Event producers participate in a panel discussion during SITE Fest. — Photo by Anna D’Agrosa.

One week later, the creative energy and enthusiasm of Arts in Bushwick’s inaugural performance festival, SITE Fest, is still reverberating. 

With hundreds of performance spaces closing throughout the city, but particularly in Manhattan, the festival ultimately served two purposes beyond its joyous, do-it-yourself aesthetic: to highlight the work of artists living in the Bushwick area and to draw public attention to the work occurring at existing spaces in the neighborhood. 

I moderated four panels during the festival, about alternative spaces for dance, theater, comedy, and music, and a common theme was the struggle to gain an audience as spaces close or shift around while also maintaining the integrity of the work.  Once this is overcome, as in Chez Bushwick or the Bushwick Starr’s case, a community of performers can develop around the venue, ensuring greater artistic control.  While there is a certain romantic notion in holding a show in different locations, the way that MeanRed Productions or ToddPNYC concerts seem to appear and then disappear for one-off events, the promoters, directors and choreographers I interviewed overwhelmingly preferred having a permanent space in which they could adapt and exercise their vision.

Sue Kessler, co-owner of the Bushwick Starr, spoke about how her theater has enabled area directors to take risks they would not necessarily take if they were opening in an Off- or Off-Off-Broadway venue.   That sentiment was echoed by Jonah Bokaer, founding director of Chez Bushwick, who has managed his Boerum Street performance space as a place where choreographers can develop and refine their artistic vision without the pressure of opening at BAM or Lincoln Center. 

Performers of all genres — comedians, dancers, concert promoters and directors — all spoke about having the freedom to fail.  Bushwick’s bars, warehouse lofts, studios and former hotels all serve the important purpose of allowing a place for creative expression without the pressure of critical review or ticket sales. 

That does not mean that Bushwick’s institutions do not feel pressure to succeed.  Kessler must raise money and fill her space with enough theater company productions in order to meet her budget.  Lumenhouse offers services as a photo studio in order to support its gallery and other creative endeavors in the space.  Chez Bushwick conducts extensive fundraising campaigns and applies for grants, like many other arts organizations, in order to pay its staff. Jen Lyon of MeanRed Productions estimated that in order for her music production company to continue operating, events must generate enough money to cover expenses and operating costs at least 70% of the time.

Those without an institution must try to create their own through arrangements with bars, landlords, roommates, and even city agencies.  Murderfist, a Brooklyn-based sketch comedy troupe, has tried to create a friendly network of comedy groups that share billings through shows at Comedy Free Williamsburg.  Though the host venue, SoundFix, effectively closed last month, new bars in Long Island City are already looking to take their place and the group may soon be performing at Caitlin Steitzer’s Lafff Factory at 114 Forrest Street.  Performance artists have been using space at art galleries such as English Kills and Grace Exhibition Space, while other arts organizations such as the nonprofit Norte Maar have dispensed with a set location in favor of a rotating space that is currently in a ground-level apartment on Wyckoff Avenue.

Lily Maase, a Bushwick-based jazz musician and teacher, believes that artists must be cognizant of their surroundings in order to continue making art in their communities. Maase says that Bushwick is a sort of lawless zone right now, where artists can hold performances and open exhibition spaces without trouble from city agencies over zoning and permits.

The influx of artists and performers combined with the sluggish pace of real estate growth has bought some time for the artistic community in Bushwick.  Whether it will flourish or be overtaken by development pressures is yet to be seen.

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