galapagos wants to expand

Galapagos Art Space wants to expand in Brooklyn, and would like to open – or partner with - venues in Berlin, Mumbai (Bombay) and Beijing.

We’re looking for partners, both here and abroad, to team with in order to accomplish that goal.

Why?

Any decent band can rent a van, tour the country promoting themselves and make enough money to survive while advancing their career.
Most performing artists can’t do that – and we want to change that. 
We want to book an emerging artist in New York City and then send them on tour around the world.
If we can provide that kind of opportunity we think it would not only give us a tremendous advantage in booking artists usually associated with venues significantly larger than ours, but would also be an incredible service to our roster of resident artists *, and most importantly, to our audience.

How would this work?

Each Galapagos would be responsible to curate and present one week of programming. At the end of the first week, click, everyone moves one position. The New York artists travel to Berlin, Berlin goes to Bombay, Bombay goes to Beijing, and Beijing comes to New York. Suddenly it’s China in New York. Then it’s India, then Germany. Then New York comes home.

Imagine if you were an emerging artist on that tour. What an incredible experience that would be.

What’s first?

We want to expand our footprint in New York City by opening a new, larger Galapagos Art Space that’s 300 seats big with a separate theatre environment and a cinema. Currently we’re not big enough to accommodate all the work we do or the audiences we attract and we can’t grow at our present location. 

Why is this important?

The canaries in New York City’s real estate gold mine – it’s emerging artists – are no longer talking about the next show they hope to land, they’re talking about the next city they think they can land in once their current lease runs out. 

A New York that is too expensive for the emerging arts to dream about coming to or continue producing work in begins a tipping of the very understanding of New York City as a cultural capital **.

So what do we do?

If artists and the best young cultural thinkers can’t see themselves possibly affording to live here, then we’d better make them think they can’t possibly afford to live anywhere else.

How?

By learning to incentivize the creation of opportunity at the emergent level. To compete against rents we have to take what we have and double it. As the real estate market eats away at our emerging arts infrastructure we have to find ways, often in partnership with the City, to incentivize the creation of its replacement and expansion, or it won’t be built. Galapagos’ role in New York’s cultural ecosystem is to create opportunity at the emergent level.

Why is it important that this project be based in New York City?

If not it will still emerge someday, but it will most likely be based in the European Union. We think it’s critical for the future of the arts and the foundations of both our creative and financial industries that it be based here, in New York City.  If it’s built somewhere else there’s no guarantee that it would even include New York City. 

What we want to happen from sending this email:

We want to identify the key people that can help us break new ground and accomplish this growth.

We want to find people who believe it’s would be profitable to invest financially in this idea because they believe in the emergence of a ‘new art economy’, one that replaces a culture of dependence in the arts with a culture of independence. For ten years Galapagos has operated profitably in New York City by earning 100% of its income. We’re proud of that. Each month 8,000 people come to Galapagos ***. While we don’t think our model is perfect, we do think the time is right to perfect it.

If this project seems to be something you or someone you know would be interested in investing in or consulting toward then please do contact us.

Feel free to forward this email widely.

Robert Elmes
Director, Galapagos Art Space
robert@galapagosartspace.com

Appendix.

* We think that good performing artists should be able to create viable full-time careers that make it possible to live solely on their work. This year alone Galapagos will pay the emerging arts $180,000 in fees. We want to quadruple that number, and in fact we think it’s our responsibility to do just that.

** In the next few months’ ten off-Broadway theaters will close. Most to make way for (very high priced) condominium development and top-end restaurants. (Souccar; Crain’s New York 6.5.06) Those that have or are about to close are; The Douglas Fairbanks Theater, The John Houseman Theater, Lamb’s Theater, Manhattan Ensemble Theater, The Promenade, Perry Street Theater, Playhouse 91, Sullivan Street Playhouse, Century Center and Variety Arts.
If we can’t find ways to continue incubating young artists in New York then our entire cultural ecosystem begins to calcify.
The price of real estate has risen so far that, from a cultural point of view, unless we do something concerted and effective, in three to five years we’ll be experiencing a fundamentally different idea of what it means to live in New York City.

*** Galapagos Art Space employs thirty-two people. Each month we produce 140 shows that result in over 600 artists setting foot on our stages with over 8,000 people coming to see them.  We’ve helped produce over 200 fundraising events for non-profit art and community groups, from Amnesty International and PEN to the little dance company and the nursery school around the corner.
We’re about to roll out a plan that covers our office staff with health insurance and within six months we’re going to expand that to include our nighttime staff and then our resident artists.
We’re socially missioned and profitable. Go figure.

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