Bushwick Open Studios, pt 1

Booming Bushwick: 7th Annual Bushwick Open Studios
Bushwick Open Studios launches its seventh annual arts festival on Friday, May 31st with over 500 artists’ studios and galleries participating in the weekend long event. In a three square mile area, in lofts, residential buildings, art spaces, up stairs, on rooftops, in basements and on the street, deciding what to see becomes in part a question of how to navigate the scene. Do not expect the pristine and polite gallery walks of other art neighborhoods. This is a homegrown extravaganza, a fascinating fun-house.

Unlike curated festivals, the offerings at Bushwick Open Studios range in style and skill. Anyone can register to participate by filling an online form and attending one of the mixer events. These gatherings are required, and instill a sense of community among the participants, who range from after-work, occasional scribblers to full-time, professional artists. There are sculptors, woodworkers, oil painters, landscape painters, collagers, watercolorists, graffiti artists, sketch artists, installation artists, portraitists, conceptualists, photographers, curators, gallerists, art professors, students, all of the above and none of the above, because there are also events with actors, dancers, musicians and more. It’s hodge podge of what is being created today, with all the terrible and the great inherent in such a wide array.

Arts in Bushwick, the oversight organization, was begun by fifteen grassroots organizers and local artists in 2007 to promote an integrated, sustainable community that could counter development-driven displacement. Artists have been pushed out of the West Village, SoHo, the East Village, Williamsburg, and Dumbo because of development plans to upscale and gentrify. Arts in Bushwick gathers artists through the annual festival to create a sense of commitment to the neighborhood as a vibrant and authentic arts quarter. The organization is completely volunteer driven and non-hierarchical, and much to everyone’s continued surprise runs an orderly, engaging, and exciting three day festival, every year on the first weekend in June.

This year the festival will officially open at Shea Stadium–not the sports arena, but the recording studio, all-ages showspace, and radio station that’s been hailed by NPR, The New York Times, The Village Voice and others (20 Meadow Street, halfway between the Montrose and Grand Street L train stops). Just as artists in New York wear many hats so do their spaces often include several business angles, so don’t be surprised when you stop by a gallery-boutique bookbinder-monthly dance space. Such collaborations are particularly common among Bushwick’s small business owners. Shea Stadium will provide music and celebration, enthusiasm and noise on Friday night starting at 7PM. Some programs will be available (as they usually are at every studio and gallery) but information on what and where will always be available at any one of the several dozen “hubs” the festival has established, precisely to help those unfamiliar with the neighborhood.

“Hubs” are major galleries, bars, cafés and venues that have committed to remain open throughout the weekend to answer questions, provide directions, offer a bathroom and hand you a program. Located near subway stations and bus stops, they will have information on events and activities, as well as maps to guide the perplexed. A full list of all the hubs is still being developed but will be provided online for newcomers. All participants are identifiable by signs with a large red dot on a white square that includes their identification number in the program. The signs are located on building entrances, apartment and gallery doors, and sometimes on the street to guide audiences to little known locations. Stopping by a hub can help orient a visitor who hasn’t been to the neighborhood before, especially on a weekend that is swarming with people. For those committed to digital platforms, an Android and Apple app is being produced by last year’s volunteer team and should be available for download by mid-May.

Note: As it turned out, Bushwick Open Studios is still scheduling events. Galleries are still selecting who will be in their group shows. Sponsors and Hubs are being determined. As such, much factual information is missing that would need to be included for this to be an actual presentation of the upcoming BOS 2013. Instead, I did an overview of the event, the neighborhood and area to help prepare visitors about the general scene. By the beginning of May, it will be possible to include a great deal more information (which food trucks will be there, what galleries will have on display, what evening events are scheduled, and so forth).