Brooklyn D.I.Y. hub Silent Barn will close in April
Financial difficulties have forced the closure of the local staple.
Silent Barn, a D.I.Y. space in Brooklyn, will close down on April 30, as Pitchfork points out.
Launched in 2006, Silent Barn hosted artists-in-residence, operated a recording studio, and ran a slate of cultural programming that included concerts and workshops, moving to Brooklyn from Queens in 2013. The collective – managed by over 70 volunteers – announced in a statement that maintaining the space was no longer financially sustainable. “After a prolonged assessment of the financial realities of this project, the leaseholders have decided that the most responsible option left is to end operations at 603 Bushwick as of April 30.”
The statement urges supporters to donate to Educated Little Monsters, a Brooklyn group supporting children of color from neighbourhoods affected by gentrification. ELM has been running classes and programming out of Silent Barn since 2014 and is now fundraising to launch a new all-ages space with their community partners.
In September 2015, Silent Barn solicited donations after a fire started on the building's third floor, forcing a closure for renovations.
Read the full statement above or at Silent Barn's website.