Peabody's CultureHouse A Snapshot Of Creative Possibilities

PEABODY, MA — Three weeks into its month-long run as an art, literary, music and creative showcase downtown, as well as a blank canvas for a myriad of other activities, Peabody's CultureHouse is living up to the vision organizers had for the pop-up location three years in the making.

As it enters its final days at its Main Street location, the hope is that the venture has opened the eyes of residents, businesses and municipal leaders to all the possibilities for niche experiments and events that could have a longer-term benefit to city residents.

Peabody CultureHouse Manager Julie O'Neill told Patch the success stories of the pop-up have ranged from book readings that drew a dozen listeners, to the open mic nights that have given musicians their first chance to play in front of an audience in more than a year amid the coronavirus crisis, to youth art exhibits that let students show off their creations beyond the school walls.

"It brought in a lot of Peabody High students who were excited about it," O'Neill said. "They were famous for the day, so it was exciting to see them get involved in this.

"A couple of them told me they were a little bit shy and wouldn't want to put their work up in most spaces. But that this is small and intimate enough that they feel comfortable here."

The plan for the pop-up creative space was always for it to be temporary. CultureHouse's model is to bring the concept to a downtown area of a city, collect data for one month on who is using the space, how they are using it and what the economic impact is for area businesses, and then present that data as a way to see what, if any, aspects of it could be adopted in a more long-lasting way.

"It's not about this particular space as much as it is thinking about what will benefit the community and what opportunities are there," Eric Sargent, CultureHouse's program manager, told Patch. "It's definitely bittersweet — something like this when you start to have regulars coming in and have that amazing community feel, for that to close.

"But, ultimately, it's really a benefit because then we're able to pause for a bit and reflect a bit."

For instance, Sargent and O'Neill said the music has proved to be most popular, so maybe this creates the evidence for a local brewery or coffee shop that an open mic night might be a draw for artists not necessarily in the position to play one of the area's larger venues.

CultureHouse operates in a donated space on Main Street and through member support. Events are free and meant to attract a diverse group of performers or uses.

Among those upcoming in the final two weeks is a pop-up soap boutique on Saturday, Pride information and fun day on Sunday, a talk on how to monetize podcasts on Wednesday and a teen skill-sharing discussion on Thursday.

A full list of events can be found here.

The site is open Wednesdays through Sundays where informal activities are also welcomed.

"We had one woman come in last week to work since she works from home, she wanted to get out of the house for a few hours and her coffee shop is still not letting people stay indoors," O'Neill said. "She loved it. She said she wishes something like this could come to Lynn where she lives.

"Seeing how people are getting creative in this space has been very rewarding to me. People have been really excited about it. It's been really good feedback from the Peabody community and those from the surrounding towns who have come here."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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