Save The Woods: A Home for Local Artists

The Woods is one of the few remaining community-focused affordable rehearsal and performance spaces in NYC and we need your help in sustaining it for another 5 years and beyond!

WHO WE ARE:

The Woods is a low-cost, artist-run rehearsal and performance space in Ridgewood, Queens. Its mission is to support the dance and performing arts community with affordable rates and ease of access.

The space has existed as a rehearsal studio for over a decade. Maira Duarte, Alex Romania, and Nola Sporn Smith, all dancers and organizers, took over the administration in March 2019. Since then, we have invested in efforts to improve the physical space as well as its sustainability into the future.

Since 2019, we have served over 500 renters from the neighborhoods of Ridgewood, Bushwick, Bedstuy and beyond. This year alone, The Woods has hosted over 800 bookings for artists, totalling over 3,000 hours of rehearsals, community classes, photo/video shoots, and more. We also present an average of two public performance events, series, or open rehearsals per month.

WHY NOW?:

The Woods has always relied on support from our community to help sustain the space. Our last two fundraisers, the Woods Telethons 2020 and 2021, involved over 50 artists who gathered to raise funds through dance, performance and music. These were very important opportunities for the community to rally together to help keep the space afloat following the lean months of the early pandemic.

After a hiatus from fundraising, we again turn to the community to ask for your support!

Last year, we became an LLC as a way to legitimize the status of the space. We also secured a long-term lease for the first time in the history of the studio. All of these necessary changes came with increased operational and administrative costs.

Our security deposit for the new monthly rent is $1,550 - we need your help to meet this cost by January 1! With the signing of a new lease, our rent also increased, so we are fundraising an additional month’s rent to help cover the difference. We have been operating at a deficit each month since signing our lease in August, and this fundraiser will help us get back in the black!

Other expenses for which we seek support: annual maintenance costs (taking care of the floors, winterizing the space, air filter subscriptions for ongoing pandemic safety, improvements in making the space cooler for the summer months); stipends for Nola, Maira, and Alex (who subsidize the care of the space with volunteer labor); accountant and insurance fees; monthly utility costs for heat, electricity, and internet.

Next month's Rent: $1,550

Security deposit: $1,550

Insurance next 6 months: $870

Registered Agent Fees: $80

Taxes Filing: $500

Booking system: $280

Website Platform and Domain: $200

Air Filters: $170

Oil for coming cold season: $1,200

Toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, etc: $200

Mirror Repair: $1,000

Floor maintenance: $400

Paint for next year: $400

Supplemental Admin Stipends next 4 months: $1,200

Cost of space donations to community events: $400

TOTAL: $10,000

WAYS TO HELP:

1. Donate to this campaign

2. Share with friends and family

3. Come to our live event on December 15th, 6pm details in our website

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Supporting small, local, artist-led spaces such as The Woods is an amazing way to directly support the artists in your community. In a world increasingly driven by resource-scarcity, rising costs of living, and social division, coming together in acts of community support and solidarity shows that other ways forward are possible!

Thank you for helping keep this humble, vital space alive, and for paying it forward for the other artists, makers, and organizers that call The Woods their home.