Today marks the first day of the annual art festival Bushwick Open Studios (BOS) and we’re happy to be the sponsoring some of this weekends events, including tonight BOS launch party which is set to be a blast. We chatted with one of the lead organizers Lucia Rollow about the evolution of BOS, and where it’s at now AND the event tonight.
How many years a have you been involved with BOS?
I’ve been involved with BOS for about 4 years now, this is the 3rd year that Julia and I have been lead organizers though.
How have you seen it evolve?
The festival has grown exponentially in the last 3 years and really taken on a life of its own it’s incredible. We instituted a registration rule this year requiring participants to have a year round presence in Bushwick in the hopes that it would slightly stem the exponential growth and it sort of worked but we definitely still saw an increase in registrations.
How did you go about curating these acts for the opening?
We put out an open call to our mailing list seeking musicians and performers and selected from that. There were about 5 of us involved in the selection process and we tried to be very thorough and include a diverse group but we had a LOT of responses and it would have been great to include everyone. Unfortunately there just isn’t quite enough time for that.
Why do you think BOS is important for artists?
BOS is a great opportunity for emerging and undiscovered artists to show their work. A huge number of people come out to visit the festival and it’s phenomenal exposure for people that might not otherwise have that type of opportunity!
What else can we look forward to from the event on today?
There’s going to be so much stuff going on this weekend it’s amazing. The launch party is going to be phenomenal, we have 5 excellent bands that are performing as well as a dance troupe and there will be a photo booth! Fun times!
What else will you be getting into this BOS?
This weekend I’m planning on running around and seeing as much as possible. I’ll be at the NEWD art fair for a few hours on Saturday afternoon as well as at the Bushwick Community Darkroom intermittently throughout the weekend.
