110 Livingston News & Blog

Arts group the ISSUE Project Room announced it has been chosen to occupy the historic theater at 110 Livingston. The group envisions a “year-round program of music, film, video, and literature” for the space. IPR is currently located in Gowanus at 3rd Ave and 3rd St., check out their site for a cool video that gives an atmospheric overview of their work. The group was selected from over 100 applicants for a 20-year lease to the space, with the first 10 years rent free. Using the space for arts was one of the conditions placed by the city when it sold the building to Two Trees Management.

The space first served as the grand meeting hall for the Elks organization when the building was built in 1926–at the time Elks Lodge 22 of Brooklyn was the largest in the country. The organization fell on tough times in the late 20s and early 30s, and when the building was sold to the City for use as the Board of Education headquarters, the theater became the hearing room.

For the theater’s next act, IPR’s mission is to create “a vital meeting place for the most disparate forms of creativity whose sole criteria embodies the integrity and spirit of artistic expression and exploration.” To make this vision a reality IPR needs to raise significant funds to renovate the space. The goal? Nothing less than “building a permanent home for the future of experimental culture.”

• ISSUE Project Room at 110 Livingston
• Theater RFP