Mixing it up at the magnet for the arts downtown

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

The dance floor is packed at Studio 1 for "Club 1," a retro-themed club party, on a recent Saturday night. The downtown venue has become known for its intriguingly diverse mix of performance and visual art scheduled there. Patrons might find a live jazz performance one night and a poetry slam the next. Photos by Rebecca Breyer and Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Studio 1's variety of events ranges from Fay Ann Chun, middle, in Expression By Choice, a program of modern dance, visual art and music; to DJ Mark Chittom working the tables on a Saturday night.

Studio 1 Gallery and performance theater 1 N. King St. (N. King and Nu'uanu Avenue) 550-8700 (theater), 550-8701 (gallery) Visual gallery open noon-5 p.m. daily Theater hours vary depending on event August schedule, so far: Thursdays: "Open Mic Nite," 10 p.m.-2 a.m. (except first Thursdays of the month). "First Thursdays," slam poetry competition, 8 p.m. show, 11 p.m.-2 a.m. after-party (first Thursday of month only). Fridays: "Trip The Lights," 9 p.m.-2 a.m. (monthly; next event is Aug. 29). Saturdays: "Club 1," 9 p.m.- 2 a.m. One time only: Aug. 22: "Mike's Metal Mad House," heavy-metal rock 'n' roll costume party, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Aug. 31: "Girl Fest: Speakeasy Speakout," mixed-media artist benefit for Girl Fest and Safe Zone Foundation, 8 p.m.-2 a.m.

Members of the small part-time staff wanted Frick to look over some paperwork in the back-room office.

Behind the bar, a repairman asked if Frick wanted a permanent fix for the beer tap's broken compressor.

And at a table in the corner of the lounge (which months earlier housed Frick's bedroom), the organizers of a mixed-media benefit, Girl Fest's "Speakeasy Speakout," waited patiently for him to look over contracts they'd signed for an Aug. 31 event.

A reporter waited for a 3 p.m. interview, checking his watch in the performance room.

It was 3:05 p.m.

Frick came out to sit down in the large, oddly empty performance space. Dressed comfortably in a sleeveless black T-shirt and loose trousers, and enjoying the slow burn of a second cigarette, he was full of low-key pride about the Girl Fest event.

Since March, Studio 1 has hosted an intriguing, diverse mix of performance and visual art, making a name for itself in the process.

Butoh? Studio 1 has been there.

Live jazz? Done that.

Poetry slams? The first Thursday of every month.

Dressy, retro-themed club parties with live art? Every Saturday at 9 p.m.

Talking about Girl Fest, Frick said, "I'm amazed with what they turn out," comparing it to other hip events that draw the "in-crowds." He praised the organizers for their community responsibility, in using proceeds toward ending violence against women. "They combine a cool, artistic and jazzy event with social awareness."

"Cool," "artistic," "jazzy" and "socially aware" apply well to Frick's own model of events tailor-made for Studio 1.

Development in motion

Since opening Studio 1 in September, the 54-year-old Frick has seen his longtime dream of creating a catalyst for the development of a culture-and-arts district begin to turn into a reality. Housed in a downtown retail space that was home to a Liberty House Penthouse discount store and then Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign headquarters, the art gallery/performance space is proving a hit with promoters seeking a home for their left-of-mainstream events, and Frick hs been a gatekeeper with an ear sympathetic to artists' needs.

"Before Studio 1, Honolulu was missing a voice for artists ... this buzz of a different type of venue," said performance artist Franklin Sung. "Jack has given artists the freedom to do whatever they want, basically."

Sung's Expression By Choice, a program of modern dance, visual art and music by local artists, debuted at Studio 1 in June and will return in September.

"Jack told me, 'If you come in and paint this wall red or yellow, just make sure you guys come back and paint it white. If you guys put a hole here, make sure you guys spackle it,' " said Sung, of the creative freedom Frick allowed him. "But you can do it! And artists are so attracted to that. I think that freedom is the main reason artists are flocking to Studio 1."

All of this would hardly matter, of course, if Studio 1 hadn't managed to also generate some serious buzz for its diverse range of events.

"I more or less live there," said Kealoha, a Honolulu poet whose monthly poetry slam First Thursdays generally draws more than 500 attendees to Studio 1. "It's my venue of choice these days because the events they throw are conscious.

"(Studio 1) has given artists a space where they can display and create their best stuff in an environment that's cutting-edge. They're always looking for people who are pushing the boundaries."

Cash and a creative itch

A frequent O'ahu visitor and part-time resident for three decades — he briefly worked for the state Department of Budget and Finance, and even more briefly attended graduate school at the University of Hawai'i — Frick arrived for good in December 2001 with some retirement cash and an itch to do something creative with it.

"The vision I had in my mind was multiple rooms and combining visual art with performance art," Frick said of his initial plan for a downtown Honolulu artists' center.

Frick had been scouting buildings in depressed areas of Los Angeles and Long Beach to do the same while living in California, but gave up shortly before moving to O'ahu. After finding the vacant three-story building he now calls 1 King Artist Center in early 2002, Frick took out a loan to finance the first of three consecutive five-year leases, and eventually sold his longtime La'ie home.

"Sept. 1 was the date that I actually took possession of the building and also moved my household here," said Frick, casting a glance toward Studio 1's recently opened lounge. "I lived in that bar while I was building my apartment upstairs. Every man's dream," he jokes, "except there was no alcohol in it."

Frick's first task was to fix up Studio 1's first impression: its street-level visual arts gallery. He had the floor ripped up to reveal the space's original, century-old hardwood floors, added track lighting and prepared walls for display. On Oct. 12, just six weeks after Frick moved in, Studio 1 opened for a debut exhibit of mixed-media works by 25 local artists.

Work began on the gallery's adjacent performance space the next month, with contractors tearing down the walls of the six offices that filled it. Furnishings and equipment — as with Studio 1's eventual lounge and bar space — were purchased from businesses that were moving or closing. The space, which has become the focus of much of Studio 1's recent buzz, hosted its first event in March.

"Yeah, it's my own cash," said Frick, somewhat reluctantly, when asked what has financed Studio 1 so far. "I had a choice of sitting on a beach and writing and composing, or serving the community and having fun with everybody. So I bought myself a job with my retirement."

High demands

Frick estimated that he's spent about $500,000 on setting up and operating Studio 1 in its first 10 months. And with that kind of investment, it's no surprise that Frick, in spite of all the creative freedom he allows, has a few explicit demands for the promoters and artists who use the space. Most important of these is that every event contain as many elements of artistic expression as possible.

While some of Studio 1's most popular performance-area events have been DJ-based, club-oriented parties such as Saturday night's "Club 1," and Kavet the Catalyst and Lightsleeper's underground hip-hop themed "Trip The Lights" monthly, Frick insisted that none has failed to mix in artistic accouterments.

"I do send some of these young groups that have their DJ parties away, saying what I don't do here, and telling them what my vision is," Frick said.

"What happens, though, is they come back with some very interesting additions of artistic expression. And it's very fulfilling to see that even though they're surprised at first, that they come back very excited.

"They add people from their 'ohana. They bring the visual artists in, and we put their works up for the night."

One such promoter was Kavet, a DJ/producer who moved his "Trip The Lights" from Coffee Factory to Studio 1 in June.

"Trip" was a monthly DJ performance-based event with changing conceptual themes, emceeing and spoken word, but Frick asked Kavet to add more verse performers and visual art. Kavet responded by inviting more of his poet friends and having visual artists work simultaneously on a large canvas backdrop on stage.

"It can be kind of tough," Kavet said. "(Jack) turns down a lot of people because his driving force behind (Studio 1) is arts and performance. He really wants that to be the center of attention. I was already doing some of that, so for me it was perfect."

Still, Kavet said, "We're constantly feeling the relationship out. Me, learning about the way Studio 1 wants to go. Them, learning about where (we) want to go."

About what he asks of event organizers, Frick said: "I don't try to tell them what to do. A lot of it (is) telling them what not to do. And that implies what they have to do."

Working together

Frick has another goal: developing a long-desired, thriving arts community downtown, a la Soho before the invasion of Baby Gaps and Crate & Barrel.

"I'm in the midst of putting together a group of people — artists and political activists — to develop a residential presence of people loft-living downtown, which is the key to revitalizing the area," he said.

In addition to working with the downtown Honolulu community, merchant and gallery associations on that goal, Frick hopes to do his part with the rest of 1 King Artist Center.

To help bring artists downtown, the remaining second-floor space adjoining Frick's apartment will be reconfigured into three residential lofts for artists. The building's 3,000-square-foot basement will soon open as a gallery/artist co-op, renting display space to artists on a no-commission basis.

Frick believes the reputation and identity Studio 1 has gained from its vibrant mix of artists and events so far will support his long-term plans.

"It's already working," Frick said. "Where most of these artists in different genres and different areas of art are typically isolated, this (will) allow everyone to feed each other."

As for Studio 1's cash flow, Frick said the venue was on solid financial ground, thanks in large part to liquor sales at evening events and a restructuring of his standard contract with promoters that reduces his financial risk for each event.

"Most people doing a business like this ... just need to make their money (and) that's all they're interested in," Frick said. "I'm not interested in anything but keeping it going. That's why I built my home here."