Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Art Williamsburg Art Space Not An Alternative Priced Out of Havemeyer Street Home
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 9:45 AM
- Karolina Sobecka's interactive dog projection installation "Sniff" at Not An Alternative in 2009. (Photo: Frank Pichel)
It's been a bad year for DIY art spaces on Havemeyer Street: first Cinders Gallery was forced out of its 104 Havemeyer space by a massive rent increase (and then kicked out of its new location around the corner mere months later), and now neighboring art space Not An Alternative is having to vacate its storefront at 84 Havemeyer following a stunning 240 percent rent increase.
The self-described "hybrid arts collective and non-profit organization" has been at 84 Havemeyer, near the intersection with Metropolitan (right across from the Knitting Factory) since 2000, though Not An Alternative was officially formed in 2004 in response to the visiting National Republican Convention.
In 2005 it was renovated from a live-work space into a co-working office, workshop and office space dubbed NO↔SPACE. In an email sent out on Monday (and posted on their website), Not An Alternative explains their present situation:
Beyond pedagogy, we’ve engaged in practice, in collaboration with community groups and cultural producers. Our first major effort involved a series of projects aimed at challenging the 2005 rezoning and gentrification of North Brooklyn. But the neighborhood has changed dramatically since then, and we've had front row seats. The block built up, the foot traffic grew, and so did the rent. The latest hike is the last straw: a 240% rent increase, from $2500 to $6000. And so we find ourselves displaced, like countless other spaces, businesses and residents around here over the years.
But the non-profit art space's creators vow that this is not the end: "we’ll keep you appraised of our next steps." In the meantime, they're throwing a final screening and closing party on Saturday September 17th. Come by and pay your respects to one of the last such spaces in the neighborhood.
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