Bushwick Urban Arts Fest

Rain threatened but ultimately did not dampen the mood at yesterday’s Urban Arts Fest in Bushwick, an event
presented by Mark Batty Publishers. The venue was Castle Braid, a brand new apartment complex in the heart
of what used to be one of the most desolate neighborhoods in the city.  Street and graff artists decorated exterior
walls and hung their work in the freshly painted but still empty apartments.

Bushwick has become one of the last affordable hoods for artists to live and work in New York City. Although I
participated in the festival and am always glad to see street art promoted, I did wonder who was promoting whom.
I can only hope that the present and future developers of Bushwick repay the creative people who brought them
there by designing buildings where artists and others of modest means can afford to live.
















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