The Sanctuary For Independent Media

CCG Community Work & Play Days
2025-09-19 16:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Collard City Growers, 3337 6th Avenue, Troy, New York, 12180, United States
Drop in to Collard City Growers where we have activities for families and garden tasks for our adult volunteers. Community Work & Play Days take place on the 3rd Friday of each month, during the regular CCG Open Garden Hours which take place every Friday from 4:00 – 7:00 pm, from May through October.

Join us in tending, harvesting, and caring for the plants and the land, or just take some time to rest amongst greenery and appreciate the gifts of the garden. These open hours are family-oriented and open to all!

Image Processing with Plants Workshop
2025-09-20 14:00 - 18:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
Join us for a workshop focused on alternative ways to develop images. Participants will use plant-based materials to develop photograms with Le Ratoire, a French group of artists. This workshop will span a few hours and is co-sponsored by iEar Presents!

In this workshop, Le Ratoire artist collective will work with participants to learn how to make a black & white film/photo developer using just local plants, ashes, and water– no industrial products, nothing from the store! We will go over the techniques of photograms (also known as rayograms) and phytography, two ways of exposing and making images on photo paper without needing to use a camera. We will explain how to choose, harvest, and process the plants for the making of a developer, exploring the properties of the plants that can develop the silver halides in photo emulsion (the same process works for all photo sensitive materials; film and paper).

Participants will be able to go home with their images and are welcome to stay for a communal meal ahead of the film screening.

Le Ratoire 16mm Film Screening, 7pm

Le Ratoire, a name that in French hints at both the words “lab” and “failure,” is a group of artists coming together with the proposition of making a movie from start to finish almost as a single act, as a joint organism, often with any materials they have at their disposal, and in extremely little time. About their methodology for filmmaking the artists explain: “each film is defined by a particular set of parameters; both technical and, especially, situational.”

“Turn the Light Around” 16mm Film Screening
2025-09-20 19:00 - 21:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
Join us for screenings of 16mm plant processed performance films, presented by Katherine Bauer and Joyce Lainé, members of the film collective Le Ratoire and Atelier MTK. The images in each film emerge before our eyes through the process of a developer composed of plants, ashes, and water. The sun gives to the plants, the plants give to the silver, the silver turns the light around, to give to our eyes. The screening will be followed by a Q&A. This event is co-sponsored by iEar Presents!

In this screening, plants are collaborators in both the subject and the material revelation of the visual story. Plant is the Place. The action of creating these films are themselves performative relationships with the surroundings, the projection expanding this vision for yet more eyes to see.

Plant Processing is a collective action— particularly with the methods of Le Ratoire’s performative folk film-making style, but also with the methodologies of collective making and restraints employed by La Ratoire’s “Asphalt Splendor.” For this film, the group will set out to make a portrait of “the river that flows both ways,” or Mahicannittuk in Machican (aka The Hudson River), canoeing and camping from Troy to worlds end, plant processing all along the way with the different plants growing on the shores.

“Bat Nut,” is a poetic video document of friends gathering together to clear the locally loved Beaver Pond in Chatham, NY of the thorny Bat Nut. Other videos will show an exploration of a closed tungsten mine from WWII in Portugal, processed with the industrially farmed Eucalyptus, and a turn around a temple outside of Guadalajara, Mexico which was processed with beer and sage from their surroundings, and a film stained red from being processed with a certain seaweed, and more!

Alternative Film Processing Workshop with Le Ratoire, 2-6pm

Le Ratoire is a filmmaking collective; since 2019, composed of Léa Lanoë, Pierre Borel (Labo L’argent, Marseille, France), Katherine Bauer, Joyce Lainé, and Loïc Verdillon (Atelier MTK, Grenoble, France). They have elaborated a methodology for collective filmmaking wherein all aspects and stages of the film are made in a single go. Beginning with a constraint (a place, a theme, a technical method), embrace the unplanned that emerges within the process; the unexpected “failures” that inevitably occur are as important as the constraints that first inspired the process. The name “Le Ratoire” refers to the verb in French, rater, that means “to miss, fail, or flunk” and laboratoire, indicating the analog hand-made laboratory practices employed. Also the idea of a ratery or site for the “lab rat”; in this case we are the rats running tests on ourselves.

