This year ABC No Rio celebrates its 25th Anniversary!!!
On New Year's Eve 1979 more than thirty artists occupied an abandoned building on Delancey Street and mounted The Real Estate Show. On New Year's Day 1980 the police shut down the exhibition and locked-up the artwork. The subsequent press and publicity resulted in the City offering the storefront and basement at 156 Rivington Street. This space became ABC No Rio.
For twenty-five years we have been host to exhibitions, performance art, poetry readings, film and video screenings, punk shows, experimental music performances, free drawing, photography and filmmaking classes for neighborhood kids, poetry readings and open mics and Wide Open Cabarets. We've developed new facilities--a darkroom, printshop and computer center--increasing our ability to serve artists, activists and the community at large. Our Zine Library, one of the largest collections of its type, includes independent and underground publications on subjects such as music, culture, politics, personal experience and travel. Thousands of artists, performers, poets and musicians have found a supportive home for their expression and experimentation at ABC No Rio.
We remain an active part of New York City's radical cultural scene. We provide a home to Food Not Bombs, enabling them to feed some of the city's neediest populations. We provide space and support to Books Through Bars, sending free books to incarcerated men and women nationwide. And we make our space available to activist and cultural groups for meetings, workshops, forums and other events.
ABC No Rio has meant many things to many people. But some things remain constant: our commitment to political and social engagement, to an expanded vision of possibility for the lives of our neighborhoods, cities, and societies, to a place where people share resources and ideas to impact society, culture, and community.
We're proud of what we stand for and all that we've accomplished. We're planning numerous events in 2005 celebrating ABC No Rio's past, present and future, including a Gala Benefit Art Auction this spring. We hope that you will join us.
This year we crossed the $200,000 threshold in our campaign to raise funds to renovate our building. In October we submitted our proposal for the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), beginning the approvals process necessary to transfer the building at 156 Rivington Street to ABC No Rio.
By November 2005 the ULURP will be completed, and we must have in place the money needed for Phase 1 of our renovation: $350,000.
Victories for small grass-roots arts organizations are rare. We fought City Hall and we won! Money is now the crucial factor in securing our future and permanence. We need your help to close this deal. Please dig deep and give as much as you possibly can.
The battle to secure ABC No Rio has been waged through Do-It-Yourself volunteerism, art and activism, without giving-in or selling-out to corporate sponsors.
Our 'culture of opposition' goes back almost twenty-five years to our founding.
We need your help to continue this tradition for another twenty-five.
Secure on-line contributions by credit card can be made to ABC No Rio's Building Renovation Fund through PayPal. Please make a donation today.
Gifts by check or money order should be made payable to ABC No Rio and sent to:
ABC No Rio
156 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
Thank you for your support.
