Greenfield’s Looky Here art initiative was born on Chapman Street in November 2017. With a community-centric vision, a building rent split 10 ways amongst a group of local artists and a desire for artistic flexibility, Looky Here served as a shared space that was a home base for artists to gather and work on their projects.
“We all had a really similar intention for the space, which was to make something down-to-earth, community-oriented, where we could just have space to make all of our ideas come to life,” explained Sarah Lanzillotta, treasurer of Looky Here.
That year, the founding artists put together a show of their own work and hosted a soft opening — that opening predated a grand opening in June 2018, when Looky Here officially introduced itself to the community with a transformed space and a larger artistic vision complete with art shows, performances and community classes.
Hannah Brookman, president of Looky Here, describes the space as a thrift store for art supplies, a workshop space, print shop and art gallery all in one. Looky Here’s incorporation of creative reuse is a result of Brookman’s interest in the concept, though she says, “It’s a community hub more than it is a store.”
Looky Here’s purpose is central to the owners’ desire to create a space focused in Greenfield’s creative community and their collective experiences in different disciplines of art. From the gallery, submission-based and curated shows, to artist consignment, to live figure drawing and sewing classes, Looky Here is available to all who are interested, whether that be professional- or beginner-level artists.
A pillar of Looky Here is its risograph — a screen printing photocopier that prints in color layers, one color at a time. The community risograph was one of the first things everyone involved wanted for the space, Brookman said. “We wanted to be able to have this kind of service for artists around here so that people are able to sell reproductions of their drawings.”
“It kind of allows artists to make an income and it also was hopefully going to be our cash cow so we could provide that service and not keep collecting dues from all of the people who are already donating their time to us,” she continued.
While Looky Here’s payment style has changed over the years, at the time of the risograph purchase up until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the space had monthly membership dues. The board effectively works to keep events and galleries donation-based or free by focusing funding on other aspects of the space.
Looky Here now offers mail art subscriptions to pay for nearly all of the organization’s rent. With a Patreon page, the artists keep people registered for mail art, inviting people to pay $25 a month to get a package of things they’ve made at Looky Here over a said month. For additional help with rent and the risograph purchase, Looky Here receives funds from companies and other entities that hire them for recurring and one-time print jobs and art and risograph lessons. A grant from the Greenfield Arts Council also subsidized some of the risograph purchase.
Before the risograph purchase, however, those at Looky Here decided to incorporate into a nonprofit, and with that incorporation came the board that now leads the space: President Hannah Brookman, Vice President Beverly Ketch, Treasurer Sarah Lanzillotta and Secretary Abby Rusk.
Looky Here, Brookman describes, is one of many “friendship projects” their group has embarked upon. Another project, sitting less than a 5-minute walk away from Looky Here, is bar and entertainment venue 10 Forward.
Located on Fiske Avenue in Greenfield and previously known as The Root Cellar, 10 Forward is owned by Sarah Lanzillotta. The venue originally piqued her interest while she was a filmmaking student at Hampshire College, booking film programs one summer at a pop-up across the street. In that period, she was introduced to Greenfield and ultimately fell in love with both the area and the venue.
After she met Brookman and Looky Here was created, Lanzillotta began putting on film programs in the space. Around December 2018, she started looking at The Root Cellar, a bar they frequented that was run by friends of theirs, including one of the founders of Looky Here, Ted Lee, and sound engineer Paul Labreque. Alongside Labreque, Lanzillotta started working at The Root Cellar booking music and other multi-genre and multidisciplinary shows. When the owners were looking to sell, Lanzillotta jumped at the chance to buy.
“I wanted to buy it so that it didn’t get bought by someone who wouldn’t make it into a community space. I really believed in the space as, sort of like tantamount to the music version of Looky Here, basically,” Lanzillotta said. “I got that together to buy it by August of 2019, and then we finally finished the sale around late October.” By November of that year, the LLC was finalized and the name changed to 10 Forward.
Similar to Looky Here, Lanzillotta appreciates the endless possibility that 10 Forward encourages. Whether it be musicians, thespians or those seeking clever nightlife, the venue’s space is flexible. It’s a nightclub, she says, as well as a theater and community gathering center that she wants to be safe and enjoyable for all people. In the spirit of accessibility, most shows at 10 Forward are either donation-based or between $7 and $10 for entry (though, Lanzillotta said, people are rarely turned away at the door).
“It feels really special to own a music venue club as a woman because I feel like it’s just so many female musicians’ experiences and club patrons’ experiences that the club doesn’t have their back,” Lanzillota explained. “That it’s a man’s game, or that it’s a dangerous place to be as a woman and it’s like my top priority to make a safe environment for all types of bodies.”
It’s the same encouragement and passion that has allowed Lanzillotta to take her businesses in many directions. “Whatever we could think up, we could put on in this venue because it had a stage and we put a screen in and we got a film projector,” she said, noting the community connections that bring in curated shows, out of town acts and local performers.
Despite 10 Forward’s identity as an entertainment venue, and therefore its inability to open with any urgency throughout the pandemic, Lanzillotta plans to keep the artistry flowing this summer by holding Sunday Sessions.
“It’s like an outdoor celebration that we haven’t been able to have in a really long time. They’ve just felt really ecstatic and wonderful, and they’ve been helping us raise money to reopen the bar,” she said.
10 Forward’s third Sunday Session, happening June 20 from 2-8 p.m., will be a record swap featuring live vinyl DJs, food and drink for sale and an outdoor venue on the patio of neighboring restaurant Mesa Verde. While Lanzillotta doesn’t plan on being able to open the bar until mid-July, the first two Sunday Sessions boasted over 200 guests each.
The passion that keeps the artists motivated is present in both venues as they put shows on the books for the summer. In their coexisting nature, Looky Here and 10 Forward have the collective power to bring all forms of art to light in Greenfield.
Looking forward, Lanzillotta and Brookman are excited for the growth they’ve experienced at the hands of these spaces already. “We all hold jobs while keeping these businesses going. So it would definitely be my dream for this to be my real job,” Brookman said.
“We can do so much more when we work together. And people believe in that. And they are not motivated by fame or money, they’re motivated by fun and beauty and friendships. It feels very wholesome, actually.”