ATELIER MTK, founded in 1992 is the first collective film lab of France. It is an artist-run cinematographic laboratory equipped to work in all aspects of analogue films. The lab should be considered like a playground. Tools and techniques of the film medium are re-appropriated from the industrial film laboratories in order to encourage filmmakers to consider every element as a phase with creative potential. https://www.filmlabs.org/labs/mtk/.

Herbal Lung Health Workshop
2025-09-21 14:00 - 15:30 | People’s Health Sanctuary, 3319 6th Avenue, 2nd Fl, Troy, New York, 12180, United States
with Brooke Bridges, sponsored by Air Justice Lab

Join the PHS Community Apothecary and Air Justice Lab for a workshop where participants will learn how to use herbs to promote lung health and leave with a blend of herbs to take home. To protect all participants, registration and masking are required for this workshop. Please find full details below.

Limited spots available. Registration with a $10 refundable deposit is required to hold your place. Donations recommended on a sliding scale of $0 – 30; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.*

*Deposit refunds/cancellations: If you are unable to attend and notify us at least 48 hours before the event begins, we will offer your spot to someone on the waiting list and refund your deposit. Notify irons@mediasanctuary to cancel. If you attend the event, we will offer your $10 deposit back in cash on the day of the event. If the workshop is cancelled, we will refund your deposit or offer you the opportunity to attend a rescheduled event.

This workshop is dedicated to enhancing respiratory health using herbal steam inhalation, aromatherapy, and internal medicine. We will explore how specific herbs can alleviate inflammation, dryness, and excess mucus while promoting overall lung function. Learn about the properties and applications of various herbs, and discover practical techniques to incorporate them into your daily routine for better breathing and well-being. You’ll leave with a list of preparations, herbs, and your own handcrafted steam blend.

We will work with and talk about herbs like: thyme, oregano, mullein, lavender, eucalyptus, licorice, ginger, and stinging nettles.

Access Information:

The workshop series is held on the second floor of the NATURE Lab building, which is currently only accessible by a flight of stairs. If stairs will present a barrier to attending the workshop please get in touch (info@mediasanctuary.org) in case we can accommodate your participation in another way.

Registration is REQUIRED for this limited capacity event, with priority to the immediate neighborhood.

High quality masks/respirators (such as N95s) are required and provided for all attendees. There will also be air purifiers in the space. If a participant needs to unmask, please go outside, and maintain at least 10 feet from any other workshop participants.

Brooke Marie Bridges is an herbalist, CBT and Somatic therapy specialist, wellness coach, and all natural botanical product alchemist dedicated to blending the healing modalities of herbs with essential cognitive, mental, and emotional health practices. She aims to combine science, spirituality, and nature to help clients, friends, and community find healing that is balanced, holistic, and sustainable. www.brookembridges.cominstagram.com/brookembridges

This series is facilitated by herbalists affiliated with the People’s Health Sanctuary Community Apothecary who are volunteering their time and sharing information for educational purposes. None of the remedies shared in these workshops are intended to diagnose or treat any disease.

DIY Air Purifier Workshop at Context Collective
2025-09-30 18:30 - 20:00
Join Air Justice Lab at Context Collective for a workshop on building your own air purification system using a box fan, air filter, duct tape, and cardboard. High quality masks/respirators (such as N95s) are required and provided for all attendees. There will also be air purifiers in the space. If a participant needs to unmask, please go outside, and maintain at least 10 feet from any other workshop participants.

Context Collective is located downtown at 95 4th St, Troy, NY 12180

The Rhythm of Rebellion: Be The Media! workshop
2025-10-03 17:00 - 18:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
Taína Asili will share the story of her two-decade journey as a singer and activist creating music for social change. Through songs and personal narrative, she will reflect on the challenges she has faced and the lessons she’s learned making art in service of love and liberation. Workshop participants will explore how art can be a powerful tool for resistance, healing, and liberation, and reflect on their own creative paths through guided discussion and engagement. This workshop will inform the audience experience of Taína’s performance the next day.

