Ever since the Rockwood Sprinkler Company moved out of Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1981, its namesake factory building has attracted local creatives. The space was first discovered by an artists’ collective, later known as the Worcester Artist Group, that put on rock shows (including—in one memorable, room-capacity-busting night—Fugazi). A wide variety of creative endeavors called the location home over subsequent years, and in 2010, nonprofit arts organization the Sprinkler Factory turned the building into a more focused and organized home for Wormtown’s artists. Now, two literally cavernous gallery spaces—each 3,000 square feet with 24-foot-tall ceilings and 360 degrees of natural light—are balanced by numerous artist studios and maker spaces, which offer classes in glassblowing, ballet, printmaking, pottery, and even muscle building (courtesy of the Weight Room, a personal training studio).

Photo by Michael Hendrickson

About those galleries: they’re filled by, well, anyone. Apply online, and if your proposed exhibition is approved, it’s all you. “I encourage the artists to take ownership of their show, and sort of steer it in the direction they imagine,” says Luis Fraire, the Sprinkler Factory’s gallery director, of his hands-off approach.

Last year, the Sprinkler Factory expanded its program to host live performances and events. The busy schedule has already included a dance performance inspired by Franz Kafka’s A Hunger Artist; an Armenian film festival; a sitar and tabla concert; and several plays, presented through a collaboration with 4th Wall Stage Company. The Sprinkler Factory’s foray into the performing arts has involved “a lot of experimentation, trial and error,” says Fraire. “But so far, so good!”

Sprinkler Factory – Luis Fraire, director
Worcester, Masschusetts
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Photos by Michael Hendrickson

The post Quick Takes: Running Through the Sprinkler appeared first on Take Magazine.

If you think live professional music only occurs in official music halls and venues, Sofar Sounds has a message for you. A worldwide organization, Sofar Sounds is dedicated to subverting the norms of booking, attending, and curating live music performances.

Want to host a musical soiree in your living room? That could happen. On a rooftop? Absolutely. With networks of volunteers and artists programming shows in Providence, Worcester, Boston, and New Haven (just to name a few), Sofar Sounds is quickly establishing itself as the go-to resource for New England artists looking for a paid gig in an unusual space, as well as a place for music lovers ready to experience live music in a different space.

Here’s how it works.

A band or individual artist applies to perform at a Sofar Sounds show. Sofar volunteers choose three acts from the pool of applicants, and secure a space for the performance that isn’t a conventional venue. Once the show is booked, Sofar Sounds’ members near the show’s location get a notification stating the date of the show and the neighborhood where the show is located. Typically hundreds of people sign up, so only a subset of people get an invite to the show. Once invited, show-goers learn where the performance will be and what bands are booked.

Mark Schafer, an ambassador at Sofar Sounds in Boston, says his team works hard to program the right kind of shows and select a diverse group of performers. “We’re very careful to make sure that we curate shows based on quality and diversity,” he says. “We want to make sure we represent all the voices in the music community.”

A recent show in Boston, for instance, featured a pop singer, a stripped down punk band, and a folk duo in the same night. “We intentionally do that kind of thing when we can,” says Schafer. “The hope is you’ll love everything, but if you see something you don’t like, all you have to do is wait a little bit for the next act, which is going to be something totally different.”

The band Aria Lanelle, Sofar Sounds, Myles Tan photography

Sofar’s subversion of music industry norms doesn’t stop there. The group almost exclusively works with local musicians and selects spaces that are not conventional venues for live music performance, essentially any space that isn’t a bar or venue.

Using unconventional performances spaces keeps Sofar Sounds bookings hyperlocal. “We’re able to tap into the local music scene much easier than a traditional venue can,” says Rachel McCandlish, another Sofar Sounds volunteer. “It’s great to be able to help those smaller bands and guarantee them an audience.”

“We pretty intentionally go for people who are either completely unknown and haven’t even put out a record yet, or artists that are on their way up,” says Schafer.

In addition to exposure to a guaranteed number of dedicated music lovers, bands who play a Sofar Sounds show get compensated for their time and performance. Artists either get paid, receive some form of hospitality, and/or are featured in a professionally shot and edited video of the live performance.

As the organization grows and adds new networks across New England, Sofar Sounds wants to become the platform for up-and-coming performers in their networked cities and bands as they pass through New England towns. “We want to make it so everyone who comes through Boston on their way up plays a Sofar show, because it’s consistently the best show featuring emerging artists,” says Schafer.

“We don’t want to get bigger and bigger bands,” adds Schafer. “We want to make sure we get the best bands and intentionally continue to get artists that many of the people in the audience have not heard before.”

Mark Schafer and Rachel McCandlish, Sofar Sounds
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Images courtesy of Myles Tan Photography

The post Rooftop Rock from Sofar Sounds appeared first on Take Magazine.

For those of you not in the know, Worcester has churned out quite a bit of brilliance over the years. From the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, to the founding of New England’s beloved Polar Seltzer in 1916, to Harvey Ball creating the smiley face that has haunted our culture, we can safely note that the city has a placeholder in history. Now meet Che Anderson, the man that is putting our beloved Wormtown on the map again, this time as a big league arts and culture epicenter.

