 Welcome to the Valley Advocate Podcast, featuring interviews that take us deeper into the people and happenings on the local scene. For more podcasts and a closer look at what's going on in the valley, visit us at valleyadvocate.com. Hi, I'm Chris Goudreau. I'm a staff writer with the Valley Advocate. Welcome to the podcast. This is Gina Bevers. It is me. Yeah. I'm here with Beverly Ketch and Hannah Brookman from Lookie Here, a brand new space in Greenfield, Massachusetts. It's always pretty remarkable that I remember all those words together. But welcome. So glad to have you here. So tell us, what is this Lookie Here? It's a creative reuse and workshop space. Is it a maker space? Or is it? I don't think it, a maker space is usually really tech involved, is that right? So no. I wouldn't say it's a maker space. We have, well, first of all, we're a reuse store. So it's like an art supply, it's a thrift store for art supplies and music equipment. And we're a nonprofit so we can accept donations from people's art collections or supply collections and resell them for cheap. And then the workshops, it's mostly a lot of the people involved just have skills and things that they want to share. There's, my boyfriend wants to do a philosophy book club. There's people who are doing Spanish workshop. There's Beverly's doing children's classes, making fairy houses. So and we have a form you can fill out if you want to have your own workshop at Lookie Here. So hopefully that'll be kind of, because we have, it's a nice space so you can have those kinds of things happening. But we also do have a tape duplicating machine so people can make their own cassette tape duplications. Oh cool. And we're working on fixing a Rizograph machine so that you can use that for print duplications. How exciting. So it'll be that kind of an art service also. And where is it? I don't know if it's a maker space. But yeah, I would think that. No, I was just curious. Yeah. It's a community space for sure. For sure. And it'll pull people in around the arts. And where is it located? 28 Chapman Street in Greenfield. In Greenfield. Exciting. Exciting. So how did it all start? Well, I was walking in Greenfield and I noticed the spot where this, you know, sweet little funny storefront. And it seems so appealing to me. And the thing is, Hannah and I and other friends had already gotten pretty deep into the project of starting our own TV show. And so I thought, honestly, maybe I shouldn't say anything. Because if I say I'd want to open up a space also, people are just going to think I'm crazy. Because, I mean, we're already in a deep in a project together. But instead of everybody thinking I was crazy, everybody was completely interested. And everybody kind of fell in love with the space when they saw it. There's something nice about it. There's something nice about how the light comes in. There's something nice about being in the space. And it's sort of, you know, I just, it's just off from downtown's Main Street. So it's very near downtown and it has that feeling. But it also has a little set aside feeling too. So it's a great place for things to happen. And everything that we've done so far, we've had, because we have done things already, even though the official grand opening is going to happen on Sunday. We've already had poetry readings and drawing groups and writing workshops and films. Yes. And a film series. So, and all those, every time I've made it to almost everything that's happened there, not all because of just life. But I've always just really enjoyed being there. And also we have beautiful art on the walls because it's also a gallery. And that's been amazing to just be surrounded by that. Well, those nice events go on. I can't wait to see the spot. You saw it, Chris, didn't you? No, I haven't seen it actually. Oh, you did the article? Yeah, I wrote the article. Just sort of the preview talking about looking here and what you guys are doing. One thing that I found really interesting is that you guys are working on a children's TV show. Can you tell us more about that? Fun. Well, yeah. Well, we're having so much fun doing this because, I mean, you would think that there would be dozens of children's shows to look at where there are live-action fairies and mermaids and things like that. But the truth is there really isn't. You know, people haven't gone as far as they can, especially with the technology being so easy and available that we, as just amateurs, can learn by ourselves. And you're very amateur. Yes, we have to learn everything. Which is a beautiful part of the aesthetic. Right. I got to see this. Yeah, and kids can learn it themselves too. The kids have been helping us make it so far. Yeah, they're just as good as we are. And the kids in my neighborhood inspired it to start. And when I told Hannah, she took to the idea like a fish to water and we are since then partnering on it. And then our other friends that have joined in too, we've all really had a blast with everything we've done so far. And we were able to get a couple of grants so that we can pay for the little expenses involved. There's a lot that's free, which is amazing. And we've gotten help from the local production company in Ternish Falls called Fast Lights, which came in incredibly handy. And also, GCTV and MCTV and NCTV, they've all helped, which means that part is free. But there's still expenses just to make the props and the costumes. And so it's really been great to get a little grant and to get started. We're having so much fun. And now it's Umbrella under the non-profit of Lucky Here, which is our media wing. Gotcha. So it's a community-based children's television program that's kind of sponsored by Lucky Here. Oh, my gosh. We've finally got all of our ducks in a row. And so we're having a big party on Sunday. It's like not a small thing to apply and receive your 501C3. That's a lot of work. And insurance, business license, and the grants. Luckily you had the space because that's always another spot. So you had your space first and then you could like... Yes, it did fall into place pretty well. It wasn't exactly easy-peasy, but at the same time, things did go pretty well. It happened fast. I mean, all of this started not too long ago. In about November. Oh, my gosh. That is fast. How long did it take you to get your 501C3? You know what? We were really lucky we got it like that. I was going to say. I