Taína Asili’s Fever Pitch performance, 10/4, 7pm

Taína Asili’s Fever Pitch
2025-10-04 19:00 - 21:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
Join us for Taína Asili’s interdisciplinary production of Fever Pitch, uniting decades of her original work into a one-hour spectacle designed to ignite climate justice action on local, national, and global scales. This tapestry of sound, movement, and imagery is a celebration, a ritual, and a bold vision for a just and sustainable world.

*Tickets are priced at $20 for General Admission and $10 for Student or Low-Income Admission.The Sanctuary recognizes that even with a sliding scale, cost can affect the accessibility of any event. We want to emphasize that no one will be turned away at the door for a lack of funds. Please contact us at info@mediasanctuary.org with any questions or concerns.

The Rhythm of Rebellion: BTM! workshop, 10/3, 5pm

Fever Pitch is more than a performance—it is a celebration, a ritual, and a bold vision for a just and sustainable world. At its heart is Taína Asili, a dynamic singer, composer, interdisciplinary artist, and educator carrying on the tradition of her Puerto Rican ancestors, fusing past and present struggles into one soulful and defiant voice. She is celebrated by NPR, Rolling Stone, Billboard and Democracy Now! for her soulful, genre-blending music echoing calls for love and liberation. For the past 30 years she has offered energetic performances at diverse venues nationwide – from iconic stages such as Carnegie Hall, to renowned festivals like San Francisco Pride, to historic events like The Women’s March on Washington – inspiring audiences to dance to the rhythm of rebellion.

The liberation themes in Asili’s work are deeply rooted in her involvement in local and national activism, collaborating with numerous organizations throughout the years. As U.S. Coordinator for One Billion Rising and Board Chair of Soul Fire Farm, Taína’s artistic and activist work sits at the intersection of racial, gender, food, and climate justice. Her Resiliencia album embodies this mission, drawing from interviews with women of color across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico—stories of resilience in the face of cancer, hurricanes, migration, and sexual violence. This project extended into an award-winning documentary series, offering a powerful musical and visual exploration of these lived experiences. Additionally, during her residency with the Social Justice Portal Project, Asili created The Justice Suite, a multimedia trilogy of music and video interventions addressing abolition, climate justice, and economic democracy.

Fever Pitch, Asili’s latest interdisciplinary production, unites decades of her original work into a one-hour spectacle designed to ignite climate justice action on local, national, and global scales. Collaborating with choreographer Gregory Theodore Marsh and dancer/vocalists Eliane Rowe and Hettie Barnhill, she has crafted a mesmerizing fusion of live music and movement. Media artist Joseph Amodei adds another layer of depth with stunning projections featuring footage from Asili’s award-winning documentaries and music videos. The result is a breathtaking tapestry of sound, movement, and imagery that demands our attention and stirs our collective imagination.

Know Your Rights
2025-10-09 19:00 - 21:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
What to Do When Interacting with ICE Agents

Join members of the Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition to learn about how to assert your legal rights, be informed of your options, and feel prepared during an interaction with Immigration Customs and Enforcement.

All are welcome.This event is not a replacement for legal advice.

Volunteer Orientation Day
2025-10-15 17:00 - 19:00
Looking for a meaningful way to stay involved with the Sanctuary at your own pace? Join us every third Wednesday from 5–7PM for our monthly volunteer day. RSVP by sending an email to Alivija@mediasanctuary.org

We’ll start with light refreshments and a tour (plus a little campus clean up) and get an in-depth introduction to a volunteer role that interests you – whether it’s helping in the garden, setting up events, cleaning shared spaces, or spreading the word about our work!

Each month has a different role focus, so come find what fits you best! No experience needed – just bring your curiosity and commitment to building a stronger community together. Meet at the main space 3361 6th Ave.

October’s Volunteer Orientation will be around being a Sanctuary Scene Setter! We can’t run our events without the support of our event helpers. Being a part of our events has the perk of attending events for free.

