Silo City

Year 10 of @JustBuffaloLit 's Silo City Reading Series is sure to be as special as ever.

On a warm and breezy day in September, Saturday Café young media makers met up in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic with Squeaky Wheel a...rtist-in-residence Johann Diedrick at Silo City. They explored the spaces, sounds, and histories resonating within this post-industrial site with audio recorders that they get to keep and continue their practice outside the program. This #GivingTuesday, your donation to Squeaky Wheel helps us continue providing access and opportunities like these. Donate to our Facebook campaign bit.ly/gtues21 or on our website at bit.ly/supportsqueaky Special thanks to Saturday Café funder Generator Z for making this possible, Silo City for hosting us, and to Johann Diedrick for leading this workshop.

Peter Gizzi reads "That I Saw the Light on Nonotuck Avenue" at the July 31, 2021 Silo City Reading Series.

For my father’s generation, Silo City was a symbol of failure and bad decisions, but young people are in awe of its magnificencetheir new eyes see its potential, says Rick Smith, a Buffalo local who purchased the city’s iconic defunct grain elevator compound in 2006. "

SENECA ART PROJECTED ONTO SILOS THIS WEEKEND FOR DRIVE-IN VIEWING Friday, Saturday and Sunday 5-7 PM (show is 14 minutes long) 85 Silo City Row Buffalo, NY... For several weeks, renowned Seneca artist and art instructor Carson Waterman has been facilitating an online series of workshops for Seneca artists, the Artists in Business Project, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America program. Mr. Waterman is sharing his knowledge as a successful artist to enable other Seneca artists to promote their work to a larger audience. He is also discussing how Seneca art and artists carry on the cultural legacy of the Seneca Nation and bring that legacy, through their art, to the public. In addition, participants are receiving information about aspects of running an art business. As a culmination of the workshop series, Silo City is joining with the Seneca Nation to stage a very special event. Photos of artworks by the workshop’s participants will be projected on the iconic grain elevators at Silo City, a unique historical and cultural venue on the Buffalo River. The projections can be viewed at Silo City on December 18, 19, and 20th. More details if you plan to come: the area is behind a locked gate and the projections are not visible from the road. Once you arrive to Silo City Row, please drive down to the second gate, enter and turn left. This is a drive-in event only, please stay in your car and turn off your headlights to view. The slideshow features 14 pictures of artwork and will run approximately 14 minutes long, continuing in a loop for 2 hours. There are no restrooms or facilities open. The gate will open at 4:50 and close at 7:10 p.m.

"Today, these cathedrals of industry have been turned into art spaces, with aerial installations in cavernous cement chambers that were once filled with ton upon ton of grain, and host events, such as poetry readings and concerts, throughout the summer. Caretaker Swannie Jim Watkins (nicknamed after the Swannie House, a dive bar he used to frequent, on the other side of the river) lives here in an old maintenance shed, with his dog, Gonzo. Swannie has a big white beard and ...the air of a prophet. Wander on site (you can also book tours or come for a specific event see silo.city for details) and, depending on how much beer he’s drunk, he’ll either shoo you off or hand you a Bud and proselytise about dying concrete. Soon enough, you’ll realise your love for Buffalo is as solid as its silos. Niagara Falls? Not when there’s a barbecue at Swannie’s on the cards."

Filmed onsite this past summer.

For the next 3 weekends we will host Torn Space (this weekend is sold out).

We’re trying out goats to make way for more biodiversity. You can come see them for yourself this Saturday and Sunday 4pm to 7pm. Follow the signs and look for the school bus they call home. Please wear a mask.

Explore Buffalo is resuming tours of Silo City this week! These will be ground tours and advance sales only and limited to 10 people per tour.

Join us for a free, virtual event with renowned writer and native plant gardening expert, Doug Tallamy, who Edward O. Wilson calls "one of the most original and persuasive present-day authors on conservation." Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-doug-tallamy-t

We'll never forget Maggie Smith's reading in Marine A with Bean Friend's beautiful piano in the background.

Silo City friend, The Rust Belt Bookstore proprietor, & poet Kristianne Meal is featured in Just Buffalo Literary Center's new project LIT CITY VOICES. What a stunning poem film. Check it out!

Come down for a drink at Duende and experience Marlene McCarty’s ‘Deliverance Garden’. Open for viewing Wednesdays through Fridays after 3pm and after noon on weekends.

Check out this amazing new project "Kemp and the Reyvolation" featuring frequent Silo City musical guests Curtis Lovell and Steve Baczkowski -- and many other super-talented #Buffalo players!

Flashback to Summer 2019 with Torn Space Theater in the Big Tree Meadow. <3

Our buds at Torn Space Theater are presenting some compelling theater with local youths. Check it out!