Our Story
MUYU began as a gathering.
In 2018, in response to a wave of displacement and the closing of community spaces across Jersey City, we began opening our home every new moon. What started with two people around a table slowly grew into a circle. We gathered for potlucks where there was music, poetry, and dancing—everyone brought something, and everyone ate.
Over time, the gatherings grew. What began with two people became more than eighty.
Within a year, we outgrew our home. With the support of our community, we crowdfunded $5,000 and opened a small brick-and-mortar space called MUYU in the Village area of Ward E. The space was created as a place to gather, share food, and support artists and makers in our community.
Soon after opening, the space was forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, MUYU has continued to move in the way of the seed we are named after. Rather than being rooted in a single location, we travel—sometimes mobile, sometimes anchoring for a time in borrowed spaces. Through markets, gatherings, and events, we continue to create places where artists, neighbors, and communities can come together around food, art, and collective care.
Our medium-term vision is to steward land and reopen a permanent home for this work—one that can hold gatherings, markets, and cultural programming rooted in reciprocity and shared resources.
Every time you support our market or invite us to collaborate, you help move this collective vision closer to taking root.
MUYU was first sown in 2019 by Yurak Yawati and continues to grow through the relationships, labor, and imagination of the many artists, collaborators, and neighbors who shape us.
FAQs
What is MUYU?
MUYU is a community-rooted initiative that designs and builds structures for caring, sustainable ways of living. We bring people together through creative economy, land-based learning, and cultural practice to support communities in building interdependent futures.
What does MUYU mean?
MUYU means seed in Kichwa (Runa Shimi). The seed guides how we think about this work—how ideas travel, take root, and grow through relationships, land, and collective care.
What does MUYU do?
Our work takes shape through community markets, gatherings, cultural programming, and collaborative projects that support artists, makers, and organizers. These spaces allow us to practice new ways of living and supporting one another.
Why a creative economy?
Creative economies allow communities to circulate resources locally while supporting artists and makers. Our markets create shared platforms where people can sustain their work while contributing to a collective vision.
Do you have a physical space?
We previously operated a brick-and-mortar community space in Jersey City. After closing during the COVID-19 pandemic, MUYU shifted to a more mobile model—gathering in different places while continuing to build toward a permanent home.
What is the long-term vision?
Our long-term goal is to steward land and reopen a space dedicated to gathering, learning, and cultural practice. This space would support community markets, land-based learning, and interdependent ways of living.
How can I collaborate with MUYU?
We collaborate with artists, organizations, land stewards, and community groups who share our commitment to collective care and sustainable futures. You can reach us by email at muyu.earth@gmail.com.
How can I support MUYU?
You can support this work by attending our markets, inviting us to collaborate, sharing our work, or contributing resources that help move us closer to stewarding land.