Winter Heats Up at City Reliquary Fire Sale!

The City Reliquary, located at 370 Metropolitan Avenue, home to New York’s magical trinkets of eras passed and a community space that has hosted a variety of exhibitions and events, is in danger of closing due to a lack of funding.

“We have been surviving at our storefront museum for the past four years by the grassroots efforts of our volunteers, paying our rent from month to month, but we’ve exhausted ourselves in that effort,” City Reliquary founder Dave Herman said. “We’ve also been waiting perpetually for these funds to come through the city, which takes a great deal of effort to work through the bureaucracy to receive them. We’ve had to set a goal to overcome a pay hurdle that will put us on a new track that would be more self-sustaining, rather than treading water every month.”

Through fundraising and events, The Reliquary hopes to raise $60,000 this year, to cover costs including their $2,500/month rent and other expenses. Their immediate goal is to raise $20,000 by the end of March, in order to hire a part-time administrative assistant to help with operations at the museum, which as of now is completely volunteer-run.

Money for the City Reliquary has been earmarked by the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development, in the form of two grants from 2008 and 2009 totaling $33,000; however, issues with processing the paperwork for the funds have prevented the Reliquary from accessing any of the money thus far, and expediting the process requires time and focus that the thinly spread staff is unable to devote.

“We’re closer and closer every day, but [the grant money] is not something you can attain without really putting a great deal of effort into it, and we just haven’t had the volunteer resources to keep up with the task,” Herman explained.

The City Reliquary started in 2002 as just a small window of small New York Artifacts at a ground-floor apartment in Williamsburg. It found a home on Metropolitan Avenue in 2006, and has since been a home for artifacts and exhibitions of New York’s curiosities, from pencils and seltzer bottles, to Miss Subways Past and Present portraits and the current Unicorn Collection on display in the Community Collections window. The museum also offers a variety of programming and events, such as the Miss G Train Pageant, Bicycle Fetish Day, and numerous community events, concerts, and block parties. The City Reliquary also partners with PS 132 to create student exhibitions.

“The Reliquary began as a little window display,” Herman explained. “There was a point in the public realm of the neighborhood, which was rapidly changing, where we could facilitate a reaction between the old timers and the newcomers, bringing together diverse backgrounds with an appreciation for the city they live in. We’ve been able to showcase the pride that New Yorkers have and exhibit the history of the city through our programs and exhibitions and events.”
So far the community response to the Reliquary’s troubles have been encouraging.

“It’s been tremendous. So far a lot of the community businesses—some of which have been around since our earliest days eight years ago, and some which have just come to the neighborhood and realize that we’re part of the activity that drew them here—want to help support the museum, which contributes to the environment of the community,” Herman said.

One neighbor, the Knitting Factory, has offered to host two fundraising events for the City Reliquary, including a St. Patrick’s Day Benefit Concert March 17, and coming up next week, a Fire Sale on February 18, in which a dozen firefighters from Williamsburg’s 35 Battalion (of which Herman is a part of), will be auctioned off for dates at The Lodge Restaurant. The benefit is in conjunction with the current exhibit at the museum, Company Journals of the Southside Firehouse, which is curated by Firefighter Patty D’Emic of Hook and Ladder 104.

Herman himself, whose fulltime job is a firefighter, will also be up for auction.

“Much to the chagrin of my wife,” Herman joked. “But it’s for a good cause so she’s going to leave me out for the night.”

Visit cityreqliquary.org for more information on how you can help volunteer your time and money to the museum. And mark your calendars for the Fire Sale, which will be at 6pm on February 18 at the Knitting Factory at 361 Metropolitan Avenue. Tickets are $20.