mean, since November, that's amazing that's an arduous process for a lot of people. But we kind of dove right in and started doing things. That's the thing we were just able to save. We were doing this because we were. That was a nice thing to have a venture. Our mission just kind of fell into place based on what we already wanted to do. Gotcha. Because we weren't organized enough in the beginning to actually have a steady mission and a real plan and a business plan and an LLC. It all just kind of happened as we needed it to happen and we started kind of hitting ground walls. We took us forever to open a bank account because we just didn't have what we needed to open a bank account. I know everything kept going wrong with that. But we're learning so much. But you have to because now you have grant money to take care of. Now we have to learn how to do money. You learn faster by doing it in the other way. I think you're right. It is interesting though because we actually met. Hannah and I met. Well, the first time I said, I saw Hannah, we were looking at a building that the town would have been able to give for free to someone who could afford to fix it up. Because what was on our mind then in our community of amazing creative people, we were thinking of having an art school, an unaccredited kind of natural folk art school. But then it turned out that that building, at that time we couldn't afford to do the fixing up it needed even if we got it for free. Maybe down the line we will. Which is a little requirement to not have it. It was such a wonderful building. And there is sort of a school of thought an amazing group of artists in this area. And we know a lot of them. And so it's been incredible to try to make one more wonderful focal point for our artistic group. But so many people have already been coming in since we've started to do renovations on the space. We've been meeting a lot of people just to stop by and get really excited about the idea. Greenfield folks that are just, you know, really interested in getting involved. This is a Greenfield folk now. His wife just bought a house up there. So he's an official Greenfielder. So what is your specific background? Were you a teacher? No, I worked in a library for one year. That is a little job I recently had. But I have a house cleaning business. But I've also been part of the music scene around here because I was in a band. Oh gosh, blow these many years. And it's such a great, and I'm still in a band now. So it's been amazing to be part of the music community. But there's also an amazing visual art community around that. Specifically, there's a lot of musical artists who also create visual art. And so that was part of what I wanted to bring in having this gallery open, looked here as a gallery. But then we ran into the problem that the fire department said that in the retail space that we had rented that there couldn't be more than 20 people in there at a time. And that's why for our grand opening, it's from the morning till the night. Because then it won't be a time where if everybody packed in, you know, it would be like, oh, you have to go. Come back in an hour. So that was one of the glitches we ran into that made us have to completely change gear and rethink what we were doing. But it was luckily Sarah and Hannah who were thinking on their feet and thought of a lot of great ideas that could still make it work even though it wasn't going to be what we originally pictured. That's pretty remarkable. I don't know if that answers the question. I think it's really awesome that you're opening in Greenfield specifically because there's a large artist community in Greenfield, Turner's, also in Brattleboro, Southern Vermont as well. Yeah, and it's all right. It's so close. A lot of people have come up from down here too. Yeah. What about you, Hannah? I've been an artist forever and I went to an art school when I was younger and then I went to college in Vermont and ended up back here a couple years ago and befriended Beverly through my boyfriend, Omid, who played music with her. And I guess while I was in college I was doing a lot of research. I went to school in Bennington in Vermont and I did a lot of research in town about making an artist community because that town was really, it seemed really difficult to integrate and nobody from the college would ever stay. And I realized it was because there was no art and there was nothing that was even open after 7 o'clock. And I'm from Denver, Colorado. And so I grew up with a couple different kind of alternative art spaces that were really important for me as a teenager. They were kind of like, you know, a little bit risky but mostly safe places for me to just kind of meet other artists meet other artists my age or other people older than me, people coming through town and I was able to be a part of a community. And I was meeting people in town in Bennington that were interested in something like that. I was working in high schools and would kind of do interviews with all of the arts facilitators in town and asked if, you know, would this kind of art space be a good idea for Bennington, would this be something that you think would be important for the community? And everyone said yes. But then I did graduate and move, just like everybody else. And so that hasn't happened here but I've been able to kind of pick up with that again through Lookie here because I do still think that there is a need for a place for people to just kind of hang out. And like we want it to be a free-to-be space where we've got couches and record players and tea and like cheap free art supplies and cheap free workshops so anybody can just come and kind of meet an art community or be a part of an art community. Because I think you're right. I mean, that's the thing about art. I mean, with musicians it's different because, well, most musicians, because you'll tend to collaborate and play together. There are, of course, musicians who don't. Not like Chris. But Chris is very social. But artists, we tend to be in a society and we tend to be in a silo in a way. You know, you're creating and you're creating on your own and to be able to, a lot of times you're not collaborating. So for people to be able to come to a communal space and kind of get that energy from other artists, that's a really big deal because musicians do get that. You get to feed from each other and artists don't always