DECEMBER 2017 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 81
Broad strokes brighten village’s future
How Patchogue’s arts scene sculpted its comeback
Politicians, developers, microbrewers
and restaurateurs are often
credited with fueling Patchogue’s
resurgence as a Long Island destination,
but the village’s comeback
is also thanks in large part to its
burgeoning arts scene.
The artistic renaissance binds the
booming downtown, where the last
decade ushered in one of LI’s few
and newest arthouse cinemas, an
artists’ colony, new music venues
and last year’s $1 million renovation
of the island’s largest nonprofit
performing arts center — the
historic Patchogue Theatre for the
Performing Arts – credited with
sparking the revival.
“Patchogue Theatre is important to
the village because it brings people
to the village,” says Jack Krieger,
Patchogue’s deputy mayor. “When
people come to the theatre and they
see a show…after the show they
stop by one of our restaurants or
walk around the village and enjoy
themselves.”
The same could be said for the
village’s other creative lures. That’s
the idea behind the Patchogue Arts
Council — one of a handful of such
groups on Long Island dedicated to
a specific community — that serves
as a muse hosting local events
encouraging, supporting and promoting
artists of all media since the
council was founded in 2008.
Artspace Patchogue Lofts, an $18
million development with affordable
housing units dedicated for
artists and their families, started
leasing to tenants in 2010. That
year, the Plaza Cinema & Media
Arts Center — which screens foreign
and independent films, often
with panel discussions — opened
on the ground floor of the building.
“It’s more of a cultural center than
Revelers gather at a recent Alive After Five arts and music festival in
Patchogue (Photo by Benny Migs)
a commercial cineplex,” says Catherine
Oberg, PlazaMAC’s executive
director. “Patrons come from…
miles around.”
Besides traditional fine art galleries,
the village displays a permanent
exhibit of murals along Roe
Walkway, which links Artspace and
PlazaMAC on Terry Street with
Main Street a block north. Mayor
Paul Pontieri calls it “the pathway
connecting arts in Patchogue.”
The village also hosts the summertime
biweekly Alive After Five
music and arts street fair on Main
Street. All that’s in addition to conventional
live music venues such
as 89 North and Stereo Garden LI,
which replaced The Emporium last
month.
With such plentiful arts to patronize,
Patchogue awaits. —TB
ENTERTAINMENT
AT ROCKVILLE CENTRE