Volunteer Role Training Descriptions:

Sanctuary Scene Setter (event set up/breakdown): Help set up for concerts, film screenings, workshops, and other events by placing tables, chairs, beverages/food or getting behind the camera to help document the event! Frequency: One day/ Occasional

Sanctuary Sweeper (cleaning): Help us keep our spaces clean and safe by cleaning indoor spaces and/or doing a street sweep!Frequency: Drop in style, Occasional

Sanctuary Social Butterfly (outreach): Help share our message, increase visibility of our work for more connections, funding, and attendance at our events Frequency: drop in, prescheduled leading up to events

Collard City Growers Garden: help tend to our garden by watering, weeding, and harvesting for and with our neighbors!Frequency: Occasional, weekly

PHS Healing Day
2025-10-17 16:00 - 19:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
For the remainder of the year, People’s Health Sanctuary will host monthly Healing Days at the Sanctuary main space, offering community acupuncture, herbal remedies from the Community Apothecary, a nourishing one pot meal, and a place to connect. All offerings will be donation based/sliding scale, so pay whatever you can— and bring a friend! PHS will be continually donating 50% of all donations to CRSC.

Monthly, 4-7 pm; dates include 10/17, 11/21, and 12/19.

Be The Media! workshop: Everybody has a Story to Tell
2025-10-24 17:00 - 18:00
Join Barry Rubinow, the director of “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them,” for a Be The Media! workshop on recording someone’s story for documentary filmmaking. Rubinow emphasizes that everybody has a story, and this workshop will explore discovering what that story is.

“Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them” is a documentary film about locally-based jazz musician, Tarik Shah, who was incarcerated for almost 15 years on terrorist accusations. This is a collaboration with the Coalition for Civil Freedoms.

7pm: The Forever War; The War on Terror

Barry Rubinow Is the director of “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them.” Rubinow’s career as a producer, director, editor, and indie filmmaker includes an Emmy Award for editing the CBS science show, Beakman’s World, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject for the first documentary he edited, “Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse.” He was also a founding member of The Documentary Channel. His latest film, “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them,” won Best Documentary at the 2025 Albany Film Festival.

Patrick Cone founded his production company, C1 Entertainment, to give voice to those who might not otherwise be heard. That guiding principle has led him to explore stories across America and the world. His 2021 short, South, garnered an official selection at Slamdance and the Audience Award for Best Documentary Short at the Hot Springs Film Festival. He is currently producing a feature documentary on the life of a civil rights activist.

The Forever War; The War on Terror
2025-10-24 19:00 - 21:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
Join us for a screening of “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them,” a documentary film about locally-based jazz musician Tarik Shah who was incarcerated for almost 15 years on terrorist accusations, and panel discussion around the lasting impact of the war on terror. The event will conclude with a musical performance with Tarik Shah on bass accompanied by guitarist by Luke Franco. This is a collaboration with the Coalition for Civil Freedoms.

5pm: Be The Media! workshop with Barry Rubinow

Locally-based jazz musician Tarik Shah is one of the many victims of “the war on terror.” “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them,” a documentary film by Barry Rubinow, takes the viewer through Tarik’s release and subsequent jobs, gigs, past career highlights, his imprisonment, life events, and difficulties in getting back into the ever-changing jazz scene in New York City. This short film (37 minutes) will be followed by a panel discussion which will include Tarik Shah, Barry Rubinow, and Kathy Manley and Jeanne Finley on behalf of Coalition for Freedoms. This event looks at the lasting impact on the lives of political prisoners.

Panelists:

Tarik Shah, Locally-based jazz musician who was incarcerated for almost 15 years on terrorist accusations, and the subject of “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them.” Shah’s musical journey began in earnest at the age of 16, when he became the sole bass student of internationally acclaimed bassist Slam Stewart. By age 21, Shah was touring the world with legendary vocalist Betty Carter. From there, he has performed and recorded with a stunning array of Jazz legends, including Ahmad Jamal, Randy Weston, Abbey Lincoln, Pharoah Sanders, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Dr. Lonnie Smith and so many more.

Kathy Manley is the Legal Director of the Coalition for Civil Freedoms and the Vice-President of the Capital Region Council of the New York Civil Liberties Union. She is also a founding member of Project SALAM. Her main emphasis is criminal defense and constitutional rights. She concentrates on appeals, has written many winning briefs before a variety of courts, and has received several awards for her work.

Barry Rubinow is the director of “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them.” Rubinow’s career as a producer, director, editor, and indie filmmaker includes an Emmy Award for editing the CBS science show, Beakman’s World, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject for the first documentary he edited, Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse. He was also a founding member of The Documentary Channel. His latest film, “Tarik Shah: Don’t Play Like Them,” won Best Documentary at the 2025 Albany Film Festival.

