SLAM is the home of STREB activities. Open rehearsals, performances, STREB classes, and other explorations of action mechanics happen here daily.
SLAM is:
•    an international action factory for participants of all ages and backgrounds;
•    a laboratory for artistic experimentation and exchange;
•    a community space that embodies a commitment to open access and engagement;
•    a performance venue and a school that is open year round, seven days a week.
SLAM attracts over
0
individuals annually including:
5000 audience members at nearly 40 shows

800 students (ages 18 months to adult)

weekly at over 59 weekly classes

3,000 city school children and community organization constituents including marginalized and at-risk youth as well as the general population

200 artists

who rent SLAM to create and present work, teach and take class

600 tweens and teens

who attend monthly SLAM ACTION CLUBs

250 children

who attend SLAM summer camp

SLAM employs 150 local artists, technicians and administrators annually
“At this point in my career, my vision for SLAM is as a beta-test for a new cultural paradigm. SLAM is an open-access venue that models a new kind of artist-driven community institution. The doors of SLAM are never closed. Performances at SLAM are not stiff, class-coded, regimented affairs; they are neighborhood happenings where the company’s longtime fans from the high-art crowd mingle with the at-risk kids from the local public schools and their parents. At the heart of this machine is the driving force of art and action, and the belief that art can provide a service to a community such that voters, taxpayers, and consumers will consider it indispensable.”

Elizabeth Streb

History

In January 2003, STREB moved into a then vacant former loading facility for the Old Dutch Mustard Company. While preserving both the space’s unobstructed dimensions (24’ high ceilings and 50’ x 100’ footprint) and physical character (exposed cinder block walls and steel I-Beams and a street-level loading gate), STREB transformed 51 North 1st Street into the STREB LAB FOR ACTION MECHANICS (SLAM), a multipurpose space which accommodates the company’s school, 150-seat performance space, rehearsal facilities, trapeze rig and administrative offices. Since opening, SLAM has become a gathering spot for exchange of creative ideas across cultures of kids, dancers, gymnasts, circus specialists and pedestrians. SLAM is a place to experiment, a place that examines the difference between public and private, a place that is all public, all the time.

With unprecedented support for building acquisition from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York City Council, the Mayor’s Office and the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, the company purchased SLAM in November 2007.

Rentals

Welcome to our one of a kind space! SLAM is a converted Williamsburg warehouse with 24′ ceilings, 22’ automated trusses and a vibrant community of artists working at the intersection of dance, extreme action, aerial arts and circus. Our brightly colored 50’x50’ internal space can be used as an acrobatic and aerial training/rehearsal space or performance venue; a set for film, TV or photo shoots; or transformed into your own unique venue for any celebration or event!    

SUBSIDIZED REHEARSAL SPACE RENTALS FOR WORKING ARTISTS

STREB offers reduced rental rates for working artists who benefit from our unique space and philosophy at SLAM. 

Please contact bobby@streb.org for more information, to schedule a site visit or to reserve space for your next rehearsal.

MORE INFO
 
SLAM Empty space

Parties

Celebrate your birthday (or any other occasion!) SLAM style! Explore time, space, shape, air, impact and energy in an invigorating and athletic way during your very own Action Event.

Learn more!

Contact Bobby@streb.org for more information.