by Melanie Wong
After a yearlong search for a vibrant space "where artists
and audiences [can] connect," brothers and co-owners Marc and Steve Kaplan
settled at 45 Bleecker Street, in the basement below The Culture Project, as the home of their new
performing-arts venue. Dubbed SubCulture, the owners are calling it a "listening room" that promises to deliver
a concert-hall experience in an intimate setting, with a little food and beverage service on the side.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "Wait, don't we already have one of those on Bleecker Street?" However, unlike its many area counterparts, SubCulture's snacking selection is limited and the atmosphere—without tables, servers, or minimums—lends itself to a more performance-based focus.
After a soft launch in May, the brothers used the summer to
experiment with the widest possible variety of acts—from soloists to big bands,
singer-songwriters to ska, and even a comedy act—in order to ascertain what
worked best in the room. As Steve explained, "Anything
can work in the room, but there’s a line between what we want to present and
what we think the room wants. The room almost dictates. It was more us
listening to the room than trying to control the room." Marc added: "Moving
into the fall, we have a greater definition of what we know we love in the space."
The official grand opening on September 16 will kick off a
two-week cross-genre piano festival featuring SubCulture's beautiful Steinway
and highlighting a variety of pianists, including jazz phenoms Fred Hersch and
Taylor Eigsti; Gregg Kallor on the classical side; as well as Jon Regen and Vonda Shepard from the
pop scene.
SubCulture is also making some serious headway in the classical world, having secured a partnership with 92Y
that includes six chamber music concerts and the NY Philharmonic's CONTACT! series (featuring
Esa-Pekka Salonen and Yefim Bronfman), not to mention a pending collaboration
with Carnegie's Ensemble ACJW.
The brothers also hope to present some original programming that they hope will serve as
an added benefit to the community and the city as a whole. Marc explained, "If
we're looking at artists [that would play a larger room], we're looking to have
the ability to invoke a special project or a different type of performance from
them. Like, if we got Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan) to do solo piano."
The brothers stressed SubCulture's versatility as a
differentiator amongst NYC's vast selection of performance spaces. According to Marc, "Even though we hold less than 200 people, we have the ability to perform
in the center of the space or onstage, you have a breadth of acoustics . . . our
focus is on showcasing our room." The room boasts a glorious set of
retractable cushioned seating that adds the flexibility to create standing-room
space, roundtables, fully seated events, or just about any other setup you can
imagine. Steve added, "The sound
system that we have and the vibe really accentuates and amplifies subtlety and
that’s what we’re really going for. It's something intangible that people are
picking up on and language doesn't do justice to it."
The Kaplans also strove to mainain the space's distinctive historical element. The stairway leading
to the stage takes you through a photographic "time tunnel" that depicts a
chronological history of the Bowery (courtesy of the Lower East Side History
Project). Once inside, the brothers' architectural philosophy of "don't design
by force, design by adaptation" is evident in the steam-pipe-lined
ceiling, pipeline chandelier, and original 117-year-old flooring.
In the increasingly crowded spectrum of NYC performance venues,
SubCulture seems poised to become one of the most exciting. Be sure to check out their calendar for information about upcoming shows.