Visit the New Neighbors and Experience Durham

New Neighbors are moving into the NE Central Durham community. Ok, maybe not literally, but artist Dave Alsobrooks has created a series of paintings depicting Durham residents living their lives. The paintings will be displayed in the windows of vacant buildings to capture the potential of the buildings and encourage their preservation. During the course of the project, close to 50 paintings will be placed in properties such as the Y.E. Smith Elementary School and four other homes within a block of the school.

Called New Neighbors, this project was developed with the hopes of getting people to take a second look at homes, like the ones in the project, to see the preservation potential. The first installation will occur next Thursday, March 3 on the 100 block of Driver Street. The event will last from 5:30 until 7:30 and will include a walking tour of the neighborhood. Food trucks, Only Burger, Farmhand Foods, and Daisy Cakes, will also be on hand.

“New Neighbors seeks to capture the potential of abandoned properties and bring them to life. It’s a community outreach and arts initiative rolled into one local project,” says Alsobrooks. “Vacant buildings and homes share one thing in common: empty (or boarded) windows. What if we could visualize New Neighbors living their lives in abandoned properties?”

The New Neighbors project is an illustration of Durham’s community-minded spirit and innovation. For more information on the project, download this PDF of information, "like" the project on facebook or read more from Dave Alsobrooks’ blog.