Back in September, Take Magazine met up with Anderson to discuss the much-anticipated POW WOW! Worcester, a ten-day international art festival that left Worcester covered in breathtaking murals, and put it in the spotlight as a “must see” destination for art lovers, tourists, and townies alike. When we spoke to him, his dream was to see Worcester as part of a global dialogue about art alongside cities like Austin, New York City, London, and Tokyo. “The question to me was never, When will Worcester become a cultural epicenter?, but rather, When will the world notice that Worcester already is one?,” says Anderson.

Che Anderson | Photo by Erika Sequiera

He notes that, “The greatest change to the city was the increased belief of the arts community that these types of events are possible. There is nothing too ambitious or outlandish for Worcester, and as long as you have a coalition of engaged citizens, anything can thrive here.” Anderson’s enthusiasm and dedication have undoubtedly made him a local celebrity. At the blooming age of 27, he was recently named Worcester’s Person of the Year 2016, and continues his illustrious career as the staff assistant to the city manager, where one of his main objectives is to establish public arts initiatives to further the city’s cultural economy.

A New York city native who transplanted to Worcester in 2007, Anderson graduated from the College of the Holy Cross, thinking he would become a lawyer. However, his growing passion for street art, theater, and culture, and his interest in having an impact on the city, propelled him on his path to his current job at City Hall. For all the accolades and recognition that Anderson has been receiving of late, he is keeping a cool head and an eye on the future. “I hope 2017 pushes me, and Worcester, to new heights,” he says. “POW! WOW! Worcester is returning this summer, and I can only hope it’s as impactful as our 2016 efforts. I look forward to working more with Mass Development and keeping up with the Mass Cultural Council to better my understanding of statewide arts policy and funding. I also hope to attract some new ideas and organizers to the City of Worcester to facilitate further growth.”

Taken at Secret Walls: Art Basel Edition in Miami | Photographer unknown.

When Anderson is not tearing it up at City Hall or furthering the burgeoning art scene of Worcester through his participation in PAWG (Public Art Working Group), he can be found enjoying a beer at Deadhorse Hill or seeing the latest installation at Nine Dot Gallery. He is looking forward to the new year, despite a fraught political climate, and believes that art is the future of change. “Politics greatly influence art (a trend displayed from Warhol’s Kennedy to Hanksy’s Trump), as art serves as the voice a person chooses to express their belief on everything from a political party to platform,” he says. “Art is a reactive voice of the people; and sometimes, with enough support, the art can influence political policy and ideology leading to a cycle of influence and change.”

Find him at your local Worcester hot spot, or follow him on Instagram to see his favorite art and #latenightthoughts. His passion and style are sure to capture your attention.

The post Che And The City appeared first on Take Magazine.

Victor Pacheco, one of our artists to watch in 2016, impressed Take Magazine and executive director of Real Art Ways in Connecticut Will K. Wilkins with his imaginative and informative paintings. Back in our December/January 2016 print issue, we highlighted some of his artistic renderings of natural gas wells which, according to Wilkins, “captures awe-inspiring technology and raises discussion about the environmental impact of our search for carbon-based energy.”

It’s about time we check in with Victor.

Sculpture by Victor Pacheco for the Worcester Water Infrastructure Project

In 2016, Pacheco, raised in Hartford, Connecticut continued this artistic analysis of our built environment through his sculpture project in his new home – Worcester. Always half artist, half researcher, Victor used a materials grant from the ArtsWorcester to create sculptures based on the city’s winding scheme of pipes. His work comes at a pivotal time for the city given its current issues with water resources, “I started to do some work looking at water systems where I live, looking at Worcester’s water infrastructure, and developing some larger scale work around the water system…this year particularly was pretty bad year in terms of drought.”

Victor’s work we highlighted last year, and his sculpture work with the City of Worcester, attempt to use art as a means of communicating complex ideas about resource use and the impact humans have on the environment. Pacheco’s work artistically analyzes systems, using expression as a means to illuminate portions of our built environment that we cannot see, or choose to ignore. “There’s a huge series of pipe systems that go underground and into our house that we don’t really think about. The network of pipes that deliver and transport water in and out of our homes is a crucial element in our everyday routine. Because our water infrastructure is so vast, it doesn’t feel real.” said Victor, “…these sculptures show that on a manageable scale for someone to look at.”

Sculpture by Victor Pacheco for the Worcester Water Infrastructure Project

Over the next year, Victor plans to create work that’s a bit divergent from this creative look at infrastructure. The artist hasn’t exhibited a lot this year because he’s planning and preparing a massive installation for 2018. Victor plans to create many large-scale multimedia works that explore how technology is changing the way we interact with each other, using frogs as a creative stand-in for humans.

“I started using frogs in my work about three or four years ago. I did a series on small frogs based on some commission work and people really took an interest to it – which was a really refreshing to me since I do a lot of serious work…work that is theoretical and based on research. Making frogs and using frogs totally changes the way in which people approach art…it’s more welcoming.”

Having already unveiled a five-foot cyborg frog, Take eagerly looks forward to what Victor Pacheco plans for the next year…or two.

Unfinished sculpture for Victor Pacheco’s 2018 exhibition

Victor Pacheco is a multi-media artist from New Haven Connecticut. Follow Victor on Facebook and Twitter for all cybor-frog-related updates. 

All photos courtesy of the artist

The post The Art of Science with Victor Pacheco appeared first on Take Magazine.