Bushwig may be technically leaving Bushwick, but it isn’t going very far at all.
Because of Secret Project Robot’s upcoming relocation, the yearly celebration of drag and music will instead take place in Maspeth at Knockdown Center (52-19 Flushing Avenue) on September 10 – 11.
Bushwig may have gotten its start and be rooted in Bushwick, but that doesn’t mean that it necessarily needs to stay here: making the move to a larger venue in Maspeth, Queens makes total sense for an event which strives to attract anybody who has a passion for participating in and witnessing drag.
The fifth year of Bushwig will feature an impressive 115 drag queens, including Season 8 Ru Paul Drag Race contestant Thorgy Thor. Check back for updates on their official website for the music lineup.
In 2013, Bushwig organizer Simon Leahy (Babes Trust) told Bushwick Daily that “Anyone can come here and feel space to express themselves and do anything they want– as long as they’re not hurting anyone else, of course. . . We hope to make Bushwig a staple of the New York community.”
The 50,000 square foot building is named after Samuel Sklar’s development of the Knock-Down door frame during its stint as the Manhattan Door factory (it also housed the Gleason-Tiebout glass factory). Hosting this year’s Bushwig couldn’t be a more logical move for a place that has been a scene embodying human progress and creativity for over one-hundred years.
Until September!
Featured image: a performance at Bushwig 2015. Photo by Steve Trotman for Bushwick Daily.