EP 1. Culture Clash: Talking with Justin Kantor of (Le) Poisson Rouge

If you’ve ever been on the hunt for live events in NYC, your eyes have most certainly skimmed the words, “(Le) Poisson Rouge.” A music scene mainstay since 2008, LPR, as it’s affectionately known, hosts acts from punk to classical, burlesque to Broadway.

It’s no accident their event calendar reads like a cultural roll of the dice. As founder Justin Kantor puts it, “We wanted to reframe the question of what is considered culture,” intentionally hosting a wide array of performances from high art to low, and everything in between.

The fantastical club history behind the space at LPR. LPR’s unique take on mixing high and low art in order to redefine and integrate arts and culture from different backgrounds. The monumental ways in which independent venues contribute to the economic and cultural wellbeing of cities and neighborhoods.

Twelve years and one pandemic later, Justin is doing his best to keep LPR and similar ventures going strong, noting that independent venues contribute to the economic and cultural mosaic of a city in a way that few other businesses can.

Thanks for listening!

Get the latest updates here!

Follow festivalPass on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/festival_pass/.

Quotes from Episode: “In our case what makes things really weird is that we come from classical music.”

“It’s not about a party, it’s about what’s going on onstage.”

“We wanted to reframe the question of what is considered culture.”

Big Ideas:

Links:
(Le) Poisson Rouge LPR on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lprnyc/

(Le) Poisson Rouge Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lprnyc/save-lpr

National Independent Venue Association - https://www.nivassoc.org/

Save Our Stages - https://www.nivassoc.org/take-action

Venue Pilot - https://www.venuepilot.co/