Volunteer-Led
Individuals take part in ABC No Rio activities and programs as volunteers, as artists and performers, and as audience and supporters. We are all drawn to ABC No Rio as a place where differences are tolerated and celebrated, and we find acceptance without having to hide or compromise our values or beliefs. Some of our volunteers are still in high school, some are in their eighties, some of our volunteers are homeless, sometimes people volunteer at ABC No Rio when they’re finding their way back from a difficult time in their lives, sometimes travelers passing through New York end up spending their days volunteering at ABC No Rio. Our community is expansive and inclusive.
We engage our community and respond to our community’s needs by staying true to our shared ideals and by remaining open, accessible, and affordable. Our non-hierarchical structure invites participation, autonomous action, and the generation of ideas and proposals for new projects and events.
Collective Organization
ABC No Rio is run by a group of autonomously organized, volunteer-led collectives who all have the same mission to provide an inclusive space for art, activism and resource sharing. We are essentially a collective of collectives and committees. A collective consists of all active volunteers who regularly participate in a committee or subcollective administering ABC No Rio programs. The collectives autonomously operate their specific program area. At present, the ABC No Rio collectives are:
- HC/Punk Collective
- Visual Arts Collective
- Silkscreen PrintShop
- Zine Library Collective
- Darkroom Collective
- Computer Center (currently inactive)
There are also support committees that are not program-specific, such as the Building Committee and the Fundraising Committee, as well as individuals who help with specific projects or special events.
Visit the Get Involved! page to learn more about volunteering at ABC No Rio.
While much of our programming is organized by the ABC No Rio collectives, we also organize and develop programs, events and workshops proposed to us by our community. An example of this is Seth Tobocman’s twice-annual Online comics class that No Rio helps to organize. If you are interested in working with No Rio (when our new building is complete!) reach out to us at abc (at) abcnorio.org.