NOMADIC SKATEBOARDERS

The Nomadic

The Everson Museum might be the East Coast mecca of skateboarding, but it's illegal to do so on the property. words by Phoebe Smith photos by Sam Berlin Skaters of Syracuse

If you’ve ever visited downtown Syracuse, you’ve likely seen a giant concrete building known as the Everson Museum of Art. It’s a relatively popular location, and people can often be seen walking, biking, and skating around the area. The Museum claims “the Everson is for everyone, a place where community connects and inspiration surrounds you,” proudly hanging a banner outside its doors echoing this message, exclaiming it stood “for artists, for community, for everyone.” Well, almost everyone. The Everson Museum of Art is actually a well-known location for the skating community, some going as far as to label it “The East Coast Mecca” of skateboarding. And while Everson does permit skateboarding on National Go Skateboarding Day, skating on the premises is otherwise considered illegal. Despite the ban, skaters can still be found on Everson’s campus grinding across its intricate concrete courtyard. Though the Everson Museum of Art does reserve the right to ban skateboarding, it doesn’t pair well with their claims of including all communities, especially one in need of a home.

In recent years, BC Surf & Sport, a local Syracuse skate shop, constructed a DIY skatepark in one of the city’s local tennis courts to make up for the lack of places to skate. The shop teamed up with DLX’s “The Build Project,” a movement

dedicated to raising money to build and fix DIY skateparks in underdeveloped areas. The project was initially protested by the Syracuse Police Department, but eventually the DIY skatepark, now known as “the spot,” was formally registered as a city park. The location attracted an entire subculture of artists and skaters that finally had a place to be free from a judgmental community. In fact, the spot gained so much popularity that two individuals within the Syracuse community, Drew Shoup and Ian DaRin, used the location to raise funds and open “The Better Skate Shop” in downtown Syracuse, dedicated to remedying the local skate scene.

Unfortunately, the spot wasn’t enough to fully revive the local skate scene in Syracuse, and both The Better Skate Shop and BC Surf & Sport have since been forced to permanently close their doors. One skater at Everson Museum comment highlighted why the spot possibly fell through, claiming “the only dignified place to skate is a concrete skate park, and

"I can understand why they wouln't want us here. we don't make things look pretty."

between Lake Placid and Buffalo, [Liverpool Skate Park] is the only place to skate. There are some prefab skateparks here and there, but mostly they’re terrible.”

Evidently, the local skating community is in need of a place to call home, and many in the community believe Everson could be that home. In the past, skateboarders have been known to create signs exclaiming “FREE eVe,” demanding the Museum make it legal to skate there year round. Nonetheless, some skaters still find opportunities to skate on the Museum’s campus without being stopped by law enforcement or museum staff. Some skaters believe that the social stigma surrounding skateboarding could be the reason why they aren't allowed at the Everson.

“We are pretty much a nonviolent community,” stated one skater, a skateboarding blogger touring notable locations in upstate New York, but asked to remain anonymous. “It's something

to do that isn’t drugs, so it should be better than how the law sees it. Skating is just a deeply misunderstood culture and pastime.” Another skater echoed this, highlighting the similarities between art and skating. They're “an artist too, I throw ceramics so skating is exactly the same thing as throwing ceramics to me. It’s just a way to express the way I feel, and it’s more of a lifestyle than anything. This [board] was my set of wheels all for my life. Until I got my license, this is how I got around.”

However, some skaters understand the Museum’s policy regarding skateboarding. A local Syracuse resident and skater says “there’s a core group of skateboarders here that take care of this place, we pick up trash and things. But unfortunately, there are some people that spoil it for others, I know [a] window has been broken a couple of times and people do disrespectful things, so I can understand why they wouldn’t want us

JM here. We don’t make things look pretty.”

Skateboarding culture has repeatedly fallen victim to stigmatization, but the extent to which it is justified remains unclear. The attempted revitalization of the local Syracuse skate scene was able to have a tangible economic impact in the community, yet that impact can no longer be seen due to the lack of locations available to skaters. Does Everson stand to potentially help the local economy should they allow skating on their premises? Does it have a deeper responsibility to the communities it claims to serve? Either way, Everson’s promise of acceptance and inclusion of all communities while actively isolating one that could benefit from its help remains problematic. Until then, the displaced skaters of Syracuse will remain nomads, gliding through the streets without a place to call home.