Dik, Publisher Emeritus (12/17/1943 - 11/9/2023)
Dik, founder and owner of Syracuse Cultural Workers (SCW), passed away on November 9, 2023 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He is dearly missed here and far beyond.
Dik grew up in Central NY and had an anti-authoritarian attitude early on, fueled by injustice in his high school. By his second year in college, influenced by parents of a roommate, he began to think more critically about the world. In 1964 he gave up his college draft deferment to oppose the Viet Nam war. It was clear that he didn't intend to serve US foreign policy in the military. He refused to accept the legitimacy of the Selective Service System and ultimately spent two years in three different federal prisons. By the time he was released in December, 1968, some federal judges were congratulating resisters for opposing the illegal, immoral war. Times were changing.
His parole plan was to work at a local pharmaceutical company but after several months, his parole officer, sympathetic to his anti-war stance, allowed him to get a job he really wanted. He began working in the Syracuse Peace Council (SPC) collective in 1970. For eleven years one of his main interests there was to create the Peace Calendar. He knew the calendars were a great year-long educational vehicle, so it was possible to include pieces about the Viet Nam war and in a larger sense, on US militarism, imperialism, racism, sexism and more.
In 1982 he and a few friends, including Art Director Karen Kerney, began what was then called the Syracuse Cultural Workers Project (SCWP) to continue publishing the Peace Calendar. Dik had left the SPC staff in 1981 and the Peace Council had discontinued publishing the Peace Calendar after 11 editions. SCWP, under Dik's leadership, expanded the publishing to posters, notecards, holiday cards, postcards and bookmarks. Over the years T-shirts have been included, along with buttons and bumperstickers, books and more. The company was housed in various locations before moving to its current building, a former Italian restaurant owned by 3 sisters in a beautiful gay and lesbian-friendly neighborhood on the near northside of Syracuse.
Dik lived collectively for most of his adult life, helping to raise six children, including his own beloved daughter Cora, who was born in 1994. Other members of his collective include his partner Karen Mihalyi, Jack Manno and Cindy Squillace. Extended neighborhood family includes Pam Walker and Mary Rosa Morris-Walker, and Marie Summerwood who also worked at SCW.
Dik initiated and co-founded ArtRage - The Norton Putter Gallery, which opened in 2008. No ordinary gallery, its mission is to exhibit progressive art that inspires resistance and promotes social justice. It challenges preconceptions and encourages cultural change. It doesn’t stop there. Each exhibit is in collaboration with one or more community organizations in an effort to expand the traditional viewing “audience,” to offer support and become a catalyst for organized action among working people. By 2010, ArtRage had become an integral part of the progressive Central NY community.
Dik continued seeking creative ways to blend arts and activism right up to the end. Dik Cool Presenté!
Karen, Art Director Emeritus
John, Business Manager
Rose, Shipperations Manager
Randy, Shipperations
Chris, Web Weaver
