Friday, October 7, 2011

Horse Trade Theater Group signs new lease on Under St. Mark's


Finally some good news around here... Back in March, we first reported that 94 St. Mark's Place, home to Under St. Mark's and the Horse Trade Theater Group, was for sale, putting the future of the venue in doubt ... another crushing blow against the remaining East Village artistic community? ... From the inbox...

Horse Trade Theater Group signed a seven-year lease on UNDER St. Marks Theater, securing the space as an artistic playground for the numerous performance artists who have been calling the downtown theater home.

“We are so happy and relieved to have come to this agreement so that UNDER St Marks can continue to be used by the artistic community of New York for experimentation, collaboration, and avant guarde performance” said Horse Trade Theater Group’s Artistic Director, Heidi Grumelot. “We doubt that any other basement in this city enjoys as much continual creative activity as UNDER St. Marks. Ultimately we hope to safe guard USM so that we no longer need to focus on preserving the space for our artists, but can instead focus on producing and promoting the work of our artists.”

“We would like to thank the entire community for standing behind us over the past couple of months and showing their support both in spirit and in actual dollars” stated Managing Director, Erez Ziv. “The monies raised through our fundraising campaign this summer have helped us to provide for a modest signing bonus and to offset the small rent increase over the next few years. We have not given up on the dream of owning our own space and are currently in discussions with our landlord to figure out a way to make this a reality.”

UNDER St. Marks is a downtown performance venue with a rich history. An experimental theatre space since the 1960’s, this 45-seat basement theater is now home to a wide variety of performance artists. Horse Trade intends to launch a capitol campaign in order to purchase the theater when their new lease runs out.


Previously on EV Grieve:
94 St. Mark's Place on the market, and what will it mean for Under St. Marks?

Horse Trade Theater Group launches campaign to buy 94 St. Mark's Place
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2 comments:

  1. blue glassOctober 7, 2011 at 11:39 AM

    does this mean you have "good landlord"?
    or is the rapid increase in the value of real estate slowing down?
    and, is there hope for others who are facing large rent increases?

    congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joe YogaOctober 7, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    FINALLY!! A victory for independent artists. congrats to Horse Trade, long may you run

    ReplyDelete

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