Howl! Arts Howl! Archive!

Some things are worth savoring. Worth saving. Howl!, part exhibition and part archive, is a portal to a time when drag, poetry, punk, and performance art lit up the East Village. And it’s proof that spirit is still very much alive.

The space exists to preserve the neighborhood’s counterculture and radical creativity. It’s named after Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s seminal poem “Howl.” Every summer, the organization celebrates his birthday with an outdoor festival in Tompkins Square Park.

We come here to see art by people who played CBGBs, performed at the Pyramid Club, or photographed the people there — along with the artists, poets, and performers who carry their spirit forward. The artists who lived big and breathless, on next to nothing, making art because they couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Howl!, which was founded by a group of artists and Lou Reed’s former manager Jane Friedman, started as a festival in 2002. The first exhibition space opened on 1st Street in 2015, followed by a pristine archive and museum-quality galleries at 250 Bowery a few years later. On their website, you’ll find a TV Stream with videos originally shot with Super 8 in the 1980s. The organization also provides emergency financial assistance to locals artists. And every exhibition and event is free — proof of the inclusive community Howl! continues to build.