Written by Vittoria Benzine
Everyone’s an artist, but the competition is fierce. Gowanus is an outlier, a community-oriented enclave home to 300 or 400 artists at any given moment, where creativity’s a way of life for painters and postal workers alike. Art’s even entering public policy there lately, courtesy of the pioneering new duo overseeing Arts Gowanus—Executive Director Johnny Thornton, and Program Director Emily Chiavelli. The two organizers both went to art school, worked in the art world, and retained a distaste for it. Instead, through Arts Gowanus, they’re participating in the neighborhood’s evolution, especially in light of its recent rezoning, challenging the notion that art can’t affect real change—and upholding the programming central to the nonprofit’s foundation.
Gowanus is named for a Canarsee Native American. The Dutch invaders who settled the neighborhood during the 17th century built gristmills there—and powered them with the tidal streams that predated the Gowanus Canal. Manufacturing left New York after World War II, and rendered many of Gowanus’s factories vacant. Artists flocked to these cheap, vast spaces throughout the 1990s. Gowanus stands apart from New York’s other artist neighborhoods because it’s smaller, denser—and, there’s groups connecting artists amongst each other.
Arts Gowanus formed out of Gowanus Open Studios—an annual extravaganza wherein the neighborhood's many makers welcome the public into their workspaces. Today, Gowanus Open Studios attracts thousands of visitors, creating opportunities for artists and local businesses alike, while attracting the art media en masse. Chiavelli told me she once met a couple from Indiana who plans their visits to New York just to attend Gowanus Open Studios each year. But, based on her research, it’s hard to tell when exactly Gowanus Open Studios initially started.
“I think the first iteration had like five or 10 artists around 543 Union, which is a live work artists space,” Chiavelli explained. “They just started doing it themselves. It steadily grew for the first few years.” Thornton said they became a nonprofit in 2007, under the moniker Gowanus Artist Studio Tour Inc. He and Chiavelli only changed their name to Arts Gowanus officially last month.
Thornton arrived in Gowanus after graduating from art school around 2013. He got a studio and started running a small gallery. Weeks later, someone suggested he join Open Studios. “I didn't know what it was,” Thornton recalled. “I started walking around, I was like, what an amazing event.” He attended other programming, and became a volunteer. At the end of 2018, they asked him to come on as Program Director. “The neighborhood was at a crossroads,” Thornton said, and he sensed latent potential in Arts Gowanus. In 2020, he became its Executive Director.
“Two months into being Executive Director, we had the rezoning coming up,” Thornton said. “That's when COVID started.” The pandemic offered time to educate himself on rezonings—and, to create public art to comfort the community. Arts Gowanus worked with the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation to create an art walk of installations across empty storefronts.
“I was also on the volunteer to Program Director pipeline,” Chiavelli laughed. She’d just earned her MFA that May, and found Arts Gowanus by Googling local arts organizations to get involved with. It was serendipity, because Thornton needed help with the art walk. She came on board.
“I don't think either of us have any nonprofit background,” Thornton added. “I still don't know what an executive director does. But, we vibe really well. We really like to create programming.” They “can throw a party all day long,” he joked. They just organized their first parade, called Creatures of the Canal, where community members of all stripes made costumes and marched.
Now, Arts Gowanus offers programming, curatorial services, and advocacy—which has taken off since Thornton took over. In 2021, mayor De Blasio finally pushed through a plan to rezone Gowanus from a neighborhood centered on light and mid-level manufacturing to one where towering luxury condos could be constructed. Throughout that process, Arts Gowanus partnered with the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice, which had three demands: capital repairs to Gowanus’s NYCHA housing, no net CSOs, and a task force to maintain developers’ accountability. By following their lead and working with then-city councilperson (now Comptroller) Brad Lander, Arts Gowanus also secured about 150 new rent controlled studios.
“They're actually affordable,” Chiavelli noted. “I think that word gets thrown around a lot.” Most are $1.66 per square foot per month—others, reserved for low income residents, are even cheaper. Those rates can only go up 2% each year. “We also got a community center,” Thornton said, “which will have three free residency studios, an exhibition space, and offices for us.” He calls affordability paramount to retaining a vibrant arts and culture community. “Having a mix of artists—that is the most important,” he explained. “Artists from different backgrounds, socioeconomically, racially.” Cheap spaces are key. “We don't want an echo chamber of just the people who can afford it. It benefits everyone to have affordability.” For now, they’re focused on getting the community center up and running—and dispensing those forthcoming artist studios.
As their scope grows, Arts Gowanus contends with funding, too, though money hardly hampers their vision. They’re applying for grants, have great private donors, and seek assistance from groups like the Brooklyn Arts Council. Public art is another focus—they’ve done outdoor installations in Red Hook, on the unsightly scaffolding crowding the neighborhood as condo construction starts, and at the Old Stone House. Thornton found himself there recently amongst one of their installations with Brooklyn Pride, early for a meeting. “I sat on a bench and one of these artists was crying with their friends,” he said. “It was one of those special moments. I don't get a lot of time to reflect on the work that we do, but how meaningful this was to these young artists still chokes me up—you seldom get to see what you're doing in action.” Applications for such projects are free. The printed banners stay up for a while, and offer immense exposure.
In order to ensure art remains part of the neighborhood identity for everyone living in Gowanus, Arts Gowanus prioritizes bringing their work to local coffee shops and other businesses. Art doesn’t just brighten up the mundane—it can also spark connection, and sometimes greater civic conversations. “We always say the same tagline, whenever we are getting too cynical,” Thornton told me. “We say ‘art is the catalyst to build a stronger community.’” In Gowanus, that power shows. He likens the community’s warm atmosphere to Sesame Street, in the best way.
But of course, it’s not all playtime. Next, Arts Gowanus is angling to join the steering committee for the Gowanus Improvement District, and they’re already on the Gowanus Oversight Task Force making sure developers play by the neighborhood’s rules. While the commercial art world quibbles over whether art can really “do” anything, Arts Gowanus is out here proving that yes, it can. Thornton and Chiavelli hope other arts advocacy groups and beyond draw on their method.
“You have to work with the cards you're dealt,” Thornton mused. “That pragmatism is a really tough thing to learn.” Then, Chiavelli interjected: “It's not as satisfying. It's not as glamorous.”
“There's no freeze frame where it's the end—it's just the constant slog, pushing it a little bit forward,” Thornton continued. “We'll be too tired at some point, and someone else will take over… that's the thing that I've learned about running an org. There's no end.” If you try to change the world, you’ll change nothing. Change starts at home, one work of art at a time. If you want to get involved in Gowanus, try attending Gowanus Open Studios, this October 18 and 19.
About Vittoria Benzine
Vittoria Benzine is a Brooklyn-based journalist covering contemporary art with a focus on storytelling, counterculture, and magic. She writes for a number of cultural publications, including Artnet News, the Brooklyn Rail, Brooklyn Mag, Hyperallergic, and Maxim. Find her on Instagram at @vittoriabenzine or visit her website vittoriabenzine.com.