Urban Documentary: Viva Charas

Trailer | 3:30 | Project of Delaney Connor and Molly Meng

Artist Statement

In collaboration with the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, this documentary captures the spirit of the CHARAS/El Bohio Community Center and those who spent 20 years fighting to save it. It seeks to uphold the unwavering commitment of community members to prevent the building’s redevelopment and restore the space to community use. It also seeks to bring to life the cultural hub and connective space that CHARAS/El Bohio provided to the Lower East Side/Loisaida’s community between 1979 and 2001.

A significant element of this documentary-making process involved the discovery and relationship-building necessary to gain access to archived audio, audio-video, and visual materials. We credit the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, and Village Preservation as sources of our archived materials.

  • Delaney Connor

    Molly Meng
    (Archival Research and Video Production)

  • Archival Research
    Reassembling CHARAS’s scattered documentary record.

    • The CHARAS/El Bohío Cultural and Community Center Records, Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora Repository at Hunter College

    • Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS)

    • Village Preservation

    Oral Histories
    Interviews with CHARAS board members

    Community Survey

    Local residents surveyed on the building’s cultural and historical impact

    Community Sessions
    Following the community-led process to reclaim 605 East 9th.

    • 605 East 9th Community Building informational + engagement session at Lower Eastside Girls Club

    • Convened by the community collective shaping the building’s future use

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