For 25 years, Kimyon Huggins has been a fixture of New York’s creative underground: DJ, producer, event curator, and community builder.
His apartment near the Myrtle-Broadway stop in Bushwick doubled as an artist sanctuary, home studio, gallery space, and live-streaming venue. Through his work with No Agenda Studios and the Future Is Now project, Huggins helped shape a scene long before Bushwick became a brand.
Now, he’s preparing to leave. After his rent doubled and a promised buyout fell apart, Huggins made the decision to move his family and his work abroad. But just days after packing up, a violent car crash on a Pennsylvania highway left his wife in the hospital, his car totaled, and his plans in flux. He’s now asking the community to support his family’s recovery.
From Bushwick ’99: Huggins on the Edge of Change
Huggins moved to Bushwick in 1999, settling into a loft near the Morgan stop on the L train. At the time, the neighborhood was a far cry from the destination it is today. “There was nothing but bodegas and metalworking shops,” Huggins recalls. “You couldn’t even tell people you lived in Bushwick, cab drivers would straight up refuse to go.”
The post-industrial landscape was desolate, yet it offered something rare: big space for cheap. That affordability attracted artists, and Huggins was one of them. Originally from Lansing, Michigan, and raised in Dayton, Ohio, he brought with him a deep foundation in underground rave culture. By 1994, he was DJing in the Midwest and helping promote underground warehouse parties in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. He got involved doing artist hospitality, eventually moving into full-fledged event production in the rust-belt/ Detroit scene by the mid-90s.
Huggins first exposure to the Detroit techno scene came through parties headlined by pioneers like Richie Hawtin and Suburban Knight. These experiences defined his curatorial taste and vision. In 1998, he moved to New York on a scholarship to the Institute of Audio Research, but he quickly realized the classroom wasn’t where his momentum was and threw himself into nightlife, teaming up with fellow Ohio transplant Vikasand Rich Bourque.
Together, they launched the Trü Skül party series in 1999, debuting Robert Hood at a warehouse in Dumbo. By 2000, Trü Skül had a residency at Flamingo East in the East Village and was known for introducing New York audiences to key Detroit artists such as Mike Huckaby, Theo Parrish, and Aux 88. The events stood in stark contrast to the disco-heavy sounds that dominated NYC clubs at the time. His Foundation Team played a key role in amplifying Detroit techno artists in New York at a time when their presence in the city had faded.
Huggins’s influence wasn’t just about bookings, it was about transporting a regional underground sensibility to a city often skeptical of outsiders. He offered a platform that treated Midwest artists with the respect and space they were often denied elsewhere. That legacy would continue for decades to come.
Inside 915 Broadway: Two Decades of Music, Art, and Broadcasts
In 2005, Huggins moved into 915 Broadway, where he founded No Agenda Studios. The front room held music gear, the back served as a rotating gallery and crash pad for artists passing through. Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins recorded there. So did rising star Max Watts, among others. A Tibetan Buddhist practitioner once came through to track sacred chants.
“I’ve been a DJ since I was 20,” Huggins says. He remains active behind the decks every week, typically playing hour-long sets during his Future Is Now broadcasts, and performs at venues across the city, most recently at the time of our interview, he had played at Bossa Nova Civic Club. DJing isn’t a past identity; it’s a core part of his present work.
With the arrival of his wife Katya, the space expanded into something more. Together they launched Future Is Now, a performance and broadcast platform that began as a series of live in-person events in both Detroit and NYC. These shows featured full-day lineups of DJs, painters, and other creatives, gathering crowds and building momentum.
Then the pandemic hit. Huggins brought the project inside. From their Bushwick apartment, he and Katya began hosting one DJ and one visual artist every Sunday, broadcasting the sessions live on Twitch. Over the past five years, they’ve produced about 240 shows and 1,500 hours of content, plus over 230 paintings.
Since lockdown lifted, they’ve staged Future Is Now events at cafés and venues in NYC and Detroit, with plans to take it abroad.
Rent Doubled, Lease Gone
Huggins’s departure from Bushwick is a textbook case of how New York sheds the very people who build it.
When his building was sold, the previous owner had given Huggins first right of refusal to purchase it, a deal the new buyer refused to honor. His rent was doubled overnight, from $2,500 to $5,000 for the same floor. On top of that, lead paint removal on the train tracks outside his window was releasing visible dust into the air.
“I’m living the artist-gentrifier nightmare; I’m getting pushed out by the landlord,” Huggins quips, acknowledging the irony of his situation as a pioneer in a once-dangerous neighborhood.
A horrible miracle of an accident
Just days after starting their move, on June 10, 2025, the Huggins family, Kimyon, Katya, their son Bae K, and their three cats, were driving to Dayton, Ohio, when a deer struck their car on I-80 in Pennsylvania. The vehicle flipped across 800 yards of highway. Two truckers pulled them out of the wreckage.
Everyone survived. Kimyon suffered arm fractures. Bae K had a bruised lung. Katya was critically injured—her arm and foot shattered, requiring extensive surgeries. She remains in recovery. The family’s cats, briefly fostered by the nonprofit Animals Matter, are now back with them in a motel outside the city.
With no home, no income, and rising medical bills, the family launched a GoFundMe. Proceeds will be split with Animals Matter, in thanks for helping care for their pets during the crisis.
Looking Past Brooklyn: Art, Recovery, and What’s Next
“The neighborhood isn’t what it was,” Huggins says. “It’s about likes and shares. Not enough people are mastering their craft anymore.” He still believes in the 10,000-hour rule. Still believes in staying consistent. But he’s realistic.
“This isn’t the end. I want to come back and buy that building someday,” he says. “But right now, I’m doing what’s best for my family. I’m not giving up, I’m adapting.”
For Huggins, the message is clear: keep making art, keep building community, wherever you are.
Stay Connected
To follow Kimyon Huggins’s next chapter and support the journey, tune in to Future Is Now, his weekly livestream blending live DJ sets and visual art. Catch it every Sunday at 3PM EST on Twitch, or explore the archive and upcoming projects at www.futureisnowx.com.
Follow Future Is Now and Kimyon on social media:
📸 Instagram: @futureisnowexperience
🎥 YouTube: Future Is Now Experience
🌐 Website: www.futureisnowx.com
🎧 SoundCloud: No Agenda Recordings
📲 Follow Kimyon: @kimyon333
