Upcoming Events
Save the Date!
Save the date for WEAD’s 30th anniversary celebration: A screening of Maintenance Artist, the first feature documentary about groundbreaking public artist
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the New York City Sanitation Department’s artist-in-residence.
Sunday, October 25, 2026
New Parkway Theater, Oakland, California
The afternoon will kick off with a special intro by the film’s writer/director, Toby Perl Freilich, followed by a screening of the film. We’ll conclude with lots of exciting raffle prizes.
Stay tuned for more details. We hope to see you there!
If you’d like to sponsor the event or volunteer on the day of the event, please email info@weadartists.org for more information.
Image credit: Washing / Tracks / Maintenance: Outside, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, performance at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1973. Part of Maintenance Art performance series, 1973-1974. Image courtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York. © Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Save the Date!
Save the date for WEAD’s 30th anniversary celebration: A screening of Maintenance Artist, the first feature documentary about groundbreaking public artist
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the New York City Sanitation Department’s first artist-in-residence.
Sunday, October 25, 2026
New Parkway Theater, Oakland, California
The afternoon will kick off with a special intro by the film’s writer/director, Toby Perl Freilich, followed by a screening of the film. We’ll conclude with lots of exciting raffle prizes.
Stay tuned for more details. We hope to see you there!
If you’d like to sponsor the event or volunteer on the day of the event, please email info@weadartists.org for more information.
About the film
In 1969, WEAD member Mierle Laderman Ukeles penned the Manifesto for Maintenance Art, 1969! Proposal for an exhibition: “Care.” Routine maintenance – from changing diapers to picking up city trash to caring for the earth – could be acts of performance art, she said.
The rest, as they say, is ART history.
Toby Perl Freilich has created the first feature film documenting that history. With never-before-seen archival footage, Maintenance Artist tells a story of essential workers and radical contemporary art set during the social and artistic upheavals of the last half century. Penetrating, provocative, funny, and deeply moving, Maintenance Artist fills a glaring cultural gap and heralds Ukeles’ call for a Maintenance Revolution.
About the theater
WEAD is deeply appreciative to the New Parkway Theater, which is donating its space for this event.
The New Parkway is more than just a theater, it’s a thriving community hub and possibly the greenest theater in the world. With nearly everything being reusable, they strive to produce as little waste as possible and to be a theater that is accessible to all. They put people and the planet over profit in all their business planning and offerings. Their mission and practices are deeply aligned with WEAD’s.
The theater offers a mix of on-screen content includes critically acclaimed new films, throwback favorites, and quirky non-film events, including a weekly art night on Wednesdays!
Their screening rooms are ADA compliant and filled with loveseats, reclaimed vintage chairs, and other unique seating. Every Wednesday, patrons pay whatever they want for their movie tickets.
Their café menu includes a selection of entrees, appetizers, and treats to delight omnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and gluten-free folks alike. The drink selection is expansive, and all beer and wine is sourced locally — from within 200 miles.
The New Parkway provides their staff a living wage and profit sharing. They also go out of their way to offer employment to young people, single parents, ex-convicts, and other candidates who might find difficulty getting work in other places.
The New Parkway is doing great work in the world and is worth supporting. We hope you will attend our anniversary show and many other events there. You can learn more at their website: thenewparkway.com/home.
Image credit: Washing / Tracks / Maintenance: Outside, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, performance at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1973. Part of Maintenance Art performance series, 1973-1974. Image courtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York. © Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Image credit for photo of Ukeles talking with Sanitation worker: Touch Sanitation Performance, Sweep 3, Manhattan 3, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, one district sweep in citywide performance with 8,500 Sanitation workers across all 59 New York City Sanitation districts, July 24, 1979 to June 26, 1980. Date of photo unknown.
Photo: Robin Holland. Image courtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
© Mierle Laderman Ukeles