Send off the clowns: Help relocate this Williamsburg circus school pushed out by Vice

Vice Media, the big bad Pulitzer & Hearst of the 21st century, hasn’t seemed to cease fire in the slashing and burning of South Williamsburg’s local businesses in order to make way for the expansion of their behemoth media megaplex. This time the victim is The Muse, the best place in Williamsburg to see fire-breathing, colorful scarves and aerial acrobatics. The acrobatic training space and multi-disciplinary performance venue on South 1st Street has to vacate to make way for Vice’s space-age utopia, and early construction is forcing the circus out even earlier than they’d planned to leave. It’s not the end yet though: You can help them finance a new home in Bushwick on Kickstarter.  The Muse founder Angela Buccinni was alerted a few months ago that her lease would not be renewed to make way for corporate office space for the anti-establishment media company. Buccinni had found a new space in Bushwick to convert for The Muse’s new home, but then had to endure the additional headache of Vice starting construction on the roof of the building – bringing with it unwanted noise, leaks, and sparks. Because of the impediment to the space, she decided to close shop a month earlier than anticipated, which will cost The Muse money as they try to finance their new Bushwick space.

The new raw warehouse space sounds like a Cirque Du Solei dream – 7,000 indoor square feet, 3,000 outdoor square feet and 30 foot ceilings for high-flying aerial work. They started “Move the Muse,” a Kickstarter effort that has currently raised $24,000 of their $60,000 goal, with a December 6 deadline. Since circus performers are not the type to leave without a bang, on Sunday, November 23 there will be a funeral procession through Williamsburg (find the route on The Muse’s Facebook page), where performers will demonstrate various dazzling skills throughout the neighborhood, culminating in the final performance at The Muse Williamsburg at 8pm. Tickets are available exclusively through Kickstarter as a $40 reward, so hop (or leap, or somersault, or whatever) on over to the Kickstarter now to reserve your seat and help preserve The Muse.

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