City Breaks Ground on a New, $21 Million Home for ABC No Rio

For Immediate Release: July 16, 2024

CITY BREAKS GROUND ON A NEW, $21 MILLION HOME FOR LEGENDARY MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTS ORGANIZATION ABC NO RIO

New York, NY - Today, New York City officials joined members and friends of ABC No Rio to break ground on its new home. The renowned Lower East Side arts center, founded in 1980, has long embodied the neighborhood's unique creative legacy.

ABC No Rio's new four-story building will be a multi-use arts center. Built on the same site as its beloved former tenement-turned-community center, it will include a photo darkroom, screenprinting facility, small press library, digital resources, and expanded space for art, music, performance, educational and community activities, as well as meeting and office space for ABC No Rio and other organizations.

"ABC No Rio embodies the DIY creative energy and legacy of the Lower East Side like few other places. We're proud of the city's investment in this new chapter for the storied, multidisciplinary arts organization," said NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. "While this project undeniably marks the start of something new for ABC No Rio, it's something that will still be rooted in the same mission and ethos that has made this a vital space for pioneering artists for more than 40 years. With the visionary passive house design, we're also showing how cultural institutions can lead the way in creating a greener, more sustainable New York City for us all."

Designed to meet LEED Silver and the rigorous Passive House standard for sustainability and energy efficiency by Castrucci Architects, the building will be significantly more efficient than the state energy code requires. The project also includes water conservation and storm-water management: low-flow plumbing fixtures, rainwater collection, and an 1100 sq.ft. green roof.

"Castrucci Architects had an intuitive understanding of ABC No Rio's culture and ambitions," said ABC No Rio Director Steven Englander. ABC No Rio's gallery and performance space was founded by artists committed to an actively engaged culture and an expanded vision of possibility for the lives of our neighborhoods, cities, and societies.

For over 40 years ABC No Rio has been a place where people shared resources and ideas to impact society, culture and community in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual support.

Through new construction we will build dramatically improved facilities for our cultural, community and educational activities:

• create spaces specifically designed for our programs and events
• double the size of our gallery and performance space
• increase our programming and audience diversity
• install an elevator and make the building wheelchair accessible
• provide a model public Passive House building
• install new energy- and water-efficient building-wide systems
• increase our capacity for alternative energy use

ABC No Rio Board Co-Chair Eric Freedman Goldhagen said, "A new era will dawn as ABC No Rio more effectively utilizes our site for programs and activities. The new building will allow for larger and more ambitious workshops, exhibitions and public events, enhancing our ability to serve area artists, audiences and the community at large. The continued vitality of New York as a world center for the arts requires the continued viability of grass-roots arts institutions such as ABC No Rio. Our new home will provide improved facilities and resources for cultural, community and educational uses, and fuel new generations of creative New Yorkers."

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