In a move that surprised many, local organization Arts in Bushwick announced Wednesday that its well attended flagship event, Bushwick Open Studios, will take place in October this year, four months later than its usual date in early June.

“We feel its important to refocus our efforts towards what makes us stronger as a community,” the group explained in a public statement.

The organization’s annual Bushwick Community Day will remain in June and has been scheduled for Sunday, June 5th this year. BOS2016 will be held over the weekend of Saturday, October 1st and Sunday, October 2nd.

2016 is Bushwick Open Studios’ decennial year. In recent years, the event has included hundreds of local artists and drawn thousands of attendees eager to peek into the studios of neighborhood-based artists.

Arts in Bushwick is a self-described “all-volunteer, non-hierarchical organization” which has experienced significant membership turnover this year as Bushwick Open Studio organizers Lucia Rollow, Samantha Katz, Lauren Smith and Willow Goldstein (Goldstein has contributed to Bushwick Daily), all departed recently from the organization. Rollow, Katz, Smith and Goldstein had been core members of the Bushwick Open Studios planning team since 2012, when founder Laura Braslow, Chloe Bass and Amy Lucker took a few years off to focus on other projects.

AiB is holding a town hall meeting to hear community suggestions and invite new members to join the organization on Wednesday, March 30th, at 7pm at MayDay Space (176 St. Nicholas Ave at Himrod, off of the DeKalb L).

Arts in Bushwick responded to Bushwick Daily with this additional information:

“Bushwick Open Studios was held in the fall in its earliest iterations and we are looking to rekindle that spirit.

The annual open studios weekend has been very successful in drawing people to our community, and we believe adding lead time this year will allow for more voices in the community to be heard and have an impact on planning and production.”