The Sanctuary for Independent Media

The Sanctuary for Independent Media The Sanctuary for Independent Media is a telecommunications production facility dedicated to community media arts.

We use art, science, and participatory action to promote social and environmental justice, and freedom of creative expression. The Sanctuary for Independent Media is part of Media Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in upstate New York. Our mission is to use art and participatory action to promote social and environmental justice and freedom of creative expression. Everything we do

is made possible with the generous support of people like you. Since 2005 we have been building an arts and environmental campus in North Central Troy. We operate indoor and outdoor presenting and production facilities (the Sanctuary and Freedom Square), a radio station (WOOC 105.3 FM), community gardens (Collard City Growers), a STEAM learning center (NATURE Lab), and youth programs (Uptown Summer and Youth Media Sanctuary). None of this would be possible without the support of countless volunteers, thousands of individual donations, scores of local partners and grant funding from generous foundations.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! Hi Friends, we are looking for some help to clean out our Carriage House at Collard City Growers!We ...
08/27/2026

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!
Hi Friends, we are looking for some help to clean out our Carriage House at Collard City Growers!

We are turning the Carriage House from a storage unit into a Sustainable Land Arts Studio and education space! But first, we have to clear out the space to do some crucial stabilization and foundation work.

Please join us at Collard City Growers (3337 6th Ave. Troy, NY 12180) on Saturday 8/29 from 12pm - 4pm, and Friday 9/4 from 3pm - 6pm.

Some of the tasks will include: Sorting garden tools and supplies and moving things to our other storage spaces or to our designated trash or donate piles.

Dress comfortably and bring some water.

See you at the Sanctuary!

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! Hi Friends, we are looking for some help to clean out our Carriage House at Collard City Growers!We ...
08/27/2026

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!
Hi Friends, we are looking for some help to clean out our Carriage House at Collard City Growers!

We are turning the Carriage House from a storage unit into a Sustainable Land Arts Studio and education space! But first, we have to clear out the space to do some crucial stabilization and foundation work.

Please join us at Collard City Growers (3337 6th Ave. Troy, NY 12180) on Saturday 8/29 from 12pm - 4pm, and Thursday 9/4 from 3pm - 6pm.

Some of the tasks will include: Sorting garden tools and supplies and moving things to our other storage spaces or to our designated trash or donate piles.

Dress comfortably and bring some water.

See you at the Sanctuary!

COMING UP THIS WEEK🍝THIS SUNDAY IS COMMUNITY BRUNCH! August 30 11AM - 2PM, Join us at Freedom Square for free food in go...
08/26/2026

COMING UP THIS WEEK

🍝THIS SUNDAY IS COMMUNITY BRUNCH! August 30 11AM - 2PM, Join us at Freedom Square for free food in good company. Kitchen Sanctuary will be preparing a wonderful meal and a tour will be offered during the last half hour.

🌳*regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3337 6th Avenue. Join us to help out in the garden, harvest food to take home, or just relax amongst the greenery!��

🏥*by appointment only* Gina Mauro, L.Ac of Albany Community Acupuncture is offering walk-in and registration community acupuncture on the 2nd Floor of NATURE Lab – 3319 6th Ave, (requires use of stairs)

📻 *on Weekdays 6pm-7pm* tune in to Husdon Mohawk Magazine.
HMM is a volunteer-produced, local radio news hour that provides sanctuary for the discussion of topics affecting our communities.

Here are some photos of happenings from previous weeks:

🌳It was a wonderful time at Open Garden Hours last week. Our neighbor and friend, William, came to help us harvest some elderberries and tulsi basil for People’s Health Sanctuary. We also loved having young people join us at the Garden; they brought a lot of joy and whimsical energy that reminded us to be curious and creative. 🔎🫧

🔊📻We had some really great guests join us at the studio for Hudson Mohawk Magazine! We are thankful to our engineers, hosts, producers, guests and listeners for their continued support. 🙏

COMING UP THIS WEEK 🌳*regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3...
08/18/2026

COMING UP THIS WEEK

🌳*regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3337 6th Avenue. Join us to help out in the garden, harvest food to take home, or just relax amongst the greenery!��

🏥*by appointment only* Gina Mauro, L.Ac of Albany Community Acupuncture is offering walk-in and registration community acupuncture on the 2nd Floor of NATURE Lab – 3319 6th Ave, (requires use of stairs)

📻 *on Weekdays 6pm-7pm* tune in to Hudson Mohawk Magazine.
HMM is a volunteer-produced, local radio news hour that provides sanctuary for the discussion of topics affecting our communities.

