Visitors can explore working artists’ studios across Gowanus for free this Saturday and Sunday, including newly opened-to-visitors subsidized spaces. Gowanus Open Studios runs Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 from noon to 6 p.m.; no registration is required.
The event is organized by the nonprofit Arts Gowanus, according to Art in New York City, which reports that this 30th-anniversary edition includes more than 400 artists across over 90 locations. Brooklyn Paper reports more than 500 participating artists; neither count has been independently confirmed. Brooklyn Magazine reported roughly 400 artists at a previous Open Studios weekend, spread across 100 locations.
Hoodline's dossier traces the event back to 1996, when it began under the name GAST, the Gowanus Annual Studio Tour, launched by a small group of artists who simply opened their own studios for a weekend. One of those original participants, artist and poet JoAnne McFarland, has taken part in Gowanus Open Studios since its earliest days and has kept a studio at 543 Union Street since moving into the building in the 1990s, according to ARTHAG NYC. That building is considered the birthplace of the event itself.
How Gowanus Is Preserving Studio Space
Around 2005, McFarland and other longtime artists at 543 Union Street joined together to purchase the building outright, the same ARTHAG NYC account notes, a move that has helped anchor more than a dozen open studios there for this year's event. McFarland began her dress-collage series in 1997 and will exhibit mixed-media dress collages as part of the 30-for-30 anniversary show, which features 30 local artists and will take place at Union Channel.
In her account to ARTHAG NYC, McFarland described uncertainty about whether development will compromise artists’ goals in Gowanus and said she worries neighborhood changes could eventually force her out.
New Studios, New Faces
This year, visitors can also see 15 affordable studios at 420 Carroll Street and 498 Sackett Street. They are among 22 subsidized studios now occupied in the two buildings, which Art in New York City reports will open to Open Studios visitors for the first time. Arts Gowanus secured an agreement with several developers to include the spaces in their new buildings as part of its effort to preserve studio space for local artists.
The newer tenants include Mayowa Nwadike, who works at 420 Carroll Street, and Liza Domingues and Miguel Ayuso, who work at 498 Sackett Street. Nwadike joined Gowanus Open Studios for the first time last year. Arts Gowanus says the studios range from roughly 130 to 350 square feet. Rent starts at $20 per square foot annually and can increase by no more than 2% per year after the second year.
What the Studio Program Does—and Does Not—Guarantee
The NYC Zoning Resolution describes the Special Gowanus Mixed Use District’s purpose as allowing compatible light manufacturing and residential uses to coexist. Separately, Arts Gowanus says its Community Benefits Agreement with 11 waterfront property owners obligates each owner to provide a number of artist studios at subsidized rent. These sources describe the district’s mixed-use purpose and a specific studio commitment; they do not quantify affordable-housing or community-space provisions across the rezoning. A broader indicator of the workspace challenge: a survey of 220 artists, cultural workers, and audience members conducted for CreateNYC found that 76% of artist respondents selected cost or space as their primary challenge to creating art in New York City.
Gowanus also had artist workspaces in former industrial buildings before the 2021 rezoning. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission says the former Somers Brothers factory has housed artists’ studios since the 1970s, and that the Old American Can Factory is now used by more than 300 artists and other organizations.
Development Pressure Behind the Celebration
The event takes place as Gowanus continues to change following its 2021 rezoning. Curbed reports that dozens of rental buildings have gone up and dozens more are under construction, with the area expected to add 9,000 housing units by the end of the decade.
A Groundbreaking Is Not a Completion Count
The Office of Governor Kathy Hochul announced a groundbreaking for a 654-unit development at 320 and 340 Nevins Street. That is a construction milestone, not a count of completed homes; the announcement does not establish how many affordable homes have been completed in Gowanus since the rezoning or compare that total with the housing the plan was expected to enable.
Some Gowanus artists have already left amid rising rents, a trend Brownstoner has connected to development in the former industrial corridor. Arts Gowanus has advocated for affordable, long-term studio space, including through a Community Benefits Agreement described by The Shop Workspace. The South Brooklyn Casket Company, once a neighborhood fixture, closed before its building was demolished to make way for new apartments.
Arts Gowanus executive director Johnny Thornton has said he hopes Gowanus Open Studios continues for another 30 years and beyond. The nonprofit's first fellowship program participant, artist Sashia Jiang, is also part of this year's lineup, which includes a kinetic installation called Organic Machine by Chico MacMurtrie as a site-specific piece.
Where Else to Go This Weekend
Beyond the studios themselves, visitors can catch a sneak preview of Judgy Baby, a planned 2027 arts venue inside the former Montauk Paint Company building at 170 2nd Avenue, which will show work by more than a dozen artists across multiple floors alongside a pop-up coffee shop from Principles Coffee owner Katie Bishop and live music from the Sarah King Quartet and Liz Rabson Schnore. A screening of the documentary Gowanus Current is scheduled for Saturday evening at 420 Carroll Street following that day's Open Studios hours, hosted by The Shop Workspace, whose artist studios will be open to visitors both days of the weekend.
Other neighborhood events are timed to the same weekend, including a traditional makers' fair and artisans bazaar at the Old Stone House in Park Slope on Saturday and the Van Alen Institute's annual Fall Fest, also on Saturday. Arts Gowanus provides an online directory and event map for planning self-guided routes, and printed maps will be available at select locations for visitors who would rather wander without a phone in hand. Across the weekend, the invitation remains the same one artists have extended since 1996: come meet the people making the work, see the studios themselves, and in some cases make a little art of your own.
