In Gowanus, Issue Project Room Founder Is Mourned

Issue Project Room, an art collective based in Gowanus, lost Suzanne Fiol, the organization’s founding artistic director, to cancer on Monday. Ms. Fiol, 49, dedicated herself to creating an experimental, avant-garde space for performing and visual arts in Brooklyn. The group currently occupies a space at the Old American Can Factory at 232 3rd Street.

Issue Project Room was founded in 2003, and according to their mission statement, "embraces the integrity of creative exploration and the spirit of unfettered artistic expression by offering a vital meeting place for disparate forms of creativity."

Last year the non-profit organization won a bid to take over a rent-free 20-year lease at 110 Livingston Street – the former Board of Education building – which is undergoing renovations.  Ms. Fiol called the expanded project “A Carnegie Hall for the avant-garde.”

The space could be open as early as fall 2011. Two Trees Management bought the building six years ago to modernize it into condominiums. In June, Borough President Marty Markowitz allocated $1.1 million towards the $2.5 million in necessary renovations to the 5,000 square foot theater.  He marked Ms. Fiol’s passing with a statement. 

“It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Suzanne Fiol, the heart and soul and extraordinary visionary behind Issue Project Room, a symbol of the forward-thinking culture that makes Brooklyn the Creative Capital of New York City, and contributes so much to our city’s intellectual life. I was thrilled to help in a small way to move Suzanne’s vision of an innovative arts space at 110 Livingston Street—what she imagined as a ‘Carnegie Hall for the avant-garde’—closer to reality, and I hope that comforted her during the later stages of her illness. I am confident the dedicated staff at Issue Project Room and all Brooklynites will see to it that her great work lives on. I join all New Yorkers in mourning this tremendous loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with Suzanne’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.”

Messages of condolence can be left at the Issue Project Room website, where information about an upcoming memorial can be found.

(Photo by Joe Holmes)