Angelina Dreem (Photo: Nicole Disser)
Where, I wondered, does one without children find children? “Everyone asks that, and it’s funny because there are kids everywhere– if you try, how can you not reach kids?” Angelina Dreem found my question pretty funny. Dreem is the artist and the founder of Powrplnt, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing underserved kids (and sometimes adults) with access to digital tools and technology. Angelina recently dubbed it “a net art school for indigo children,” on Twitter. “I feel like there is a real invisibility in the hipster world of everybody else who lives in New York City– it’s like, ‘Well I don’t see them at the bars,’ but for real, there’s a lot of kids.” Touché.
But now I’ll have no excuse about wondering where to recruit children for dastardly deeds, because they’ll be all in one place: Powrplnt just landed an IRL place of its very own in Bushwick, the organization’s first permanent space. “We’ll be starting the first round of classes in January, when the kids get back to school,” Angelina explained. But first up, there’s a fundraising event tonight (featuring the inimitable Junglepussy, believe it or not) and some very orange walls to get rid of immediately after. “On Monday, I’m definitely gonna start painting it white,” Angelina said.