hole in the sky collective

i got an email this morning sharing the progress of hole in the sky collective. i had never heard of it, but am THRILLED that this organization is in my neighborhood. this is EXACTLY the type of enterprises i hope will move in. i feel like eckington could be a wonderful bohemian enclave in DC. there isn't much (there is some tho) in DC promoting arts and creativity amongst the residents. i believe this type of space where art can be expressed and explored is exactly the kind of thing this city needs.

this is what the email said:

Hello everyone!
I'm sure some of you have already heard the music coming from the second floor warehouse on 5th St NE over the last 8 monhts...just above Bini's Security Ironworks. The music you've heard is from a public arts space called Hole in the Sky Art Collective. We have recently taken a break from doing art events to renovate and come up to fire safety code and other city compliance. We are very happy to do this because safety is an absolute priority to us. We started renting the space in May of 2010 and were certainly underprepared to take on such a huge project, but we've had so much community support and energy behind the project that things are well in motion. We've learned a lot over the last 8 months about the positives and negatives to running an art space and we're redesigning not only the physical space of Hole in the Sky but the ideological approach to a space like Hole in the Sky.

I wanted to keep the neighborhood updated for a few reasons:
1. We are determined to make Hole in the Sky a multi-use/multi-dimensional art space. We have mainly hosted music shows but our new efforts will be geared towards music and arts education (we have three teachers living and working here to help with program development) and supporting independent artists and musicians in DC. We will continue to do public evening music events but with much less frequency.
2. We want to build a relationship of trust and transparency with the neighborhood. We have previously lacked promotion and organization, mainly because we've just been so darn busy and trying to do too many things at once! But we're here as a resource and opportunity for ourselves and each other.
3. We want to get your ideas! What would you like to see in a community art space?? Do you want to come over and check it out and take a look at things?? We'd love to hear your feedback.

A few of the specific projects we're doing are more thoroughly described on our website: www.holeintheskydc.org -- please check it out and give us feedback or ideas you may have. We are truly a collective so if you have something that you want to SEE happen then let's MAKE it happen.

Lastly, we are taking donations for Hole in the Sky's development. We are not incorporated as a non-profit currently, but we have qualified people helping us to pursue that over the summer. Also, we have made promises to keep anyone who donates up to date on the progress and goals of the space. We are really in the exciting beginning stages of a lot of things, and yes, all of us involved have one or two other jobs to pay rent for the building, so we're stretched quite thin in terms of financing. But we're resourceful and have the know-how to do everything we've laid out plans for.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you may have to offer!
Cheers and we'll be in touch.

Sora, Lucas, Nathan, Jeff, Meagan, Jaime, Haley, Ashley

www.holeintheskydc.org