department of Transformation (D🌍T) is an artist-organized group that prototypes new formats for togetherness, learning, and collective healing. Through workshops, events, publications, and commissions (+ karaoke!), we support others in their own processes of change. We believe that by transforming the arts, we can transform ourselves, our communities, and our world.

Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere’s practice brings together music, sound, and the cultural complexities of the public sphere, engaging civic action through distinct musical instrumentation and acoustic traditions. They have exhibited their work at the Museum of Modern Art, Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano in Guadalajara, Mexico, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and elsewhere. Their fellowships include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital fellowship, and an Art Matters grant. For more than two decades, the artists have collaboratively produced multimedia works with musicians, radio practitioners, students, and city agencies. 

Located in the heart of the Lower East Side, The Francis Kite Club is a unique venue for creative engagement, fostering collaborative, social, and artistic experimentation. Reflecting DOT’s commitment to artistic and social transformation, these events create an inclusive space for self-expression, performance, and joy. Whether you're a seasoned performer or new to the microphone, all are welcome to take part in this evolving practice.

Department of Transformation and Karaoke Practice! are supported by The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural & Educational Center. Founded 1993, The Clemente is a Puerto Rican and Latinx cultural space rooted in the Lower East Side, connecting and co-creating with contemporary artists, cultural workers and small arts organizations by offering subsidized studios, exhibition, rehearsal, office and venue spaces; and producing original programming in a spirit of responsiveness, heritage conversation and provocative collaboration.

Transforming Texts- An experimental reading group

When: Wednesdays March 5, April 2, May 7, 2025@ 6-8 PM

Where: Room 309 @ The Clemente

Organized by: Department of Transformation

Can we redefine our futures by redefining our forms? How might the act of reading together itself be transformative? Transforming Texts takes place monthly in 2025 as part of the Department of Transformation’s residency at The Clemente. This free and open program invites participants to propose complex, challenging, and otherwise urgent texts for collective investigation. Through a collaborative process, the group will both identify specific readings and develop experimental formats for engagement, drawing on a wide range of disciplines and modes of practice to cultivate a community of creative connectivity while building an ongoing bibliography of transformative texts for our times. 

Transforming Texts is organized by Department of Transformation founder Prem Krisnamurthy and curator Sam Rauch, with additional co-organizers to be announced. 

To register, RSVP HERE

For more info, contact hello@dept-of-transformation.org