SPOTLIGHT: Slow Factory Foundation | Brooklyn
/Welcome to Broadway Stages’ Spotlight, where we feature local shops, restaurants, organizations, individuals, and venues. We encourage our readers to join us in supporting these stakeholders who help to advance local economic, social, and environmental growth.
This week, we continue our spotlight on the environment – conservation, preservation, and sustainability, and an organization that is addressing the intersecting crises of climate justice and social inequity. Slow Factory is a school, knowledge partner and climate innovation lab; a nonprofit that transforms socially and environmentally harmful systems by designing models that are good for the Earth and good for people.
Slow Factory’s goal is to empower individuals, companies, and governments to adopt bold strategies while reforming and evolving existing systems with the focus on benefiting people and the planet. Through the intersection of climate justice and social equity, the organization is shifting culture to create systemic change.
Founded by Celine Semaan in 2012, Slow Factory is led by a diverse group of experts (including our own Marni Majorelle, founder of Alive Structures and creator of Broadway Stages’ green rooftop corridor) who work together to achieve their mission – to restore balance for humans and nature through design, education and narrative change.
The Slow Foundation Factory currently offers four unique and ongoing programs that can be found on their website: Open Education, Landfills as Museums, Study Hall, and One X One. Each program is aimed at tackling a different facet of climate change. To date, Slow Factory has raised over $300,000 in funds for climate and materials development and human rights research, and has reached an audience of more than 400,000 individuals! Over 23,000 students from 46 countries participate in their equity-focused education programs. The majority of students, collaborators, and program beneficiaries are visible minorities and over 85% self-identify as women.
The Slow Factory is also working to establish its first ever brick and mortar location in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The Slow Factory Institute will be a center focused on driving fashion sustainability and racial equity through workforce development and training, community outreach and events, and research and development.
“This school presents a revolutionary opportunity to offer a pragmatic, future-oriented curriculum in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. We are working diligently to fill a critical educational gap that focuses on climate justice and human rights, while creating a community hub for knowledge sharing, education, and skills training.”
If this organization and their impactful work inspires you, we encourage you head over to their website to learn how you can get involved or donate. You can also keep up with them on Instagram and Twitter. Make 2022 the year you do a little something extra – for our planet, our city, and yourself! As always, be sure to tell them Broadway Stages sent you.
“Education is an essential element for mounting an adequate global response to climate change.”
