The Reading Viaduct meadows are something wonderful to behold now
On a lovely almost-Autumn Thursday evening nearly two weeks ago, the Action Mill presented a project called Future Meadows in collaboration with landscape designer Margie Ruddick and her assistant Ashley Kalemjian at DesignPhiladelphia’s kick-off event.Read more
In Spain, Meaningful Action means building a democracy on the street.
Almost exactly a year ago, The Action Mill was in Spain participating in Manifesta 8, a European contemporary art biennial. We were conflicted about participating in a big cultural event that was siphoning money away from local arts institutions, but we decided to try to use the opportunity to investigate how we could work with some of the affected local groups directly. Read more
Americans get their pick of backbreaking farm jobs.
The United Farm Workers, the organization famous for their successful grape boycotts and union drives in the 60's, '70's and 80's, have launched a campaign to set the record straight about migrant farm workers and their role in the US economy.Read more
For the past year, the Action Mill has been coordinating a community engaged research project in Davis Square, Somerville, a neighborhood just outside of Boston.Read more
Liberian women force warlords from power and are promptly forgotten.
With few exceptions, history tends to forget those who make change without resorting to violence. Case in point: the 2003 toppling of Charles Taylor, brutal dictator of Liberia. Taylor, who is currently on trial for war crimes, famously won the 1996 presidential election after a decade-long civil war with the campaign slogan "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him."Read more
The Fundred Project aims to de-lead New Orleans by changing the exchange rate.
The Fundred Dollar Bill Project was started by artist Mel Chin when he visited New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Mel realized that the hurricane was only the latest disaster to hit the city, and he started talking with people about the grossly elevated levels of lead in the soil – levels that are doing serious damage to children every day. Read more
Creating a public park takes years of planning and work. Or, you could use a quarter.
Rebar, A San Francisco art collective, started converting parking spaces into temporary public parks back in 2005. They discovered a loophole in the San Francisco County legal code that leaves open the possibility of occupying a metered space with something other than a car.Read more
Demonstrators in Iran take on security forces with a new weapon: respect.
In a country where human rights, free speech, and democracy are respected, security forces would protect those who gather in the streets to speak out. Iranians in Kerman are acting as if they live in such a country, and by doing so, they are creating one. In the video below, they march on security forces, bearing flowers and thanking them.Read more
City worker strike in Ontario leads to a surprising new landscape.
Unforeseen circumstances often shift our perception. Landscape is a particularly under-recognized area of thought, as we tend to ignore the fact that lawns (except our own) are in need of maintenance. They just get cut, and our city parks continue to be useful to us, without most ever acknowledging that it is a city worker's job to push that mower. Read more
249 tiles in a Somerville subway stop tell the history of the city's residents.
In collaboration with the Think Tank that is yet to be named, The Action Mill launched a new website today. We started out exploring how a new public transit line might affect the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. Public art from the last time a new line was built there gave us an opportunity to collect personal histories of the residents who were here thirty years ago.Read more
With few exceptions, history tends to forget those who make change without resorting to violence. Case in point: the 2003 toppling of Charles Taylor, brutal dictator of Liberia. Taylor, who is currently on trial for war crimes, famously won the 1996 presidential election after a decade-long civil war with the campaign slogan "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him."
The Fundred Dollar Bill Project was started by artist Mel Chin when he visited New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Mel realized that the hurricane was only the latest disaster to hit the city, and he started talking with people about the grossly elevated levels of lead in the soil – levels that are doing serious damage to children every day. 
