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LES arts, activism center to reopen

By Mariyatou Jabbi

When Victoria Law walked through the doors of that Lower East Side organization all those years ago, she planned to help the nonprofit hand out meals at Thompson Square Park. She went there as she was wondering who she would be as a grown-up. 

“‘I don’t have to be a doctor or lawyer, and I don’t have to be in jail,’” said Law, repeating what she’d told her 18-year-old self as she signed up at ABC No Rio. 

All she knew back then, said Law, now 47, is she wanted to do good in the world, maybe as a creative, maybe as a professor. “It was kind of like finding a political home,” said Law, who went on to become a journalist, mainly covering criminal justice. 

As a teen volunteer and participant in programs at ABC No Rio she also helped package books to mail to incarcerated people around the country. She watched as photographers floated in and out of the dark room of the building on Rivington Street, and listened as punk rockers played their loud music inside.

But that kind of activity ended in 2016, when ABC No Rio closed. Founded in 1980, it is set to re-open in 2025, newly renovated through a $21 million dollar grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

With the reopening, Law said, “We will now have a place that is as accessible physically as we are open to people marginalized politically or ethnically.”

Artists stayed involved with ABC No Rio from a couple of years up to a decade, said Steven Englander, director of ABC No Rio. That is partly because they enjoyed the autonomy they found at the center, Englander said. 

Nobody had to answer to a supervisor. No one took a position as leader. The center allowed artists to gain experience firsthand, without going through traditional channels, including attending college and having some sort of apprenticeship. Artwork displaying varying themes and mediums was accepted and collaborative work allowed people to learn from their peers. 

Asked which program Englander cherished the most, he said, “It’s like asking a parent to choose their favorite child.”

For Law, ABC No Rio was a place for self-discovery. It’s where she became a well-rounded person and got to test her skills. In 1998, when she was 20, Law wrote her first grant application, sending it to the Manhattan-based North Star Fund. Then, she curated a prison art show. 

ABC No Rio “showed me that I was capable, that I didn’t have to wait,” Law said.

The organization helped shape her thinking. It encouraged her to believe, “ ‘You can do this, but it’s also not the end of the world if you don’t.’ ”