Facing eviction, A Gathering of Tribes looks for a donor to purchase its East 3rd Street home

Facing an April 15 eviction, supporters of A Gathering of Tribes, 285 E. Third St. between Avenues C and D, are reaching out to find someone to help save the embattled 23-year-old arts and cultural organization. The following letter from Steve Cannon, the blind poet who founded Tribes in 1991, is making the rounds on Facebook:

As you may already know, our landlord Lorraine Zhang has put 285 E. 3rd St. on the market, and has taken Steve Cannon to court for what she asserts is an unlawful use of the premises. As a result, we are now subject to a legally binding agreement to leave by April 15.

Zhang purchased the building from Cannon in 2004 for $950,000. She is currently asking $3.35 million — an amount which we believe exceeds the value of the property.

We are reaching out to you now with an urgent appeal to avert the displacement of Cannon and the dissolution of this internationally recognized arts space.

A Gathering of the Tribes was founded in 1990 here at 285 E. 3rd Street. We are a 501 C3 and have received funding support from the New York State Council of the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Jerome Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation, Bloomberg LP, as well as an abundance of private donors.

Our literary magazine, which is published annually, is distributed to museums, schools and libraries worldwide. Our gallery space showcases both seasoned and emerging artists from across the US, as well as Russia, India, China, Africa and beyond. We host an average of 10 exhibitions per year, in addition to the annual Charlie Parker Festival in August. Fly By Night Press, our publishing arm, publishes poetry by writers from diverse backgrounds. Tribes also sponsors and hosts music and dance performances, poetry readings, lectures, forums, open mic’s, and other happenings. We have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, literary magazines, art journals and numerous local and international publications.

Because we’ve been established for close to 25 years and have made the East Village our home, we would like to continue to operate here and offer a base of support and community for artists in our neighborhood.

This is why we need your help. Tribes is in search of a benevolent donor to purchase this property on behalf of our 501 C3. We plan on continuing and expanding our activities on the second floor as described above (gallery, poetry and performance salon, publishing magazine bi-annually, as well as 2 to 4 books per year). And we would like to convert the rest of the building to residences for poets, writers, musicians, and artists of all stripes. Our plan is to partner with foundations, schools or other institutions that can provide stipends to artists to reside here for 3-6 months, up to 1 year periods of time. We will continue offering internships through local universities to young artists, who can get involved in our programming and be mentored by the artists we house.

In order to manage such an operation, we would expand our staff to include at minimum a full-time office manager, grant writer, program coordinator, online editor and maintenance staff.

[The cost of running this building is relatively low. Fuel is approx. $10,000 per year (heat and hot water), insurance is approx. $5,000 per year, and real estate taxes are just $3620 per year. That’s a total of $18,620 annually.]

There are many possibilities for how Tribes can thrive and grow—including leasing floors to groups that could fund such artist residences. We are open to any and all kinds of creative financing. At this point what we need is to secure the building.

If you are interested in buying the building or donating to a fund to purchase the building, please get in touch. We have exhausted our legal appeals, so we either need to find someone(s) to purchase the property or get out.

This year, the HOWL! Festival will honor Steve Cannon by naming him the poet laureate of the Lower East Side. There is even now a Two Boots pizza named after A Gathering of the Tribes.

It would be a tragedy to lose our space in spite of such ongoing recognition of the services we provide as an arts incubator on the Lower East Side. We are one of last places left that nurtures young aspiring artists in all disciplines. Please help, or help pass the word. SAVE TRIBES!

Thank you for your careful consideration of this matter. If you would like further information about the property or any details of our legal situation, please do not hesitate to call.

Sincerely,

Steve Cannon
Director, A Gathering of the Tribes aka the Blind Guy

You may find contact info here.

Cannon and Tribes have been locked in a lengthy battle with Zhang now for the past three years, including various court appearances and eviction notices. For more background on the situation here, you can read this article by Colin Moynihan at the Times from March 2011 … as well as The Local in May 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A Gathering of Tribes faces an uncertain future on East Third Street