March 25, 2006

It's gotta be said - Big Daddy Project is a great live band. As are the Biddies. What strange bedfellows, those two. But amazingly, it clicked. They've played together before so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to me. Collectively, their energy was off the charts. And being from the 'hood, they brought out the LIC crowd in spades. There was an added bonus to all of this brouhaha - Cool In Your Code, the TV show that airs on channel 25, came to LIC, met Justin @ Dominie's, was referred to us, and in turn was invited to tape the show and interview the bands. Word is it will air on April 11, so keep your eyes peeled wide, my friends.

Audiences are tricky. And audience development is a subject swathed in mystery. Marketing types will talk about surveys and methods and rates of return. Small groups tend not to worry about this stuff, because (a) their audience capacity is limited, and (b) they KNOW where their crowd is coming from, simple as that. Now that we're growing, and are inviting new artists into our little world over here, we are reaching new, larger groups of people, most of them unknown to us, and it makes me wonder: who are these folks? How do we talk to them?

When we opened 18 months ago, I honestly assumed that we'd have an easy time getting local faces in. There are so many artists and arts-minded people living here, it seemed like almost a no-brainer. But the surprising (to me) reality is: though audiences have not been a problem (thankfully!), the truth is they are NOT from here. This is just a fact of life & it's not a bad thing. We're bringing new faces to the neighborhood, and those new faces like to drink at bars and eat at restaurants. There has been a real, discernible impact on the neighborhood economy. Seriously, ask around.

We love our neighborhood regulars (if only they'd go forth and multiply!). They've been unbelievably supportive. And the local business owners have gone above the call when it comes to us. And there WILL be more of them, over time. It's an organizational priority and, the way I see it, it's a statistical inevitability. Anyhow, here's the point: it was really nice to pack the house with friends and neighbors for a change. Kudos to Big Daddy (John & Drew espcecially) & The Biddies (thanks Lee Ann!) for bringing out the crowd . One of the big reasons we chose to open an arts space in an outer borough (which truthfully, may as well be Timbuktu to a lot of NY'ers) was to connect with our local community. We really are a bigger fish in a smaller pond over here. LIC has been my home for ten years & it's quite possible I'll never leave. And the truth is, we're doing something that no one else is doing. That's a good thing, and I can't help but believe that it in the long run, our neighborhood will support us.

March 6, 2006

Friday the place filled with the worst-smelling smoke you could possibly imagine. Turns out our chimney partially collapsed. We managed to clear the air (passably) in time for the performance, which went on, and was well-received. I have to hand it to the artists, who made the best of things. And: it was a GOOD SHOW. Gabriella juggled everything so fastidiously - the monologue, the voice over, the dances, the music - it should have been overkill, but it wasn't. It was delightful - moving, even. With the exception of Big Daddy Project's one-off performance this weekend, we're on break for 3 weeks while we do early rehearsals of Henrietta. I've been rewatching the great old George Romero zombie films, and at least for now will be using the screenplay and soundtrack from Day of The Dead. There are so many astonishing visual parallels. And Romero's dialogue is so smart. More importantly, I'm getting interested in the oldschool mechanics of the special fx. There's an obvious (perhaps too obvious?) connection between the Schiavo story and the visual trickery used in these movies...

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Live Sh-- Alternative Presenter Fair

1/10 & 1/11 2009

THROW

February 17 2009, 7PM