Beyond that, booking requests have been flooding in, and Footlight's music calendar is almost entirely filled through the end of summer.īar manager Steven Ploe has set up 12 tap lines in Footlight's front bar space and plans to maintain a strong focus on local breweries from the likes of Braven and Ommegang. Its Grand Opening is slated for July 22nd, with a music bill that includes Starlight Girls, BETS, The Teen Age, and Monograms. “I wanted to do something like that here because I feel that there’s not enough opportunities for kids to come and experience the arts in that way.”įootlight will begin its soft opening Friday and feature regular business hours next week. Regan hopes to eventually host seminars on sound production, booking, and venue management with local high school and college students. Fill a void that’s growing faster and faster."īut Footlight will take the local programming one step further on Sundays, when it opens up its doors for a regular all-ages amateur open mic that will encourage Ridgewood kids to come in play, dance, try out comedy, or give a reading. "We want to be the kind of place that gives opportunities to new music and new artists. "We're looking to replace institutions we've lost in the recent years like Trash Bar and Cameo, places people were able to get a gig at regardless of how new or old they were," Regan said Wednesday. Regan plans to feature a calendar of almost exclusively local, emerging bands. At that time, the plan was to create a space with a small neighborhood vibe 13 months later, Footlight is poised to do just that. "It’s really important to me that we’re a member of the community and not just a bar-not just a loud music venue," Regan said.Ī musician herself, Regan and co-owner Gabriel Rodriguez began work on Footlight, which sits on the corner of Seneca Avenue and Harman Street, over a year ago. There was some already installed-left over from the previous tenant Equinoxio, a bar-but Regan made it a priority to triple layer it.Īcute noise control is just one of the ways that Footlight hopes to do right by its neighbors in an area that's been inundated with many new bars and restaurants. But one thing was sorely lacking: soundproofing. The existing bar was already adorned with gorgeous art deco trim, and the concert area featured a perfect hardwood stage. Laura Regan and her partners set to work building out Footlight, a new music venue in Ridgewood, they were struck by how little there was to do. The Footlight Club has a fundraising page at /fundraisers/75. It normally puts on about a half-dozen main-stage plays a year from the 183-year-old building.Įliot Hall has previously served as a town meeting place and then a parish hall for the nearby Unitarian Church. The Footlight Club has been in JP residents’ midst since 1877, operating out of Eliot Hall at 7a Eliot Street. In order to stay on track for the projected 10-year renovation plan, the fundraising for this first major upgrade would be completed by this time next year, Wardwell added. “The Fire Department will work with us as long as they’re seeing progress,” she said. “We want to move forward.”Īnd while The Footlight Club has no hard deadline from Boston Fire Department (BFD), Wardwell is keen to get things moving. “There’s a whole pecking order of upgrades” that need to be done in a certain order, she said. “We have the oldest working dry sprinkler system in the city,” she said, referring to a mostly outdated fire safety system. The first step in the building’s 10-year renovation is the fire safety systems, she said. Maria Wardwell, Footlight Club board president, told the Gazette that, while the building is safe and has all its safety permits, the overhaul’s goal is to bring the whole building into the 21st century– including updating the foundation, seating and stairs, and installing air conditioning, wheelchair access and new fire safety systems. The Footlight Club-America’s oldest community theater- is working on raising up to $186,000 to upgrade its fire alarm and safety systems as part of a massive renovation to its Eliot St.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |