Art Auction to Save the Neighborhood Theatre
By Tory Johnson
EDITOR’S NOTE: The editorial below was written by Tory Johnson, floor manager for Maxx Music/Neighborhood Theatre, at our request.
The Neighborhood Theatre.
Our name says it all: a neighborhood, a community, a family. Art comes in many forms and music is one of them. It connects and inspires us.
The Neighborhood Theatre is a part of NoDa’s art and creative history. When COVID struck our community, live music was first to go and will be one of the last to return. Our future is uncertain, but we won’t go down without a fight.
During the shutdown, we’ve used this time to rebuild our stage, a project planned before the pandemic. Throwing away the old stage seemed wasteful, wrong and disrespectful. It’s given a platform to countless artists who have used their music to connect us and form lifelong memories.
So let’s pay it some respect by taking something old and creating something new from our retired stage. We have reached out to local artists to help us breathe new life into the old wood. The response we’ve received from the art community has been truly amazing.
We will be auctioning the works of art created by our community on the remaining pieces of the former stage. Our goal is to be able to open our doors again so that we can continue to bring everyone together with live music. Be a part of our history as we have been a part of NoDa’s. Help keep the neighborhood’s creative energy alive and give artists a place to create those special moments again. Take home a piece of our history so that our retired stage can continue to inspire and connect us.
How the Auction Will Work
The auction will begin on Thursday 9/17 directly on our Instagram account — @neighborhoodtheatre. Be sure to follow us if you aren’t.
We will auction off 8 pieces of artwork per week, each piece will have its own post, where bidders can cast their bids in the comments, no limits on the number of bids. The minimum bid increments will be $10 unless specified differently. As of right now, almost 50 artists have committed art for us to auction, most of it made from our old stage. So, hopefully, we will be auctioning local art for weeks to come!
The Story of the Floor
Why is the floor coming up? Here’s a story from John Brady of Neighborhood Theatre:
Right before we shut down in early March, a band was rockin’ pretty hard on stage and the bass player stomped his foot cracking the plywood (the stage was built almost 20 years ago). We quickly replaced that one piece, but upon peaking under the stage we realized the whole thing needed to be replaced and soon. I collected the funds through some private donations … then COVID hit.
I was apprehensive to rebuild the stage because I was worried there wouldn’t be a stage by the end of the year. Thankfully, we’ve had some huge support from the community through our gofundme and the new T-shirt sales, so we’ve been staying alive. Now, we’re focusing our energy on moving forward and bringing music back to NoDa.
Examples of the Art to be Auctioned