have that opportunity. That's kind of one thing that I think is nice that Lookie here isn't necessarily going to be a music venue as much as we thought because there are so many music venues and there aren't really as many spaces for artists to have that kind of socializing. And I've always felt that as an artist who has kind of always been around a music scene, I've always wished that there was an art scene that I could participate in. But the art scene is usually kind of these white cube fancy galleries that I don't feel a part of or I'm not interested in. So I think this is going to be a nice alternative. I wish you could see like the free draw group that happens several times. I mean, when I went, I mean, it really, it's inspiring. And if people are there who draw, I wish people, I hope people come who drawing isn't really what they consider their thing. But when you see people in action and it's so appropriately named free draw because everybody really is free about it. And it's just a matter of really seeing and drawing and it is truly an open feeling. There's nothing fussy or off-putting about it. And the more the merrier, there've been great ones where just a few of us showed up and great ones where there were maybe a dozen people. And so hopefully anyone who's interested should make a point of coming. That will be weekly, right? It'll be weekly on Wednesday evenings at seven. And then I was going to do the last Wednesday of every month. I was going to try to hire a model because there's a lot of people who have interest in drawing new models, new drawings. So that one would be a fee to pay the model. But that would happen at the end of every month. Maybe you'd practice during the week and then you'd bring all of your good materials and do a big, nice one. That's cool. So do people pay to take workshops? Some will be. Some will have fees and some won't. Also depending on the materials. And we hope to... I mean, building the workshop calendar is something that we will probably work harder on next month. I wanted to have a really great one to open with, but it's just kind of been a... We just want to get in the space. We just took down the ceiling. We repainted all the walls. We totally rearranged and made it look so nice. So nice. Without the drop ceiling, instead, a nice tin ceiling was under there. So it really, it looks so good. But we'll try to work on bringing in guest artists for workshops, too. So I really, one of my big dreams, I just want all of my friends to get paid to do what they like to do. And I know so many talented people who really deserve to get paid to teach some classes. And I think that people would be interested in doing that. And it doesn't have to be a ridiculous fee. It could be if, you know, 15 people are interested in one person teaching something, I think that it could be reasonable for both the instructor and the student to participate. So that's what I hope will happen. But if people are interested in workshops, they should get ahold of us on our website. We'll make sure. What's your website? Lookieheregreenfield.com. It's so cute. Lookie here. We reused the name. Yeah, we reused the name. Because it was on the sign already. And then they made this great sign with the little eyes and the o's. So that was also part of the reason why we wanted that shop is because it was already called Lookie here. And the sign is adorable. And I'll just give a shout out to our lovely landlady, Shelby. She has been a dream the whole time. Completely 100% supporting all our craziness. And she owns the Bar Next Door Smitties. And it's really been so great to have her help and her support. That's really cool. Yeah, it's great having the Sweet Lady Landlord. And we have the four of us women on this board of this group. And we also are running the TV show. So it just feels... I know in Smitties, it's all female bartenders. Oh my gosh. Like the next door is the Lady Land over there. There's a salon next door. Yeah, that's awesome. That's great though. Yeah, it's awesome. It's pretty great. It is terrific. And then there's just like lots of funny old men who always pop in. They're like, it's a lady land. It's been so nice. It's been so kind. It has been really fun. Even though we don't have it open yet, like you guys want to talk to us and other people already want to see what's going on before we've even, you know, set it in stone. It's exciting because it's always exciting to have a community resource. I mean, you think... Because like you said, there's so many artists in the valley and different pockets, Greenfield. I don't live in Greenfield, so I'm not super familiar. But I know that there are tons of artists in Greenfield or Asheville or all these other places and when you can bring those people together in some kind of setting like that, it generates a lot of excitement. Because I think that people are always looking for a reason to get together. Yes, it has. People have been so excited. And it's been interesting to see that. I mean, I think people are going to be excited also about having the resource of a place to donate. I mean, you know, it's a lot of art supplies because the thing is when you sort of have these things sitting around and they're kind of like, ooh, you're not used to being here. I don't want to throw that away. So, you know, then there's a really good reason to... And people could always come back and use it there. So if they tried to take that, you know. That's so true. Don't nobody use that with me. It's not like a phone shop, maybe. Yeah, that's great. And it's tax-deductible because you're a nonprofit. That's cool. Can't beat that. Yeah, but we've gotten some great donations from great folks already. So we'll have some good stuff on the shelves for the grand opening, but I really think it's going to blow up soon. Yay! Just have a feeling. Just have a feeling. That's how it is when you take donations. I think that's how... You've got to be prepared for that. That'll be a time where like, oh, the shelves are full. Oh, my God. Well, we only can hope for that for sure. Thank you guys so much. Yeah, thank you. You're having us on the show. Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited for you. Nice to meet you guys. You guys have a great show. A lot of good guests. Yeah. Yeah. That was wonderful. Yeah. I was really inspired by those other guests. Yes. Yeah, they're cool. They were cool. And so were you.