Those seeking an entryway to Boston’s DIY arts and culture should look no further than the glowing red EXIT sign in Lower Allston. But don’t let the name fool anyone — the gallery and live music space at 99 Franklin St. is an invitation to all visual artists, musicians, and inquisitive minds who happen to pass by. On an evening like last Saturday (July 16), that invite reached all of the above.
The click-clacks of skateboarders launching into ollies and kickflips preceded the live music, as they zipped down a strip of Franklin Street carefully blocked off by a food truck serving steamy empanadas. Fans of Kadeem and Michael Christmas later congregated in EXIT’s narrow garage to bop along to both Boston rappers’ intimate performances. As the hours passed, the neon glow of the EXIT sign gradually replaced the last strips of sunset, casting a red glimmer on the crowd, not unlike the interior of some trendy bar or nightclub.
But EXIT isn’t either of those things. It’s a gallery that blooms into block parties; an artsy boutique that transcends capitalism and leans on curiosity to draw in guests. More accurately, It’s whatever founder/artist Sam Fish and the neighborhood says it is, be it DIY music venue or creative community space.
As a venue that leaves “the model of a traditional gallery behind,” Fish strives for EXIT to be a playful, engaging experience that appeals to all of the senses. His own art pops from larger-than-life canvases, framed flash, and bold-patterned apparel for sale, while local songs and smells swirl together on the nights of his OUTCHEA! live music series, which has featured Boston artists like SuperSmashBroz, $ean Wire, and Caev. Fish usually caps ticket sales at 75, but he says roughly 200 people can fit inside the gallery and in the surrounding outdoor space.
“My mission from the beginning was to try and share in an honest loving way — to create authentic space that people could be in,” Fish tells Vanyaland. “Not mediated, not brokered. I felt that third space was lacking in Boston.”
EXIT is a relatively new fixture in the Allston arts scene, but not a permanent one. After many prior locations — ranging from a 1500 square foot space on Newbury Street to a massive spot nearly 10 times that size in Downtown Crossing — the Allston spot is EXIT’s fifth home, and it’s unlikely that it will be its last.
EXIT’s mission is so in flux that live music wasn’t even part of original edition. Instead, Fish’s first iteration was an answer to a gallery scene that felt static and unstimulating. The first version of EXIT occupied a vacant Somerville storefront in 2019, aiming to to fill not just a physical void, but cultural void, too.
“Beginning in Boston, I noticed many of the visual art experiences within the gallery seemed to be obsessed with deconstructing and analyzing the context,” he explains. “The viewing experience itself having little to no value. I just remember these spaces not feeling very good. Maybe that was the point. They just weren’t spaces I wanted to be in. I thought other people might have felt the same, and that there was probably room for something else.”
When EXIT took up residence on Newbury Street in the fall of 2020, Fish’s blueprint for the space shifted out of necessity. After growing tired of his long, solitary nights painting, he crossed paths with a handful of musicians from Berklee who had been kicked off campus during the pandemic. They needed a practice space; Fish craved collaboration and connection. Before long, the students had taken up residence, rehearsing as Fish painted to the twists and turns of their jazz tunes.
“My vision widened, I began to put my faith in music,” Fish shares. “Nobody was coming to the shows we were having but we didn’t care. We were having fun. We played anyways. EXIT began to take on fuller form — the walls, collaged layers of prints and paint, reverberated with sound. The immersive installation I created during the isolationist period combined with the live music performance was opening the portal, and showing a new way out. The pathway was picking up speed. It was time for EXIT to move. Right on cue, the Allston space came into view.”
Fish sniffed out the newest space by happenstance last summer when he connect with Owen Mack, a video producer who recently acquired a former metal shop. Despite the old shop’s architectural flourishes — such as “funky metal awnings and perforated lighting fixtures that had to be handmade” — the space remained shuttered. Fish saw it as the next place to hang his EXIT sign.
“Owen was beginning to clean up the garage and was interested in new ideas for ways we could breathe life into the garage and bring the community together,” he notes. “I had him come check out what I was doing on Newbury and then bothered him just about every day about letting me open an EXIT in the garage. Somehow it worked out, and the Allston location has been taking shape into a sweet little neighborhood venue.”
Unlike the hush-hush basement venues peppered around the city, EXIT is an exclamation point of an all-ages space, drawing in visitors with the activity that spills into Franklin Street and James Collins Square Park. Thanks to a sponsorship from Topo Chico that keeps EXIT stocked with complimentary sparkling water, EXIT is an alcohol-free space, which is a priority for Fish.
“I want what we create to be for everyone,” he emphasizes. “Each EXIT chapter has been a continuation process in refining the methodology for how to better facilitate true and honest experience; both for myself and how I create, but also how I share with others. Experiences that bring about communion, connection, and catharsis. They are celebrations. The work within EXIT looks up, and it aims to inspire you to do the same.”
While Fish says that EXIT represents “a process of moving,” his current real estate in Lower Allston is too impactful to pull up stakes just yet. He says the space’s calendar is fairly full through the beginning of the fall, including an upcoming show on July 30 with Stefan Thev, Frances Baker, Zami and AF1Shawty. A fashion pop-up is on the schedule for tomorrow (July 23) as well.
“Creating in Lower Allston amidst the Harvard development feels like the necessary act of gorgeous rebellion,” he concludes. “Allston has been such a creative neighborhood and I’m really hyped to keep this going. I’ve had some help booking shows for this summer and turn outs have been solid so far… There’s some momentum now and can’t wait to see where it leads.”