Bowery Poetry Club

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Bowery Poetry Club
BPC

The front facade of the Bowery Poetry Club
Location Manhattan, New York
Type Performance Arts venue
Genre(s) Poetry, Spoken Word, Slam Poetry, Hip-Hop, Experimental Theatre, Performance Art, Alternative Stand Up, Burlesque, Live Music
Opened 2002
Owner Bob Holman
Website bowerypoetry.com

The Bowery Poetry Club is a New York City poetry performance space founded by Bob Holman in 2002 [1] Located at 308 Bowery, between Bleecker and Houston Streets in Manhattan's East Village, the BPC is a popular meeting place for artists and aspiring artists.

Building history

The original purpose of the building, built in the 1850s, was for a lumber yard. Its last incarnation before becoming the BPC was as a formica tabletop manufacturer that ran on DC current. Plywood scraps were used to heat the building via a pot-belly stove.

Currently, a group of arts-oriented investors owns the building. Other tenants include Washington Square Films on the 2nd floor, and the Manhatta on the ground floor next door to the Club.[2][3]

In the 2002 New York Times article written about the club, Bob Holman talked about the then-risky choice to open the club on Bowery, otherwise known as "storied skid row":

“ The Bowery is a vein of change. Being blind is not the way to retain the aspects of the past that need to be honored. In order to change the world, you have to be in the world. As you get older, the risk of selling out and becoming part of that system stays real but it's mitigated by wanting to get in there and dig... I can't tell if we are making it in the big sense, but we're making an impression.[4] ”

The Bowery Poetry Club closed for renovations on July 17, 2012 and reopened in the end of 2012.

Features

  • 2,500 square feet (230 m2) of space
  • 12 by 20 feet (3.7 by 6.1 metres) stage and green room
  • Run by an all-artist staff[5]
  • Cafe in the front with full bar and community drop-space available for artist information distribution

Programming

Interior of Bowery Poetry Club.
Sampling of what's on offer at the BPC.
Regular shows include:

Additional programming is also provided by the non-profit Bowery Arts and Science, publishers of the Bowery Books series.

References

  1. ↑ Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. Chapter 26: What the Heck is Going on Here; The Bowery Poetry Club Opens (Kinda) for Business. Soft Skull Press, 288. ISBN 1-933368-82-9.
  2. ↑ Carr, C. (2002-09-24). "Po Show". Village Voice. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
  3. ↑ Baron, Zach (2008-08-13). "Quarter-Life Crisis". Village Voice. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
  4. ↑ Richardson, Lynda (2002-11-12). "A Poet (and Proprietor) Is a Beacon in the Bowery". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
  5. ↑ Aptowicz, page 278.

External links

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