Moderator: Jeanne Finley is a photographer, writer, and editor. She was an original member of the Muslim Solidarity Committee, the grassroots group formed in 2006 to advocate for two Albany Muslims, Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, who were unjustly convicted in an FBI phony “terrorism” plot. She also edited Yassin Aref’s memoir, Son of Mountains, and a Palestinian prisoner’s book of poetry and art, Light from Deep Under, by Shukri Abu Baker. With colleagues, she now advocates for prisoners through Coalition for Civil Freedom.

The Coalition for Civil Freedoms (CCF) is a survivor-led nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the abuses of the U.S. domestic “War on Terror.” Founded in 2010, CCF is a coalition of civil liberties and human rights organizations that challenges preemptive prosecution and the post-9/11 targeting, surveillance, and criminalization of Muslim communities. CCF’s core areas of work include education and outreach, prisoner and family support.

Decolonial Practices in Film Workshop
2025-10-29 16:30 - 18:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
A Cross-Generational Dialogue with Suneil Sanzgiri and Youth FX’s Bhawin Suchak

Join us for a workshop reflecting on the practical work of filmmaking and considering its impact on the histories and communities it engages. Participants are invited into the world of artist Suneil Sanzgiri’s new film “An Impossible Address,” in parallel to the work of Albany media arts organization Youth FX’s co-founder and co-director Bhawin Suchak.

This event is a iEAR Presents! and EMPAC Collaboration

7pm: Memory, Diaspora, & Decoloniality: Films by Suneil Sanzgiri

The Sanctuary for Independent Media presents this Be the Media! workshop as part of our 20th Anniversary Season, celebrating two decades of commitment to youth media! The workshop opens with a session on film practice, after which Suneil Sanzgiri and Bhawin Suchak of Youth FX reflect on the practical work of filmmaking and consider its impact on the histories and communities it engages. Sanzgiri’s recent work serves as a departure point with focus on challenges facing emerging filmmakers. The workshop is followed by a dinner for participants, and a concluding screening of works from Sanzgiri’s series Golden Jubilee.

EMPAC series: An Impossible Address, Suneil Sanzgiri

Suneil Sanzgiri is an artist, researcher, and filmmaker. Spanning experimental video and film,animations, essays, and installations, his work contends with questions of identity, heritage,culture, and diaspora in relation to structural violence and anticolonial struggles across theGlobal South. Sanzgiri’s films offer sonic and visual journeys through family history, localmythology, and colonial legacies of extraction in Goa, India—where his family originates—deftlyutilizing and vividly blending together 3D renderings, drone videography, photogrammetry andlidar scanning, 16 mm film and animation, archival footage, and desktop documentary practices.

Bhawin Suchak is an educator, filmmaker, and the co-founder and co-executive director of Youth FX, a nationally renowned media arts organization focused on empowering young people by teaching creative and technical skills in film and digital media. He is also co-director of NeXt Doc, a year-round fellowship program of Youth FX that exists to amplify the voices of emerging documentary filmmakers of color. Bhawin is the director, cinematographer and editor of Outta The Muck (2022), a feature length documentary supported by Sundance Institute, ITVS, Just Films, Black Public Media and Southern Documentary Fund which aired on PBS’ Independent Lens series in 2023. He also previously directed The Throwaways (2014) and Free To Learn (2004). Bhawin is a 2019 Just Films Rockwood Fellow, 2019 Sundance Documentary Film Program Fellow, and a member of A-Doc: Asian American Documentary Network and the Documentary Accountability Working Group.

Memory, Diaspora, & Decoloniality: Films by Suneil Sanzgiri
2025-10-29 19:00 - 21:00
Join us for a film screening of Golden Jubilee, a film in a series of works about memory, diaspora, and decoloniality, with filmmaker Suneil Sanzgiri.

This event is a iEAR Presents! and EMPAC Collaboration

4:30pm: Decolonial Practices in Film Workshop: A Cross-Generational Dialogue with Suneil Sanzgiri and Youth FX

What is liberation when so much has already been taken? Who has come for more? “Golden Jubilee”, the third film in a series of works about memory, diaspora and decoloniality, takes as its starting point scenes of the filmmaker’s father navigating a virtual rendering of their ancestral home in Goa, India, created using the same technologies of surveillance that mining companies use to map locations for iron ore in the region. A tool for extraction and exploitation becomes a method for preservation.

