By: Serach Nissim
A Downtown Brooklyn art group got a big boost, thanks to a space donated by New York City developer and real estate manager, Two Trees.
As reported by Crain’s NY, a 5,000 square foot permanent home has been donated to the arts group, Issue Project Room, for the city’s experimental arts community. The oversized and impressive antique-style venue is located on the ground floor of 110 Livingston St. The non-profit art group previously landed a 20-year, rent-free lease at 110 Livingston in 2008, as part of a city deal in which the former Board of Education headquarters was converted into apartments.
Two Trees has owned the 96-year old building since 2003, when it purchased it from the city for over $45 million. Discussions regarding donating the space started last year, spurred partially by how hard the city’s performing artists were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Kate Gavriel, the cultural affairs director at Two Trees Management. “We believe it’s a part of our responsibility to contribute to neighborhoods, to make them places where people live, work and thrive,” Gavriel said. “And a huge part of that is supporting artists and cultural organizations.”
Issue Project Room, an arts organization founded in the East Village in 2003, has been moving from place to place in the Brooklyn area. Zev Greenfield, the executive director and chief curator of Issue, said the peace of mind of having a permanent home is a “momentous milestone” for the group’s long-term financial health. “It really solidifies the ground on which we stand, literally and figuratively,” Greenfield said. “We’ve been nomadic throughout our history, and so to know that we have a permanent home for experimental artists to develop their projects—it just cannot be overstated how important that is for the community.”
The aim is for the impressive venue to become a state-of-the-art hub for experimental dance, music, theater, film and literary readings in the neighborhood. As per Crain’s, the space will undergo a city-led renovation utilizing $9 million in capital allocations stemming from the Department of Cultural Affairs, as wells as the Brooklyn borough president’s office and the City Council. The project will be led forth by the Department of Design and Construction. A timeline for the project has not been publicly released as yet.
