651 ARTS has its first permanent home! After 35 years, we have a new, 12,500 sq ft, state-of-the-art facility in Downtown Brooklyn’s Cultural District. This dream of a permanent space for incubating Black art and artists has been a long time coming and is our opportunity to boldly declare: the world is our stage but Brooklyn is our home.
This evolution positions 651 ARTS to serve as a needed home for Black contemporary art and art makers within the facility, the borough, and beyond.
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Our new facility at 10 Lafayette features:
- A blackbox theater space.
- Three studios, two with a sprung dance floor, for rehearsals, showings, lectures, etc.
- Two conference rooms.
- A suite of offices.
- A gallery and gathering space.
Our signature performance space, the blackbox theater, will expand our presenting initiatives by welcoming audience members to innovative productions that celebrate and uplift the art of the African Diaspora. The theater is 31′ x 49′ and has a state of the art lighting & sound system and a permanently mounted projector & screen.
We are especially thrilled to strengthen our artist development initiatives and grow and codify our community engagement and education initiatives through our three studios. Two of the studios feature sprung dance floors, dance barres, mirrors, and a wall mounted TV for video playback. They also feature full height windows to allow for natural sunlight but offer the option of solar shades for privacy or blackout shades to create a performance-like atmosphere.
The third studio offers a permanently mounted projector with a roll down screen and speakers allowing for lectures, screenings, or educational activities.
Finally, 10 Lafayette allows for the development of our new subsidized space rental program that will grow our partnerships by welcoming both artists as well as local Brooklyn businesses into our multipurpose spaces.
Growth is never easy. Thanks to the support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, our network of institutional supporters, and our family of community partners and advocates, 651 ARTS is poised to expand and deepen its role as a community leader, convener, and cultivator of artists and curators in historic and innovative ways. 651 ARTS stands firmly on our 35-year foundation with the vision and strategic planning necessary to activate the programmatic potential of 10 Lafayette.
Your support is vital in enabling us to deepen our programming and gather with the multiple communities we serve in ways never before possible. We look forward to welcoming you, our community, into our new home.