Here are some photos of happenings from previous weeks:

On Thursday, August 14, Water Justice Lab attended the final session of the Experimental Biology Class at Hudson Valley Community College, led by Professor Shalini Varma. Over the last six weeks, fellows learned biochemical water-testing procedures and explored the first steps in source-tracking sewage contamination using eDNA techniques.🔬

The Sanctuary for Independent Media was devastated to learn of the recent passing of Gerald (Master G) Pintro, someone i...
08/17/2026

The Sanctuary for Independent Media was devastated to learn of the recent passing of Gerald (Master G) Pintro, someone involved with the Sanctuary for over a decade.

Most recently he could be found behind the camera as part of our volunteer crew, documenting last year’s North Central Troy Interfaith Holiday Justice and Peace Celebration, our community reading of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” and Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir this Spring. We are forever indebted to Master G for gifting us his time and many talents. The Sanctuary sends our deepest condolences to his children and relatives, friends, and his Troy family.

Ten years ago this summer, Gerald was featured in “Jerry’s House,” a documentary about Rev. Jerry Ford and the economic injustices and housing in North Central Troy. The video was produced as part of the Uptown Summer 2016 Youth Documentary Series: “Vacant Buildings, Vanishing Dreams” under the mentorship of Sanctuary co-founder Branda Miller.

Rest easy Master G. You will be so deeply missed.

🍝Join us at a long table at Freedom Square for free food in good company. Sharing food and getting to know your neighbor...
08/13/2026

🍝Join us at a long table at Freedom Square for free food in good company. Sharing food and getting to know your neighbors is such an important way to build community, and Kitchen Sanctuary is inviting you to show up with a hunger for brunch and conversation.
A campus tour will be offered in the last half hour.

📍Freedom Square - 35 5th Ave, Troy, NY
🗓 August 30, 2026
🕐 11am - 1pm

COMING UP THIS WEEK 🌳*regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3...
08/11/2026

COMING UP THIS WEEK

🌳*regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3337 6th Avenue. Join us to help out in the garden, harvest food to take home, or just relax amongst the greenery!

🏥*by appointment only* Gina Mauro, L.Ac of Albany Community Acupuncture is offering walk-in and registration community acupuncture on the 2nd Floor of NATURE Lab – 3319 6th Ave, (requires use of stairs)

📻 *on Weekdays 6pm-7pm* tune in to Husdon Mohawk Magazine.
HMM is a volunteer-produced, local radio news hour that provides sanctuary for the discussion of topics affecting our communities.

📸-Here are some photos of happenings from previous weeks:

1. On Wed, August 5 Water Justice Lab youth fellows and mentors, along with our Riverkeeper collaborators, attended a press conference on Peeble's Island! Held by NY Senator Patricia A. Fahy, the event was organized to express support for Fahy's proposed Mohawk River Basin Management Act. Stay tuned to find out if this plan to develop a sustainable management plan for the Mohawk River, which flows into the Hudson just above the Troy Dam, gets signed by the governor.

2. This weekend, the Sanctuary participated The Community Rising Project’s Black August Annual Community Cookout. We were able to give away the air purifiers made by our Summer Youth Employees. It was great to see other community organizations come together to uplift the community and give away some back to school, and other essential supplies.

3. Two weeks ago, the Water Justice and Media Lab team toured the Sanctuary's neighborhood with stormwater and floodplain guest mentor, Ricardo López-Torrijos. Ricardo is the Stormwater Committee Chair at New York State Floodplain and Stormwater Managers Association. Thanks Ricard

Hello! Our names are Shaira and Savayah, and we are from the Rensselaer County Summer Youth Employment Program. For the ...
08/07/2026

Hello! Our names are Shaira and Savayah, and we are from the Rensselaer County Summer Youth Employment Program. For the last five weeks we have been working at the Sanctuary.

We have done a lot this summer. Such as harvesting some collard greens, green beans, potatoes and garlic. We also made some plant food that we used to water tomatoes, and got to build some air purifiers using box fans and air filters that will be given out to community members.

We did a lot of creative work: made thank you cards that will be distributed to supporters of the sanctuary, learned about social media and how to take good pictures. We created a radio story that included interviews with staff from the Sanctuary and Rensselaer County, and little about ourselves. Look out for that on Hudson-Mohawk Magazine.

We did a lot of cleaning. From Freedom Square, the sanctuary main space, the garden and organized various areas in the kitchen and the office. We also sorted books into special and non special categories. Special books were those where the authors visited, and signed a copy of their book.

We had a good summer working at the Sanctuary and recommend it to people that want to learn about being themselves, creativity, opportunities, environmental and social justice.

See you at the Sanctuary!

COMING UP THIS WEEK 🌳*regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3...
08/03/2026

COMING UP THIS WEEK

🌳*regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3337 6th Avenue. Join us to help out in the garden, harvest food to take home, or just relax amongst the greenery!��

🏥*by appointment only* Gina Mauro, L.Ac of Albany Community Acupuncture is offering walk-in and registration community acupuncture on the 2nd Floor of NATURE Lab – 3319 6th Ave, (requires use of stairs)

📻 *on Weekdays 6pm-7pm* tune in to Hudson Mohawk Magazine.
HMM is a volunteer-produced, local radio news hour that provides sanctuary for the discussion of topics affecting our communities.

Here are some photos of happenings from previous weeks:

Water Justice Lab is working with Upper Hudson Microplastics project lead Dr. Sarah Cadieux and Broken Plastics artist Nicole Chrochrek to collect and sort microplastics to make sculptural mosaics for NATURE lab and Nicole's exhibition at Context Collective in downtown Troy. Over the first few weeks of July, WJL youth fellows helped Nicole sort the plastics in the NATURE Lab microplastics recycling bin, and collected more plastics at our local stream, the Piscawenkill.

Stay tuned to see the artwork created with these materials! 🎨

Image Descriptions:
S1: Sarah and four fellows are standing around a table at NATURE lab with gloves on as they sort a large pile of plastic items. On the table are 4 trays with varying levels of sorted items.
S2: Someone can be seen opening the microplastics recycling bin located outside on NATURE Lab.
S3: Two students are holding trays of plastic items collected from the recycling bin.
S4:An assortment of plastic items retrieved from the recycling bin are displayed on the table in the lab. There is a gloved hand reaching for an item in the pile.
S5: Plastic items in a tray have been sorted neatly in rows. A sticky note saying “Mesoplastic (Medium)” is on the table.

📸 - Ellie. I

COMING UP THIS WEEK 🌿 *regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at ...
07/27/2026

COMING UP THIS WEEK

🌿 *regularly on Wednesdays, May 20 – October 21 4PM-7PM,* Collard City Growers garden open hours at 3337 6th Avenue. Join us to help out in the garden, harvest food to take home, or just relax amongst the greenery!

🏥 *by appointment only* Gina Mauro, L.Ac of Albany Community Acupuncture is offering walk-in and registration community acupuncture on the 2nd Floor of NATURE Lab – 3319 6th Ave, (requires use of stairs)

📻*on Weekdays 6pm-7pm* tune in to Husdon Mohawk Magazine.
HMM is a volunteer-produced, local radio news hour that provides sanctuary for the discussion of topics affecting our communities.

Here are some photos of happenings from previous weeks:

The Water Justice Lab (WJL) had a full house week.
Dr. Emilly Obuya of Sage College and Be5 STEM joined us to discuss scientific research and career paths in STEM. For monthly water testing, the full cohort including HVCC students, WJL fellows, and Media Lab fellows worked together to process water samples in the lab led by Riverkeeper Community Science Manager Sebastian Pillitteri.
📸 - Ellie Irons

Image descriptions:
S1: Dr. Obuya sits around a table with students. They are looking at her intently as she talks.
S2:WJL fellows are moving around in the lab holding various water testing tools as Media Lab fellows mentor, Grey, and Sanctuary Archivist, Carolyn are recording them.

Two weeks ago, the Sanctuary’s Staff and Board members had an in-house retreat to develop a strategic plan. It was a productive session that gave us time to reflect on the importance of the work we do, and how we hope to operate over the next few years.

Image description
S3: Chairs are arranged in a circle in the sanctuary main space. There is a mix of people sitting and standing. On the wall, are poster papers with various graphics and writings.

Executive Director, Ren, and their sister, Vanessa, were hard at work doing groundskeeping around Freedom Square. We are thankful to them for ensuring our campus is well kept.

Image description:
S4: Vanessa is dressed in coveralls and a hat, holding branches. Nearby is a wheelbarrow filled with plant debris.

Address

3361 6th Avenue
Troy, NY
12180

Telephone

+15182722390

Website

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