(Photos courtesy of Unruly Collective)
Last December, Charles Pastore, a real estate investor who owns property in East New York, purchased a century-old Bushwick brownstone, on the corner of Cooper Street and Wilson Avenue, just a block off the Wilson L stop. He and his partners, Hillary Megroz and Lauren Douglass, spent a few months renovating the house and now they’re ready to launch the Unruly Collective, a 2,500-square-foot space dedicated to artistic creation, offering co-working studio spaces as well as short-term rentals for travelers and resident artists.
“We’re not a gallery, but a collaborative space,” says Megroz, an East Villager with 10 years of marketing experience at companies like MTV, NBC and Daily Mail, who founded her own creative company in 2012. “When you come to our place, you will not find art in only one room. It’s all over the house.” According to Douglass, the endeavor’s tagline is “create, collaborate, co-habitate,” as in: “Creating in the space, collaborating with others and co-habitating with like minded creative souls.”
The works of featured artists will decorate each of the house’s four bedrooms, and virtually every piece, whether furniture, lights or original paintings, will be for sale. Weekday rental rates for the rooms will go from $70 per night for a bunkbed in the smaller room to $150 per night for a master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and walk-in closet.
Downstairs, three “DIY studios” will be available to artists for a monthly rate of approximately $1,000 (prices will vary according to residents’ means). “We’re open to anyone who feels creative and wants to be around other creative people: writers, musicians, sculptors… It’s all a matter of what the residents want to bring to the table,” says Megroz.
If that sounds like you, stop by the house tonight, starting at 7 p.m., for the opening of an exhibition of 15 pieces by artist Jessica Joyce, who designs crystal and stone jewelry. You’ll be able to lie on a mattress to view her in-progress ceiling mural, “Intangible Universe.” Megroz’s creations, consisting mainly of paper flowers and perennials, will also be featured throughout the house.
The Unruly Collective hasn’t yet launched, but its creators are already plotting their next move. Among other things, they’d like to fuse art and food by getting local chefs to organize dinner parties. “We’re always looking of fun ways for people to get together,” says Megroz.
Unruly Collective’s launch party: Tonight, 7pm, 200 Cooper St., Bushwick.