EMPAC series: An Impossible Address, Suneil Sanzgiri

Suneil Sanzgiri is an artist, researcher, and filmmaker. Spanning experimental video and film,animations, essays, and installations, his work contends with questions of identity, heritage,culture, and diaspora in relation to structural violence and anticolonial struggles across theGlobal South. Sanzgiri’s films offer sonic and visual journeys through family history, localmythology, and colonial legacies of extraction in Goa, India—where his family originates—deftlyutilizing and vividly blending together 3D renderings, drone videography, photogrammetry andlidar scanning, 16 mm film and animation, archival footage, and desktop documentary practices.

Water Justice Lab End of Season Celebration
2025-11-15 16:30 - 19:00
Join Riverkeeper and NATURE Lab along with our community science volunteers, fellows, family and friends to celebrate the sixth season of Water Justice Lab. Activities include researcher and youth fellow presentations and a community meal followed by a 7pm film screening of The Story of Plastic and panel.

Schedule:

4:30 pm: Water Justice Lab open house and mural tours

5:00 pm: Welcome and youth fellow presentations

5:30 pm: Research talks by professor Sarah Cadieux and artist Nicole Chrochrek

6:00 pm: Community meal and volunteer appreciation

7:00 pm: screening of The Story of Plastic in the main Sanctuary space followed by a panel including artists, community organizers, activists and researchers. Register for the screening here.

7pm: “The Story of Plastic” Screening and Panel Discussion

Our Water Justice Lab programming is made possible by funding from Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust, The McCarthy Charities, Water Resources Institute, and The NY Department of Environmental Conservation.

Key partners for this event include Riverkeeper and Beyond Plastics.

A Big Gay Market
2025-11-16 11:00 - 16:00
A Big Gay Market is a designated intentional and affirmative space for LGBTQI+ individuals and their allies, especially for those in our community that have intersecting marginalized identities, to join together in queer and trans joy for a cause! This market features 30 vendors and participatory LIVE community quilt making provided by our beneficiary, Project Linus.

This is an INDOOR market which will have a mask-only hour and free KN-95 masks available for all attendees, from 11AM – 12PM.This market’s beneficiary is Project Linus’s Albany & Rensselaer Counties Chapter. Their mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth, and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”

See Facebook event

Volunteer Orientation Day
2025-11-19 17:00 - 19:00
Looking for a meaningful way to stay involved with the Sanctuary at your own pace? Join us every third Wednesday from 5–7PM for our monthly volunteer day. RSVP by sending an email to Alivija@mediasanctuary.org

We’ll start with light refreshments and a tour (plus a little campus clean up) and get an in-depth introduction to a volunteer role that interests you – whether it’s helping in the garden, setting up events, cleaning shared spaces, or spreading the word about our work!

Each month has a different role focus, so come find what fits you best! No experience needed – just bring your curiosity and commitment to building a stronger community together. Meet at the main space 3361 6th Ave.

November’s Volunteer Orientation will be around being a Sanctuary Social Butterfly! Come help us make signs of varying types– materials will be supplied. Being a part of our events has the perk of attending events for free.

Volunteer Role Training Descriptions:

Sanctuary Scene Setter (event set up/breakdown): Help set up for concerts, film screenings, workshops, and other events by placing tables, chairs, beverages/food or getting behind the camera to help document the event! Frequency: One day/ Occasional

Sanctuary Sweeper (cleaning): Help us keep our spaces clean and safe by cleaning indoor spaces and/or doing a street sweep!Frequency: Drop in style, Occasional

Sanctuary Social Butterfly (outreach): Help share our message, increase visibility of our work for more connections, funding, and attendance at our events Frequency: drop in, prescheduled leading up to events

Collard City Growers Garden: help tend to our garden by watering, weeding, and harvesting for and with our neighbors!Frequency: Occasional, weekly

Air Justice Lab: Mask Jewelry Workshop with The Crafty Queer @ Context Collective
2025-12-02 18:30 - 20:00
Air Justice Lab presents Mask Jewelry Workshop with The Crafty Queer! Whether you’re an avid mask wearer or are interested in masking again, join us for this off campus workshop to bejewel your mask. Masking in public spaces helps make them more accessible and safer for everyone! Make a statement piece with your personal protection equipment (PPE)!! Mask up, glam on, and stay safe!

