Artists, Patrons Rally To Keep The Soundry Alive

“Exit Reality” are the words emblazoned on the garage door of a Vienna café, music space and “arts incubator” that has served as a haven for the area’s creative community for nearly three years.  

But the collective’s owners, husband and wife team Thor Berglie and Jennifer Crawford-Berglie, could no longer ignore the harsh reality of a bad economy Wednesday when they showed up for work and discovered the building’s owner had changed the locks.

The Soundry's owners apparently haven't been able to keep up with their rent payments, though for how long and to what extent isn’t clear to the friends, customers and supporters stunned by the news as it passed through town late this week.

The local institution has become a home-away-from home for local artists and ordinary residents who appreciate experimental art, music and comedy, friends said this week.

“Everything ended abruptly, so there wasn’t even a chance for a sendoff,” said Sean Meyers, 28, a Sterling resident who has worked at the Soundry since it opened in January 2009. “We got an email Wednesday morning from Jen saying that they had changed the locks on us and that was it.”

On Friday night, Soundry loyalists will gather for an all-night bacchanal, called Occupy Soundry, to try to save the space. The event isn’t sanctioned by The Soundry, and it appears it will take place informally outside the building because of the lockout.

On Facebook, more than 110 fans of the Soundry collected in a group called “Keep The Soundry Open,” many of them vowing to gather outside the building on Friday night despite the lockout. No one is exactly sure what will transpire, but Meyers believes that devotees plan to grill out, play some music, and discuss strategies for how to save the business.

A local band that got its start at the Soundry’s signature open-mic nights, Andrew’s Orchestra, will also play a benefit show on Friday night at Axum’s Level X Lounge in the District.  Pamela Nash, a lawyer at the Department of Veterans Affairs who owns 4 & 9 Productions,  an independent film and theater company in Alexandria, started a website to accept donations for The Soundry on Thursday night and within a few hours had already collected about $300.

A representative of the Vienna Development Group, which owns the building, declined to comment on the lockout. Crawford and Berglie weren’t immediately available for interviews.

“God bless these artists, but I don’t think a long term strategy of fundraisers and bake sales is going to keep The Soundry alive,” said Nash, whose company has performed at The Soundry on several occasions. “But they can demonstrate to the business community that this is a really viable, worthwhile art space and if they put their time into it, it has everything it needs to flourish.”

The Soundry opened in a former auto-body shop in Vienna’s industrial corridor in 2009 and quickly gathered a core following of artists looking for a place to work and display their art and also for people simply looking for a cool place to have a cup of coffee or catch a show.

But patrons and employees said The Soundry’s popularity didn’t necessarily translate into bursting cash registers.

“People use the space but I just don’t know if people spend money in the space,” Nash said. “I know that artists want to make art there, and musicians want to rehearse and perform there and stand up comedians want to perform there but I don’t know that audience members want to come and pay tickets to see shows there, especially in a bad economy.”

The Soundry has eight part-time employees who are now wondering if there is any way that the business can be saved.

“For me it’s not about losing my job,” said Meyers, who plays in the band , and said he also had a “soul-crushing” office job to fall back on. “Working at the Soundry wasn’t about just being employed; it was about the space and the community we built.”

Anne Pastorkovich, a Soundry aficionado, wrote the place was “a kind of magical Wonderland in the midst of sleepy, suburban and often way-too-boring and way-too-predictable Vienna,” where the “really talented mixed with the really amateurish without a hint of snobbery and where the wisdom got passed around and everyone dared to try something new.”

Pastorkovich described The Soundry as a place where one could listen to great music and also see fire-eaters, burlesque, and tribal fusion belly dancing. A place to “listen to polka and talk philosophy,” and even buy pumpkin pie scented soap.

A sign posted on The Soundry’s garage door Thursday by a member artist named Brian seemed to neatly summarize the way many in the community feel about what many call Vienna’s coolest art space. The message referred to The Soundry as an “oasis of creativity” in “the middle of Vienna’s industrial district,” that made “Vienna a richer and unique place.”

But Soundry loyalists aren’t ready to write their beloved space’s obituary just yet.

Meyers said Jennifer and Thor have been deluged with expressions of support and solidarity from the community, the largest of which will come when more than 60 people are expected camp out and “occupy” the site starting at 7 p.m. tonight.

“I think there’ll be a big turnout tonight,” Nash said. “And I think the last minute miracle will come if the energy and love of the artists can really pierce the heart of the business community.”