Scranton has lost another all-ages art venue, this time New Visions Studio and Gallery, which will close this month. Tonight is the venue’s final First Friday art exhibit, and the gallery is having a few more events until mid-month. New Visions joins a long list of all-ages venue in northeastern, Pennsylvania that have closed in the last several years, including Test Pattern, Café Del Soul, Homebase, Café Metropolis, and others. This place was especially important to me because during the last two years I hosted a reading series there with my friend and fellow writer Jason Lucarelli. New Visions provided a place for dozens of local and national writers to share their work. We hosted poets, novelists, and memoirists, and all of them only had positive things to say about the venue and Scranton’s literary scene.
With yet another local art venue closing its doors, its important to support the venues that remain, especially the Vintage Theater, AFA Gallery, and other all-ages venues that host a wide array of events. I doubt I would have ever become a poet if I didn’t have venues like New Visions when I was in high school and then in college. Such places allowed me to cut my teeth at open mics and find a community of writers. For now, we bid goodbye to another venue, but the New Visions reading series will continue. We are currently working on billing writers for a November reading and finding a new venue. Stay tuned, and many thanks to Adam and Mel, the owners of New Visions, for running a wonderful gallery!
Brian Fanelli 