I love seeing art in bike shops.
Bikes and Art just go together.
It is a pairing that makes sense – like bikes and dogs, or bikes and coffee, or bikes and sunshine (*sigh*).
Free Cycles Community Bike Shop is in Missoula, (Montana, USA).
This shop is already a stand out example of a grassroots bike shop that offers a wide range of services, programs and events, including music, performances, theatre, food/organics, trivia, and film nights – in addition to its other bike-related workshops, community events, fundraising, education and outreach programs. Phew!
Free Cycles has a long history of supporting local and visiting artists by providing a performance space for their ongoing creative and artistic program.
To add to this, Free Cycles initiated an Artist Residency Program.
Such a great idea!
Biking is a creative act for many people.
Aside from being a great use of space, resources and networks, having a local artist in a bike shop is a great way to cross-pollinate, motivate and actively support community integration, extension and diversity. Very cool!
Video: Path Less Pedaled
Overview
This project facilitate the creation of art at Free Cycles Community Bike Shop in Missoula for public exhibition/interaction, with used bicycle parts from Free Cycles and recycled materials donated by Home ReSource.
The Artist in Residence Program create a more dedicated interaction between artist and place; practice and environment; art and bicycle; sculpture and community.
What is the artists program?
The Artist in Residence Program at Free Cycles is a new initiative to connect Artists with the Missoula community through the love of cycling.
Artists are invited through a public art call, and when selected may spend up to one month in the warehouse studio.
Here Artists are granted the time, space, materials, and equipment to create.
Artist participants are able to source materials from the thousands of donated bikes in stock on the Free Cycles property, as well as donated and reclaimed construction materials from local materials giving partner Home ReSource.
Upon completion of their residency Artists in Residence are asked to provide one workshop day to staff and volunteers, one workshop day to be offered free of charge to the public, and one work of art suitable for installation on the Free Cycles 2 acre property.
In its initial
The program’s goal is to be able to offer artists fair compensation for their educational work and provide a stipend for their time in residence with hopes that future funding can grow these amounts to seek artists in all stages of their careers.
Why initiate an artists program?
The planning process for this project has been happening informally for many years.
By offering a community space, that encourages citizen interaction, Artists are attracted organically out of their love for creative process.
For more than two decades Artists have been creating with materials from Free Cycles, often in their own shops but sometimes on site.
With the recent purchase of the two-acre property and 28,000-square feet of building space this year has provided opportunity to formalize our artist oriented programming and increase our community workshop offerings.
This program will ensure the future of the Free Cycles warehouse as a permanent part of the Free Cycles Community Bike Shop’s engagement at a pivotal time in the property’s future.
Who is ‘MIST’?
MIST is the Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation. MIST is a citizen-based non-profit organization in Missoula, Montana. They have a strong focus on making walking, bicycling, and public transit more complete, accessible and enjoyable.
They work to create a system of movement that is safe, equitable and environmentally sound. Four programs work towards these goals, of which Free Cycles Community Bicycle Shop is one.
Free Cycles Community Bicycle Shop seeks to create a healthy community through a wide range of strategies.
The goal of Free Cycles is to help Missoula, Montana transition to a more sustainable transportation system while simultaneously setting a strong example for other places.
Through these programs will help individuals collaborate and work to be active stewards of the community with an emphasis on social and environmental justice. The idea is to work towards this mission through education, empowerment, and engagement.
The education programs strive to give people the knowledge to maintain their bicycle independently, use it safely, and eventually share their skills with others.
By increasing the accessibility of
Free Cycle Projects
These projects focus on community engagement to facilitate a sense of collective responsibility, a strong sense of place, and human connectivity.
Free cycles has had approximately 200,000 total participants to date. There have been 38,000 bikes donated since 1996 of which about half gone out as free bikes while about one quarter have been recycled and one quarter have been repurposed. About 6,000 have taken the BikeWell safety, maintenance, and orientation class.
All Images: Free Cycle website or @freecyclemissoula (IG). This post was adapted from an article first published on Indiegogo.