CHALLENGE

Suburban communities frequently face a regional "youth drain," driven by the assumption that residents must commute to major metropolitan hubs like NYC for high-level cultural enrichment. Municipal grant boards and cultural trusts struggle to fund accessible programming that bridges strict demographic divides, captures the elusive 18–35 age group, and ensures equitable, non-exploitative compensation for independent working artists.

SOLUTION

Funded by two  consecutive Suffolk County Cultural Competitive Grants and NYSCA, Ballpark architected an immersive four-part residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island (MoCA L.I.). The series paired live independent music performances directly in front of fine art exhibitions with free, supplies-included communal workshops (stamp-carving, pin-making, and junk journaling). To anchor the first year of the series in permanent civic history, Ballpark self-published and distributed a physical Songs and Zines: Year 1 retrospective activity book documenting the community-generated art.