Kickstarter

We want to change classical music - or at least the way it's performed. 

Classical music is in a bad way. Audiences are shrinking and aging. Orchestras are declaring bankruptcy. And in the age of iTunes, marketability is supplanting artistry, as each month recordings claim an ever greater share of the market. The most popular venue for art music in America is the car. 

We staunchly believe that music is not the problem – rather, that audiences have lost interest in the experience: asocial seating, distant stages, disconnected performers and patrons, a stiff atmosphere. Dissatisfied with the fashion and spaces in which most classical music is presented, we want to experiment with new ideas. 

The aim is to create a venue both more effective and more accessible – more fun – than those tried. Comfortable enough to relax into; intimate enough for the music take precedence; sparse enough for movement and flow; dense enough for strangers to meet. There are three pillars to realizing this:

1.  Performing in stageless spaces, making the music more effective and breaking down the barrier between performers and audience

2.  Personalizing the room with design ideas taken from the restaurants and cafés people feel most comfortable in

3.   Programming in sets, to create both ‘art-time’ and ‘social-time’ in better balance

A friend labeled this effort ‘curating’: finding a new setting for old art. This brought us to the idea of performing in a gallery: an open, comfortable stageless space. If our fundraising is successful, we'll launch on September 22 at the renowned Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Chelsea. We'll post updates like program and partnerships as the summer goes on. 

The money we raise goes to covering the costs of furniture and refreshments, musicians' wages, and logistical costs.