Indymedia YorkStudents Reclaim Warehouse as Arts Space
A group of students have reclaimed the Bonding Warehouse on Skeldergate as an Autonomous Arts Space. They entered the building on Saturday and began cleaning up the space to make it ready for a week of events. The public are welcome to visit the building, drink tea and take part in the planned events.
An email sent out by group explains: "The Bonding Warehouse has been a derelict building for years and to celebrate Christmas this year it has been turned into a social centre for the benefit of the local community. Why should a building like this be owned by just one person (who lets it rot) when it could be used for the benefit of the public?"
The current plan of events runs until Saturday, but more events will be planned if interest is shown and the building is still available. As yet, there has been no sign of owners, police or bailiffs. All events and news will be posted to Indy when available.
Obviously with any project like this, there's a few things that are needed to make the place just a bit nicer. Currently the wish list stands at: "Blankets, kettle, chairs and other furniture, cardboard and knives to cut, towels."
Comments
INDIVIDUALS reclaim Bonding Warehouse
Whilst there are students involved in the running of the Bonding Warehouse Social Centre, it is not in their capactity as students that they are doing so, and it is inaccurate give the impression that it is exclusively run by (or for) students. Several of the people who have been around from the outset are full time workers.
This is a little point of clarification, but one which I feel changes the whole way in which the project will be viewed by members of York's non-student community. The Bonding Warehouse project is aimed at inclusiveness and as such members of the collective would feel happier if the article were edited by the author with these considerations in mind.
Whilst we appreciate the supportive tone of the piece, we are quite capable of writing our own journalism. Given that Indymedia is supposed to be 'being the media', not allowing another someone else to be the media for you, perhaps it would be better in future if people were allowed to represent themselves to prevent further such confusions arising.
Bonding Warehouse Collective xox
Well...
Indymedia, as I understand it, exists as a channel for non-corporate news reporting. It doesn't exist as a place for people to push information without having it discussed and critiqued, whoever those people are and whoever they are aiming their information at.
So, great that you clarify that you're not just students. And a great project, no doubt. But, "we are quite capable of writing our own journalism"? People writing 'news' about themselves isn't journalism, radical or otherwise, it's PR.
It's in the best traditions of indymedia for you to thoughtfully correct an inaccuracy - it's another thing entirely to write a slightly snotty response to a legitimate news posting and tell people to stop talking about you.
How the project is viewed by the community, non-student or otherwise, will depend on what you do and how well you do it.
Reporting on Indymedia
Indymedia is here for people to report about what they are doing.
The *open posting* newswire is for people to post their reports. Unlike the corporate defined 'news' it isn't for some paid or unpaid 'professional journalist' to imprint their view of what is going on - it is for participants. The lines lines are often blurred - it's something of the beauty of it. Some participants do more reporting than others.
The *features* on Indymedia are 'discussed and critiqued' non-corporate news reporting. They are also usually best written by those involved, in discussion with the rest of the collective.
As for the complaint about someone writing about it and incorrectly describing something. It's open posting, it happens, the comments are there to correct things. And of course as the original poster says they are quite capable of reporting - and should :-)