Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.
Lowell’s UnchARTed Gallery isn’t stumbling or fumbling for business. The part-art gallery, part-all-ages venue, part bar and pizza parlor drives a significant amount of traffic on Market Street with its multifaceted and local-art-focused approach. Lowellians drop in six days a week for an enormous slice of “Evil Piggy” pizza, live New-England based music, and an overall DIY vibe that feeds right back into the community.
Their new GoFundMe campaign, made public today, isn’t a red flag that business isn’t thriving, but rather, presents a community-driven effort to make sure that it stays that way.
“For about a decade, UnchARTed Gallery has given the downtown Lowell music and art scene all the gusta it could musta,” reads the venue’s statement on GoFundMe. “Live music, affordable studio and exhibit space for artists, and a supreme food and beer supply all under one roof, what more do we need??? Well, money to be honest.”
The venue cites the costs of their (relatively) new home as the reason for making the campaign. UnchARTed was previously located on Merrimack Street, but moved to Market Street near coffee shop Brew’d Awakening roughly three years ago. This past summer, the venue celebrated its tenth year in operation.
“With our multifaceted business model and a city full of our truest fans, we expected nothing shy of bounding success. However, as we’ve passed the threshold on year three in our newest home, we are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up,” the statement explains. “As we prepare to make some cost-saving adjustments to our business plan, we also realize a financial boost is necessary in order to keep this boat afloat.”
The campaign was created on GoFundMe on October 28 — eight days ago — but was officially made public and shared today, November 6. As of print time, the fundraiser has already netted more than $7,000 of their $30,000 goal.
Boston-based artists often make the 35-minute trek North to perform at the venue; Jakals, DUMP HIM, and Pushflowers are all on the current calendar, and groups like Mint Green and Honey Cutt have performed there in the past.
Touring groups from across the country also hit up the venue as their Massachusetts stop, but perhaps most importantly, UnchARTed serves as an all-ages incubator for Lowell-based talent like Circus Trees, Western Education, Justin Goodrich, and oldsoul.
The comments on the campaign page also represent the breadth of the venue’s influence. From folks hosting multilingual poetry nights to weddings, and general pizza fanatics, the outpouring of love has already been overwhelming, but fully representative of UnchARTed’s wide impact.
“We know many people love this place as much as we do, otherwise we wouldn’t ask,” its statement continues. “We recognize many in our community have generously donated their time and money in the past as well and it goes without saying, we wouldn’t be here without you, so thank you. It is our hope that if every person who enjoyed a show, rocked on our stage, created, displayed, or better yet sold their art, slayed a slice of za, fell in love with an Evil Piggy, celebrated a new baby, birthday, retirement, or even got married here, could give us a little so we could continue to do a whole lot more with it together. We love and cherish the community we’ve built and hope to continue it for years to come, but in order to do so, we really could use your support.”
Featured image via UnchARTed Gallery.