The Demise of The DUMBO Arts Festival

The Demise of The DUMBO Arts Festival

Postby NYC_Correspondent-tm » Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:55 pm

The annual autumnal DUMBO Arts Festival in Brooklyn announced that it has ended its eighteen year run. The reason, announced Lisa Kim, the cultural director of Two Trees, the primary sponsor of the Festival is that “[i]t became clear that we could no longer mount the festival ourselves without commercializing it in a way that didn’t feel right,” and that “we were getting too far from the original mission.” (see http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/38/6/dtg-dumbo-arts-festival-ends-2015-02-06-bk_38_6.html). This explanation is, of course, unsatisfying and hollow. As I wrote after the 2012 version (http://www.worldwidereview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=81284), the festival had already fallen to rampant commercialization that flattened the Festival’s vibrancy. The most likely story is that the expenses no longer justified the profit margin to make the Festival a viable venture in its portfolio. Two Trees is not a non-profit organization, nor is it a cultural based initiative. It is a major NYC developer. After Two Trees took over organizing and promoting the Festival in 2009 from the Dumbo Arts Center, they probably grew it too quickly, aligning itself with commercial endeavors to maximize profit and justify its existence. That being said, it probably wouldn’t have existed for the past few years if they, or another organization, did not take over the heavy lifting. DUMBO was already gentrified, the crowds attending were massive, and the costs for continuing were probably exceptional.

I am happy and sad it is ending. I didn't bother going this year, but it is still needed. Maybe this will clear some space for a smaller, renewed, and ultimately more viable festival to rise out of the community that still exists in the area; there is still local art worth seeing, and the Festival gave great exposure to a number of artists. Although because of the real estate expenses, it is hard to see how any future festival would have the former level of dynamism, where the art was centered on local-based, DIY intensive multi-media performances, loud strange bands, experimental film, paintings, and installations. And those were mostly unassociated with commercial enterprises, galleries, or groups with a need to make palatable art, or provide unpalatable explanations written to “justify” their art, so as to fulfill paperwork requirements for grants. Rather, mostly they were people creating and showing it to the world. Let's hope they get a new start - they deserve the exposure. And NYC deserves a major local based arts event that is not an art fair curated for maximum profit.

As a side-note, the demise of the Festival coincides with the decampment of the Galapagos to Detroit after almost twenty years in Brooklyn, the last few in DUMBO. The reason is that Two Trees raised their formerly below-market rent. Clearly Two Trees is less interested in cultural integrity than its bottom line, even though it is spaces like Galapagos, and events like the Festival that created such development desirability in a formerly garbage-strewn landscape.

Certainly NYC is no longer the centerpiece of American arts innovation or maybe even arts community, outside of more formalistic endeavors and the finance/glamour marketplace of art. However, there is still a lot being created here that deserves to seen, heard, and developed. Artistic innovation typically prospers in challenging environments, albeit usually ones where artists can afford to work, live, and gather in community. But NYC has become a challenging environment not because of the lack of money, but because of the expense. Just right now, with another set of venues gone, it will just take more to seek out what’s being created here.
Last edited by NYC_Correspondent-tm on Thu Feb 05, 2015 5:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The Demise of The DUMBO Arts Festival

Postby CAP » Thu Feb 05, 2015 1:58 pm

:cry:
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Re: The Demise of The DUMBO Arts Festival

Postby CAP » Thu Feb 05, 2015 2:01 pm

Detroit? - That's a little extreme isn't it? :shock:
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Re: The Demise of The DUMBO Arts Festival

Postby NYC_Correspondent-tm » Thu Feb 05, 2015 5:26 pm

Detroit is where it's at right now. dirt cheap housing, incentives to go there, and a building community.
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