Art lessons

Rather than hassling alternative arts spaces such as Bad Girrls Studios, city officials should be looking for ways to help them thrive

For more than 100 years, the definition of art has been expanding. Galleries and museums -- taking their cue from underground and grassroots movements -- not only show paintings, sculptures, and photographs, but also stage concerts, performance art, and poetry readings. The aesthetic of art -- both high and low -- has for some time now been energized by the spirit of rock and roll. Bad Girrls Studios, located on a second-floor space in Jamaica Plain, occupies just such a psychic midpoint.

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Bad Girrls: an update

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Bad Girrls also exemplifies the sort of alternative arts space that helps make the city a vibrant, interesting place to live in and to visit. For the grassroots alternative arts scene to grow and thrive, though, city officials and artists need to come to an understanding. First, the city has to realize that such nonprofit groups cannot afford -- and should not be subjected to -- the regulatory red tape that's a fact of life for, say, mainstream nightclubs. Second, the artists themselves have to recognize that overcrowding and the free flow of unlicensed alcohol pose a genuine threat to public safety.

What's needed is mutual respect -- something that was absent on May 1, when police stormed into Bad Girrls Studios like revenuers busting up a speakeasy (see "Alt Control," News and Features, June 11). On that occasion, police reported that people were paying an $8 cover charge to get inside, that wine and beer were being sold without a license, and that a fire exit was blocked. A week later, police returned; though there was no bar this time, some patrons apparently brought alcohol in with them, and several were arrested on charges such as disorderly conduct and indecent exposure.

Fortunately, confrontation has given way to cooperation. Last Friday, code-violation complaints against Jessica Brand, the executive director of Bad Girrls, were continued without a finding until mid-December (see Bad Girrls: an update). And Brand made it clear that she wants to do things the right way so that her organization -- which runs an arts program for young girls, offers free drawing classes, and provides meeting space to arts-related groups -- can fulfill its mission.

It's important, though, that the process consist of something other than give on Brand's part and take on the city's. For instance, Brand has disputed the police contention that Bad Girrls had set up a cash bar on May 1. In fact, she told the Phoenix that the club was merely soliciting donations. Regulations require that a one-time alcohol license be obtained even when payments are voluntary. But there is no moral or practical difference between the alcohol that was offered at Bad Girrls and the free wine handed out at fancy Newbury Street art-gallery openings.

Esther Kaplan, the city's new cultural-affairs commissioner, has begun working with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts to help keep organizations such as Bad Girrls informed about how to stay on the right side of the regulatory line.

That's fine -- as far as it goes. What's needed is for the city to recognize that the line shouldn't necessarily be drawn in exactly the same place for every organization and in every circumstance. A nonprofit alternative arts organization such as Bad Girrls shouldn't be treated like a for-profit nightclub just because it sets out a jar for donations.

Mayor Tom Menino often boasts about his support for the city's arts community. Here's a chance for his administration to cut through some red tape and boost a vital, if not very visible, part of that community.

What do you think? Send an e-mail to letters[a]phx.com.