At first glance, there’s little evidence — among the body shops, industrial buildings and taco joints — of a thriving arts community in Bushwick.
But thanks to the abundance of empty warehouses and cheap rents, in the last few years hundreds of workspaces and dozens of tiny galleries have opened shop in Bushwick.
“The migration of galleries has definitely spread out toward Bushwick,” said Mandy Kalajain, 26, executive director of the Williamsburg Gallery Association. While the scene hasn’t reached the critical mass of Chelsea, where roughly 200 galleries crowd together, she estimated more than 40 galleries are presently open in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick.
The part of Bushwick seeing the most rental activity by arts-related enterprises is focused around the Morgan Avenue subway station. Although some residents said the area can be unsafe after dark, incidences of muggings are going down as foot traffic by gallery-goers increases. The increase in visitors has led to a blossoming of the retail and restaurant scene, too.
“The new Williamsburg, the new Bedford Avenue, is Wyckoff between Jefferson and Dekalb … I have a list of literally over 100 buildings being built, or converted, in that area right now,” said Seth Lambert, a broker with Sunrise Realty who specializes in live-work loft spaces.
Perhaps the biggest factor in the area’s resurgence has been its low cost of living. Shared loft space in Bushwick is still relatively cheap, usually going for between $600 and $900 per person per month. Such spaces are usually about 1,500 square feet, but can vary in size. They are generally easy to transform into performance or gallery space.
Similar space in Williamsburg generally costs three to four times as much.
Residents said many of the large warehouse spaces have been turned into quasi-artists’ communes. “Artists are everywhere here. There are probably a shitload of people living in all of these warehouses, just nobody sees them,” said Adam Torio, who goes by Ad Deville.
Deville and Alison Haag are emblematic of many of the artsy newcomers to Bushwick. The couple moved to the area after getting evicted from their $2,000 a month Lower East Side apartment. In June, they opened the neighborhood’s newest gallery, Factory Fresh, by spending $750,000 to buy and renovate a corner space on Flushing Avenue that locals said was most recently used as an illegal pool hall and speakeasy.
“This is very similar to how [the Lower East Side] was in the beginning. Bushwick has that beauty to it right now. I just hope it can keep that because the Lower East Side lost it,” said Haag.
Several young entrepreneurs have turned warehouse floors in Bushwick into places where artists can rent inexpensive studio space and equipment, and where parties are held.
One such place is 3rd Ward on Morgan Street, which opened in 2006, and gives members unlimited access to its photo and sound studios, wood- and metal-working shop, multimedia lab and classes — all for $300 a month. Jason Goodman, the executive director of 3rd Ward, said his space has 300 members and a wait list for private studio space and desks.
The space also subsidizes its activities by reinvesting the proceeds from the 2,000-person Halloween parties that it throws each year.
Many artists find that they can subsidize their lifestyles by leasing large spaces, which they then sublease to other artists.
“We have studio spaces here. That’s how we pay the rent,” said Chris Harding, founder of the English Kills gallery on Flushing. “Everybody subsidizes.”
Ray Cross and Garrison Buxton, former Pratt students who founded the Ad Hoc gallery, signed a lease in 2004 for only a portion of the Bogart Street space they currently occupy. Back then, they used the small space as a printmaking studio. Over the next two years they leased more ground-level space in the same warehouse, which they subleased to other artists.
Despite their efforts, Cross said their gallery only broke even last year. But the hiring of a savvy curator, as well as the increasing popularity of street art, has brought them unexpected success more recently.
Three weeks into one of Ad Hoc’s most recent shows, Poets of the Paste, the gallery sold $69,950 worth of art. The pieces were priced between $400 and $8,000, and were created by neighborhood artists.
“[We’ve come] a long way from the days of selling $2 Pabst Blue Ribbons at parties to make the rent,” Cross said.