Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) was founded by grassroots arts and community organizations on East 4th Street to rally against their own displacement from the neighborhood. Through collective advocacy and with community support, groups successfully purchased six buildings and two vacant lots from the city, for $1 each, all deed-restricted to nonprofit cultural use.
Today the East 4th Street Cultural District houses 14 arts groups, 10 cultural facilities, and 22 performance and rehearsal venues, and has more active cultural space per square foot than any other block in New York City. FAB’s focus area expanded in 2017 to embrace the full Lower East Side, from 14th Street to Canal, from the Bowery to the East River.
Timeline on E 4th Street made by FAB in collaboration with ‘Neighborhoods Now’ as part of FAB 20/20: A Vision Plan