Trumbullplex
Encyclopedia
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
and showspace in the Woodbridge
Woodbridge Historic District
The Woodbridge Neighborhood Historic District is a historic neighborhood of primarily Victorian homes located in Detroit, Michigan. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, with later boundary increases in 1997 and 2008....
neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, USA. It was created in 1993 when members of the collective established a nonprofit corporation and purchased the property, two Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
houses on either side of a single-story art space.
The collective's mission statement
Mission statement
A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company or organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making...
asserts that they “want to create a positive environment for revolutionary change in which economic and social relationships are based on mutual aid and the absence of hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
.” It acts on the basis of consensus decision-making
Consensus decision-making
Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent, not necessarily the agreement, of participants and the resolution of objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, first, general agreement, and second, group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its...
and serves as a home, theater, art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
, infoshop
Infoshop
An infoshop is a storefront or social center that serves as a node for the distribution of political information, typically in the form of books, zines, stickers and posters. Infoshops often serve as a meeting space and resource hub for local activist groups....
, meeting space and temporary residence for traveling activists
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
. The art space and infoshop are run on a donations-only basis, and members pay an equal portion of the costs involved in the property's upkeep each month.
The Trumbullplex has been an institution and hotbed of creative anarchism that has influenced those who have had residency and visited the Trumbullplex. The Trumbull Collective has a history of positive and unique exchange with activism happening internationally by bringing traveling plays, music, puppet shows, performance art, and workshops to the space. Members of the collective and surrounding community run the operations within the Theater and meeting space and also participate in alternative schools, such as the high school for teenage mothers
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
, the Catherine Ferguson Academy
Catherine Ferguson Academy
Catherine Ferguson Academy is a charter-operated high school in Detroit, Michigan for pregnant girls and teen mothers. The school has an urban farm in its backyard, and provides day care and pre-school education for the students' children....
and CFA farm, The Hub of Detroit (a cycling non-profit located in the city's Cass Corridor
Cass corridor
The Cass Corridor, in Detroit, Michigan contains the Cass Park Historic Districtand the Cass-Davenport Historic District. The corridor's main street is Cass Avenue, which runs parallel with Woodward Avenue, a main Detroit artery running north towards suburban neighborhoods...
), to Detroit organizations promoting urban agriculture
Urban agriculture
Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around, a village, town or city. Urban agriculture in addition can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agro-forestry and horticulture...
such as Earthworks, and to a variety of other causes and organizations. The Detroit IWW
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
currently holds monthly General Membership Branch meetings in the theater for example.
The newest addition to the Trumbullplex, the Zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
Library, is near completion as of June 2011 and the collective that runs it is set to appear at the 2011 Allied Media Conference in Detroit with a zine lounge. According to their wordpress and monthly calendar the zine library will be open a few days a week with regular hours and will house over 2,000 independently published books, pamphlets, and fanzines, many of which came from the now defunct Idle Kids infoshop in Cass Corridor
Cass corridor
The Cass Corridor, in Detroit, Michigan contains the Cass Park Historic Districtand the Cass-Davenport Historic District. The corridor's main street is Cass Avenue, which runs parallel with Woodward Avenue, a main Detroit artery running north towards suburban neighborhoods...
.
