It’s DIY Bushwick Fest time! 9 DIY venues, a million NYC bands!

Bushwick Music Studios in association with Deli Magazine and Arts In Bushwick are proud to announce the official schedule for DIY Bushwick, A Musical Festival, taking place March 24-27, in nine venues throughout Bushwick. The inaugural festival will feature Brooklyn-based bands, DJs, and artists performing in alternative Do-It-Yourself spaces just a walk or a bike ride apart. Admission prices range from free to $10 with an average ticket price of $5. Festival passes will be available online for $20, with Friday/Saturday passes available for $10. This is part of an effort by festival organizers to make sure that the events are accessible to all.

Tito Fleetwood Ladd, owner of Bushwick Music Studios (one of the venues involved), decided to organize the festival in an attempt to galvanize the neighborhood’s flourishing music and arts scene. In the last few years, Bushwick has emerged as a frontier for DIY venues, attracting artists and musicians with the limitless opportunities provided by these raw spaces (check out a Deli article about this here). Although the scene has been growing for some time, a Bushwick-centered festival of this scale has never been attempted.

Ladd’s vision was that by working together, the Bushwick music scene would ultimately receive more visibility. “There’s this incredible energy and all these cool spaces with amazing talent in Bushwick,” says Ladd, “This is our way of showing that to anyone who wants to pay attention to us. We’re all doing it together.” When he reached out to several venues and organizations in Bushwick, he immediately received enthusiastic support.

Deli Magazine and Arts In Bushwick have both signed on to help coordinate and produce the event. Bushwick Music Studios will be joined by nine spaces including Party Expo, Don Pedros, Goodbye Blue Monday, Brooklyn Fireproof, Castle Braid, The Opera House Lofts, House of Yes, Eastern District, and Northeast Kingdom. Corporate sponsors are nowhere to be found. DIY Bushwick is pure grassroots. 

The Deli will cover this event in depth, so stay tuned!