Keep Idio Gallery Open!
Donation protected
Hi! I'm Montana Simone, and I've been building and running a small gallery and venue named IDIO in Brooklyn for the last year and a half. My savings were just enough for the first month of rent ($3,600) and some construction supplies. With the help of friends and many months of hard labor, I was able to open the doors to the arts and music and community, and we've had 10 beautiful art shows, 75 events, and thousands of visitors - always affordable, often for free. And we have never had a single grant, investor or loan. This has been totally Do-It-Yourself - a labor of love.
When curating, booking and managing Idio became a 70+ hour-a-week job, I stopped bartending on the side, stopped making my own art and music, and really gave the gallery my all. We threw tons of amazing $5 music shows and tried to keep the doors open with 3 or 4 events a week - while making sure the artists and musicians got paid! But the noise and traffic became too much for the building and we were forced to slow way down - which cut out our largest source of income. Still, we managed to make it work, at an operating cost of $75,000 per year! The community has been so present and supportive, but now we really need to raise some funds to make it through another year.
The reason IDIO is important and the basis of my dream is to show the great work (in all forms) being made by emerging, talented, hard-working artists in Brooklyn, across the US and around the world, in a way that brings people closer to that moment in which it was created. I wanted to erase the space between maker and viewer, instead of putting art on a pedestal, as a product to covet or consume. Since early 2015, I have worked closely with dozens of artists to show work in an authentic way, that reflects the beauty and struggle of the human experience. Thousands of people have come through IDIO Gallery, and hopefully they have experienced some of the true dedication and work that it takes create for the sake of creating, in a world that shouts at us to make money, not make waves. Hopefully they have also thought deeply and felt deeply about important subjects, alternative ways of seeing, and being. Sharing and seeing great work, rather than pushing sales and showing work that is commercially appealing, has been my greatest joy.
Unfortunately, the world is putting incredible pressure on IDIO to close. Between insurance, taxes and utilities alone, we owe $10K in the next month.
Rent through July 2017 is $48,000 (now $4,000/month).
I am restructuring the business into various segments, to make it a viable and sustainable entity. Between a small production company that will create content for local artists and bands to promote themselves, an artist residency supported by local grants, and a series of classes, there IS a way. BUT right now we just need to stay open to make that possible!
Maybe it's crazy to try to create something in New York, where the cost is so high. But if we don't keep places like IDIO open, there will be no reason to be in New York at all.
My mother's family arrived in New York City in 1860 as working-class folks from the forest in Bavaria. My father emigrated from France and planted trees across Canada through the 70ies and 80ies. My parents met on the Lower East Side and fell in love in the art and music spaces of New York. They felt free to create, to think, to be a part of a beautiful, wild community making the world they wanted to live in. I want to believe that it is still possible to do this here, where the minds are brilliant and positive space can be created amidst the struggle, simply by injecting your heart into the world around you.
I hope you'll help us keep this space open to keep creating, supporting, gathering, falling in love and making the world a better place.
I promise it will be beautiful. Thank you for being there, thank you for being family, thank you for being the New York we want to be.
Love,
Montana
When curating, booking and managing Idio became a 70+ hour-a-week job, I stopped bartending on the side, stopped making my own art and music, and really gave the gallery my all. We threw tons of amazing $5 music shows and tried to keep the doors open with 3 or 4 events a week - while making sure the artists and musicians got paid! But the noise and traffic became too much for the building and we were forced to slow way down - which cut out our largest source of income. Still, we managed to make it work, at an operating cost of $75,000 per year! The community has been so present and supportive, but now we really need to raise some funds to make it through another year.
The reason IDIO is important and the basis of my dream is to show the great work (in all forms) being made by emerging, talented, hard-working artists in Brooklyn, across the US and around the world, in a way that brings people closer to that moment in which it was created. I wanted to erase the space between maker and viewer, instead of putting art on a pedestal, as a product to covet or consume. Since early 2015, I have worked closely with dozens of artists to show work in an authentic way, that reflects the beauty and struggle of the human experience. Thousands of people have come through IDIO Gallery, and hopefully they have experienced some of the true dedication and work that it takes create for the sake of creating, in a world that shouts at us to make money, not make waves. Hopefully they have also thought deeply and felt deeply about important subjects, alternative ways of seeing, and being. Sharing and seeing great work, rather than pushing sales and showing work that is commercially appealing, has been my greatest joy.
Unfortunately, the world is putting incredible pressure on IDIO to close. Between insurance, taxes and utilities alone, we owe $10K in the next month.
Rent through July 2017 is $48,000 (now $4,000/month).
I am restructuring the business into various segments, to make it a viable and sustainable entity. Between a small production company that will create content for local artists and bands to promote themselves, an artist residency supported by local grants, and a series of classes, there IS a way. BUT right now we just need to stay open to make that possible!
Maybe it's crazy to try to create something in New York, where the cost is so high. But if we don't keep places like IDIO open, there will be no reason to be in New York at all.
My mother's family arrived in New York City in 1860 as working-class folks from the forest in Bavaria. My father emigrated from France and planted trees across Canada through the 70ies and 80ies. My parents met on the Lower East Side and fell in love in the art and music spaces of New York. They felt free to create, to think, to be a part of a beautiful, wild community making the world they wanted to live in. I want to believe that it is still possible to do this here, where the minds are brilliant and positive space can be created amidst the struggle, simply by injecting your heart into the world around you.
I hope you'll help us keep this space open to keep creating, supporting, gathering, falling in love and making the world a better place.
I promise it will be beautiful. Thank you for being there, thank you for being family, thank you for being the New York we want to be.
Love,
Montana
Organizer
Montana Simone
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY