‘Our Space’ has been a pilot program of Playhouse Arts from January 1 to June 30, 2023, creating art through the lens of social justice, health and the environment. During this time we have connected with houseless artists and offered them arts programming in the performing, visual, digital and literary arts as well as somatics. We talked with houseless people about their desire to be better stewards of their homes. Faced with no place to wash and dry their clothes or put their garbage, many spoke of being caught in a cycle. They receive tents, sleeping bags and clothing, which then get wet, dirty, broken and there is no place for them to be dried, cleaned or fixed. It was from this angle that the current partnership was born.   

The EPA estimates that the average American throws away 4.9 pounds of solid waste every day, however those of us who have trash service can easily ignore this reality because our waste is magically whisked away so we don’t have the experience of watching it accumulate. For those of us who lack trash service and kitchen facilities, the accumulation of trash, especially plastic, is nearly unavoidable.The population centers of Humboldt County (Eureka and Arcata) have a very visible unhoused population. The existence of trash in encampments is often used as a reason to push people from one space to the next, which is disruptive and traumatizing. It is also used to vilify those who are living on the streets, leading to increasing divisions in our community.

We aim to address these pressing challenges by engaging in community conversations with houseless, housing insecure and housed artists while we explore our creativity, develop artistic skills, use these tools for healing and empowerment, and potentially open new pathways for the participants.