Taller de Permiso

Las Imaginistas

Funding Received: 2017
Brownsville, TX
$350,000
Funding Period: 2 years
https://www.lasimaginistas.com/
Film & Media, Theater, Visual Arts | Economic Development | Rural
https://www.facebook.com/LasImaginistas/
https://twitter.com/LasImaginistas
https://www.instagram.com/nansiguevara/
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The Buena Vida Neighborhood in Brownsville, TX exists less than a quarter mile from the border and Matamoros, Mexico. Buena Vida residents are using their cultural wealth, talent, and creativity to create their own mercaditos, or informal economies to self-sustain their families and homes. These informal economies and traditions migrate back and forth.
photo credit: Las Imaginistas
Taller de Permiso will be a 2 year activist led campaign composed of three parts: Permission to Dream, Permission to Know, and Permission to Act.
photo credit: Las imaginistas
Artist Collective, Las Imaginistas, standing in front of local street art by Josue Ramirez (RAW) in Downtown Brownsville, Texas.
photo credit: Las Imaginistas

To improve their community’s economic outcomes, three artists in Brownsville, TX will launch a series of workshops and a supporting media campaign to help demystify and reimagine the municipal permitting processes in the Buena Vida neighborhood. This neighborhood is ripe for local entrepreneurs, small businesses,  and other economic development, but the city’s bureaucracy is currently seen as impeding progress.

The Buena Vida Neighborhood in Brownsville, TX exists less  than a quarter mile from the Mexican-American border.

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See below for recent updates, press, and events from this project

press
Forecast Public Art: THREE ARTIST-ACTIVISTS HELP A NEIGHBORHOOD DREAM ABOUT, AND DEVELOP, ITS ECONOMIC FUTURE
Mar 17, 2020
THREE ARTIST-ACTIVISTS HELP A NEIGHBORHOOD DREAM ABOUT, AND DEVELOP, ITS ECONOMIC FUTURE Las Imaginistas clarify the permitting process to help microbusinesses start and grow, and... Read More
press
GIA: Las Imaginistas and the power of a community giving itself permission to dream
Oct 15, 2019
Las Imaginistas is the kind of collective I dream of — rooted in community, non-hierarchical, daring in the challenges it is willing to take on... Read More
press
Shelterforce: A Radically Different Planning Process in Brownsville
Oct 14, 2019
One of the poorest cities in the country is in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico border. In Brownsville, the average annual household income is... Read More
press
Neta: Brownsville artist collective to receive $350K grant to support small businesses
Dec 18, 2017
Three Brownsville artists and educators will receive $350,000 in funding from ArtPlace America’s 2017 National Creative Placemaking Fund. Las Imaginistas/Taller de Permiso is one of... Read More
blog
Culture Makers are Artists and Everyone’s a Culture Maker
May 12, 2020
Christina Patino Houle, co-founder and Chief Architect for Las Imaginistas tells us that COVID-19 has taken people's lives and livelihoods in her community. The messaging...Read more
blog
Creativity Lives Here and Taller de Permiso
Sep 04, 2019
Taller de Permiso is an activist and community led arts space and campaign which seeks to decode, re-imagine and make easier the permitting processes in...Read more
blog
Bringing the “What If” to the Table
Feb 15, 2019
Socially engaged art collective Las Imaginistas works along the US-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas. Read a few highlights from our interview with two of their...Read more
blog
This Week at CPL Summit West
Feb 05, 2019
Even if you can’t make it to the CPL Summit West—taking place in Albuquerque on February 7, 8, and 9—there are several great ways to...Read more
blog
The Amazing Women of ArtPlace
Mar 08, 2018
International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. To celebrate we asked some of...Read more
blog
Building a Co-Created, Equitable Tomorrow
Jan 17, 2018
The Buena Vida neighborhood of Brownsville, Texas is one of the oldest and most culturally vibrant of the southernmost edge of the US/ Mexico border...Read more
blog
ArtPlace America Invests $8.7 Million in 23 Projects Across the Country
Dec 05, 2017
Today, we are proud to announce the 23 creative placemaking projects that will receive funding in communities of all sizes across 18 states and one...Read more