To those who don’t know, Dianna Long is the director and board president of Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center (CUARC). In the below excerpt from an interview she participated in, she talks about the Tubman-Kahlo Resource Center. Click here to find out more about the history of CUARC and Ms. Dianna C. Long.
From a young age, I noticed how unfair life was. I showed this in art and worked jobs that helped change this. I was active to end war, protect women, and stop injustices against POC. Injustice encouraged me to form a nonprofit organization and support the underdog. Still active, working toward social justice. My current project is to build the Tubman-Kahlo Resource Center near the Kedzie stop on the Pink Line which includes an outdoor area, the Frida Kahlo Patio. The building will have an art gallery, meeting space, vegan cafe, referrals office, florist shop, used furniture store, lounge with computers, Spoken Word Program, Entrepreneurs Incubator Program, community residents board, and a rooftop garden. We will employ folks with disabilities, people who were formerly incarcerated, and people who are homeless. With a team, I am organizing to create this building to serve Chicago, specifically, the Little Village and North Lawndale neighborhoods. We hope to increase peace and to change people’s perceptions of our neighborhoods. In September, we will introduce our project by offering a Communities Art Walk and Bus Tour to show Chicago what’s going on. Artists, galleries, and shops showing art will be open. The bus will stop at each site for viewing and snacks. On Kedzie, between 19 and 24, neighbors and vendors will show art, make art, and performances. Medical people will educate the community and test for Covid-19 as well as hand out masks.