*This is a mask and COVID test required event. Testing twice before hand makes this workshop significantly more accessible to those who are immunocompromised and/or disabled or at higher risk of both. If needed, please arrange time to pick up a mask and/or two COVID tests prior to event provided at no cost to you! Thanks for helping to keep one another safe!

To register, set up pick up times for mask/COVID test or more questions, please email alivija@mediasanctuary.org.

This workshop is a collaboration with The Crafty Queer and will take place off campus at Context Collective at 95 4th St, Troy, NY 12180.

Annual North-Central Troy Interfaith Holiday Justice and Peace Celebration 2025
2025-12-06 14:00 - 17:00 | The Sanctuary, 3361 6th Ave, Troy, 12180, United States
Join us for our annual North-Central Troy Interfaith Holiday Justice and Peace Celebration, an event for the whole family! This FREE event celebrates our neighborhood, bringing us together over food, music, activities, and messages of justice and peace.

The event will end at Freedom Square where we will light candles around the evergreen tree, sharing messages of justice, peace, and love.

JOIN US FOR:

Group portraits (Jayana Espinoza)

Music (Men of Faith & karaoke)

Drag story corner (Noelle Diamond)

Book giveaway (RED Bookshelf)

Face painting (Sobia Chaidhry)

Cookie decorating (O’Malley’s Oven)

Strands of regeneration (Azuré Keahi)

Community apothecary (People’s Health Sanctuary)

Hot cocoa station

Arts & crafts

Food & warm drinks

Candle lighting, singing, and wishes for justice & peace at Freedom Square around the holiday tree

To Bind Anew: Creative tools for grief, memory, and mending
2026-01-11 12:00 - 17:00
In this workshop, participants will gently explore memories through creative practices as a way to navigate grief and loss with the guidance of Sarah Blesener and Jenny Stratton, both artists and educators. To bind anew: this is an act of love.

Limited spots available. Registration with a $10 refundable deposit is required to hold your place. Donations recommended on a sliding scale of $0 – 30; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.*

*Deposit refunds/cancellations: If you are unable to attend and notify us at least 48 hours before the event begins, we will offer your spot to someone on the waiting list and refund your deposit. Notify irons@mediasanctuary to cancel. If you attend the event, we will offer your $10 deposit back in cash on the day of the event. If the workshop is cancelled, we will refund your deposit or offer you the opportunity to attend a rescheduled event.

This workshop is for anyone navigating grief and loss—whether personally, or as a caregiver or services provider supporting others. Together, we’ll gently explore personal and shared memories through creative practices such as storytelling, collage, poetry, and working with meaningful objects: photographs, heirlooms, flowers, and more.

As we step into the new year, we’ll co-create a space to reflect, mourn, and honor what we carry. Participants will be invited to contribute to a collective archive of our experience, holding both what has been lost and what still remains.

Note to participants: Please come prepared with around 3 to 6 printed image reproductions of archival photographs or images meaningful to you to work with. All colors, shapes, and sizes are welcome. These may include images of loved ones you are grieving, family albums, vacation photos, or visuals from communal archives or media. Please do not bring originals.

We recommend printing your photographs at a nearby drugstore such as Walgreens, CVS, etc-orders can be placed online or instore. (prints are typically under 1.00 each for a 4×6)

We also encourage you to bring additional archival materials such as letters, journals, notes, memorabilia, or scraps—anything that holds meaning for you. Provided materials include paint, tape, scissors, pens, and extra paper. Feel free to bring your own art supplies if you prefer to use them.

Sarah Blesener

Sarah Blesener is an educator, socially engaged artist, and visual researcher interested in the complexity of human relationships and their visual representations.

Jenny Stratton

Jenny Stratton is an interdisciplinary artist, visual researcher and educator. She engages with photography, art, and storytelling as emergent processes for co-creation, restorative narratives, and acts of care. Jenny’s creative work and research are rooted in relationships—with ourselves and each other, with inner/outer landscapes and ecologies. She is also a full-spectrum doula care provider.
