…and DIY shall continue!
Secret Project Robot (SPR), a beloved non-profit organization for arts, has announced that they will reopen at a new Bushwick space this spring. SPR was forced to close their previous location a couple of months ago due to a rent hike.
Rachel Nelson, SPR’s co-director, told Bushwick Daily the organization signed a lease for their new location on Dec. 19.
Nelson refused to disclose the exact address yet, but revealed that the space is located in Bushwick, within a walking distance from its sister projects, Happyfun Hideaway and Flowers for All Occasions.
According to Nelson, the new, 2,000-square-feet-large space once served as a bar, and it also has a yard that is a little bit smaller than the yard at the former 389 Melrose St. space.
Current co-directors Rachel Nelson and Erik Zajaceskowski will be joined by six more individuals who will help them manage SPR and bring “all types of events to be held all week.” The space will include a bar as well as a gallery space.
“We have some exciting changes coming up,” Nelson said. “We will have a lot more programming.” New SPR will be open every day, as opposed to its former location that was open only once or twice a week. “It will be more public, as opposed to ‘secret’,” Nelson laughed.
Nelson and her partners are in the process of obtaining a liquor license and expect to be fully operational in mid-March or early April.
SPR has experienced their fair share of endings and beginnings. Most recently in June 2016, the co-directors Nelson and Zajaceskowski, announced that they can’t afford to re-sign their lease at 389 Melrose St. in Bushwick due to a rent hike.
The origins of SPR can be tracked all the way back to 1998, and later to the legendary Monster Island in Williamsburg. When in 2011 Monster Island closed for demolition to make space for new development, SPR moved to Bushwick.
SPR is known as the venue of choice for Bushwig and many, many other elaborate art installations and events.
Cover image: Detail of new SPR space. Courtesy of Rachel Nelson.