DIY music and arts haven Silent Barn has been mostly … silent … since robbers broke in and trashed the place while stealing some $15,000 worth of sound systems and other equipment. Tonight, the venue is opening a new era to figure out its future by holding the first in a series of public meetings, which is your chance to talk about the future of DIY culture in NYC with scene royalty like Todd P, including a vision for a new Silent Barn. The event doubles as a release party for Ava Luna’s new album, Ice Level (Twin Sister plays too). It’s at Gottscheer Hall in Ridgewood, and entry is a $7-$20 sliding donation. See more event description below. And in bonus DIY style, the Silent Barn folks have been putting their entire manifesto and meeting notes online (including real estate scouting and project ideas) so you can keep up from afar.
Tonight’s event also includes a chance to pick up the new Silent Barn zine and check out other projects like the Grove of Dictionary Trees and the Barn Exam Science Fair.
Official description:
DIY: IS IT A THING? A PANEL DISCUSSION
As part of this public meeting, we’d like to bring together the insight and experience of other arts & music organizations in New York City. The practice of being a space for cultural acitivity is always in evolution. Every year, we try to understand art as it it emerges, and how to be a home for new kinds of art; how to maintain cultural meaning in a new space; the evolving forms of support for DIY art; how to handle financial and legal relationships; how our city goverment will choose to relate to us; how being a venue will improve the city and for whom; what makes us stable in our vision and what makes us vulnerable; the kinds of communities that can be a part of our space; our direct relationship to our neighborhood; the value of our real estate; the value of our history; and the general cultural path of our city.
As we envision the next Silent Barn, and as we envision the next New York City, it will valuable to share our stories, speak our opinions, learn from everybody here, and take a look together at the larger cultural patterns in New York.
Participants include Silent Barn, Flux Factory, Roulette, Bowery Poetry Club, Clocktower Gallery, ToddP, Rubulad, Spectacle Theater and all of you. Email djkgamc@gmail.com if you are interested!
Silent Barn public meeting/Ava Luna/Twin Sister, 8pm – 2am, The Gottscheer Hall, 657 Fairview Ave., Ridgewood.