As previously reported, ABC No Rio will be shutting down at the end of the month ... the cultural center on Rivington Street between Suffolk and Clinton will be demolished this fall to make way for a new "environmentally friendly" structure.
Before that, there's still one more exhibit, which starts tonight.
Via the EVG inbox...
"InFinite Futures" + "The Past Will Be Present"
June 10 — June 24
OPENING Friday June 10 at 7:00pm
VIEWING HOURS Sundays 1:00 - 5:00pm
Tues, Wed, Thurs 4:00 - 8:00pm
"InFinite Futures":
Kevin Caplicki with Alexander Drywall, Peter Cramer + Jack Waters, Barrie Cline with Paul Vance, Jody Culkin + Christy Rupp, Mike Estabrook, Fly,
Brian George + Kelly Savage, Julie Hair, Takashi Horisaki, Becky Howland, Vandana Jain, Mac McGill, Max Schumann, Noah Scalin, Amy Westpfahl, and Zero Boy.
"The Past Will Be Present"
Margarida Correia, Jade Doskow, Vikki Law and Chris Villafuerte
"InFinite Futures" and "The Past Will Be Present" are funded in part with support from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.
ABC No Rio's zine collection recently moved to the nearby Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center... while the Saturday matinee punk shows will move to various venues across the city.
You can read more about the new building and check out the renderings at the ABC No Rio website.
Previously
H/T EVG reader Bobby G.
Let's take a bet they never reopen, or reopen minuscule and sanitized, after coping a deal with the developer.
ReplyDeleteEducate yourself. Demolition does not a deal make. And while you're at it learn how to spell.
DeleteI don't think they're reopening. They should reopen somewhere in Brooklyn or Queens with the money they raised. It's stupid to blow all that money on a new building.
ReplyDeleteReopen with the money raised AND sell the plot of land to do even more things.
DESTROYING the building in order to "save" ABC No Rio is total BULLSHIT!!
ReplyDeleteThe almost $20 million they have acquired for this project is WAY MORE than what it would take to restore the EXISTING building and bring it up to code vs DEMOLISHING it. They could even ADD a few floors.
A new building would cost something like $500-600k to create, so WHERE is the rest of the money going????
Anon #1 (June 10, 2016 at 3:08 PM): the plans for the new building are public and have been approved by the necessary agencies. It's going to be a great space. No shady deals are being made. see http://www.abcnorio.org/newbuilding.php if you want an idea of what will be going up.
ReplyDeleteAnon #3 (June 12, 2016 at 11:39 AM): The agreement under which ABC No Rio took ownership of the building does not allow us to sell the building or property. Also, the funds raised were all done explicitly to rebuild the building at 156 Rivington, if we were to decide to relocate the organization to Brooklyn we would have to return all that money to the donors. So what you are suggesting is completely out of touch with reality.
ReplyDeleteChris, I posted the following comment the last time you ranted about how this rebuilding was somehow a travesty.
ReplyDeleteBefore I paste that, let me add a few things. First of all, I have no idea where I come up with your numbers. If we could build a new building for $600,000 I assure you we would, sadly that is completely impossible given the reality of labor costs, materials, etc.
I'm also not sure where you got the $20 million figure from. We have raised about 1.5 to 2 million from private donors (most of them very small donations) and are getting another 6.something million from various city funds (like City Council member's discretionary budgets and things like that)
We have been 100% transparent and public about the money and where it's going. I'd be happy to show you the details some day.
here's the comment I posted last time which goes into more detail.
Chris,
Eric from no rio here. I'm really confused about your anger about this.
When we first started fundraising 18 years ago, our goal was $100,000 to renovate the building and get it up to code.
However, when we had a structural engineer come to look at the building so we could make a renovation plan, the report stated that the building was in such bad condition that renovation was not possible. Had we attempted to renovate and bring things up to code, the building would have collapsed during the process.
At that point, we were very clear with our supporters and fellow activists and artists. The plan had to change. If we were going to continue to exist as an organization and community resource, we were going to have to raise enough money to rebuild the building.
This has been public information for at least 9 years and we have been as transparent as possible about the plans and where the money is going. The architectural drawings for the new building have been public for at least 8 years.
So, it's possible that you have just not been paying attention but there's been no attempt to mislead anyone.
We've been slowly moving things into storage for a while, but the computer center, zine library, darkroom and screen printing room have all continued to operate (although not every day, but the schedule has always been on the abcnorio.org website). Sorry if things were not open the day you showed up, but you seem to be making a larger accusation -- and one that is rather insulting and unfounded.
The fact that this rag-tag group of artists and activists has managed to raise enough cash to rebuild is a great thing, I don't understand why you are so angry.
Sure, we all love the existing building but saving it is quite literally impossible. But, when we're done there will be a new and permanent home for political art and activism in the neighborhood. Who can find a problem with that, right?
Anon #3 ( June 12, 2016 at 11:39 AM ): The deal under which we got ownership of the building does not allow us to sell it. We did look into the possibility of moving to Brooklyn but we'd then have to return all the money from the City and most of our donors as the money was all explicitly donated in connection to the building at 156 Rivington. So our only options were shut down or raise the money and somehow against all odds we actually raised the money to rebuild.
ReplyDelete