The Church, the former Asbury Delaware Church at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Tupper, will open it’s doors to the public Saturday night to celebrate Halwalls‘ move into the restored and updated building with an opening for Suzy Lake at 7:30 p.m.
This is a huge deal and I’m thrilled to see The News cover it accordingly, specifically with two pieces by Hunnington, one by Sommer, and great shots by Sharon Cantillon. Ani DiFranco intends this to be a $10MM artistic catalyst for downtown. And with Hallwalls (an innovative interdisciplinary gallery founded by artists Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman and others) opening Saturday, DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records headquarters relocating in March to The Church’s second floor, and the 1,200-capacity performance hall coming tentatively scheduled to open in the late spring–it’s hard to imagine that it won’t be.
DiFranco said she will hold concerts occasionally in The Church, and, when the moment strikes her, sit in with friends. She’ll also use the hall for pre-tour rehearsals.
For now, she enjoys fantasizing about the performance space’s possibilities. “I want to book a poetry series, and bring all my favorite poets. And my musician friends, there’s no end to the amount of live music I want on my doorstep,” she joked. “I want to stay home and have people play for me.
“I know that we’re going to have quite the opening week, I’ll tell ya what.”