PowerHouse Sets Up in Brooklyn

by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 7/10/2006

Forced out of its TriBeCa offices earlier this year, PowerHouse Books is moving from Manhattan into a giant new space in the fast-gentrifying waterfront neighborhood under the Brooklyn Bridge, and is using the move to expand its inventive mix of book publishing and cutting-edge arts and events programming. Known for books on hip-hop, street culture, art and fashion, the house has begun a series of initiatives that will extend its publishing programs.

In two recent deals, PowerHouse has entered into an agreement to distribute books from VH1 Press (a biography of the late hip-hop star Tupac Shakur is coming in 2007) and has launched an imprint with the Burns Archive, a collection of historic photos based in New York City. The house is also starting PowerHousemagazine to promote its books and artists, and has formed the PowerHouse agency, a unit that will represent PowerHouse artists to stock agencies and the fine arts market. In addition, the company has launched pHytonics.net, an online gallery and retail outlet for its artists, and PowerHouse Paper, specializing in note and gift cards, journals and other paper products featuring the work of PowerHouse talent.

PowerHouse will move into its new home—a two-tiered, 10,000-sq.-ft. ground-floor space in Dumbo, a former industrial area now buzzing with construction on renovated factory spaces and high-rise condos—in September. The new space features a 5,000-sq.-ft. lower level that will include the PowerHouse "arena," a public event space offering Wi-Fi and stadium seating and adjacent to a new PowerHouse bookstore and gallery. PowerHouse publisher Dan Power said the new arena will be a platform for books and public events to support them. "If you build an exciting venue, the business will come," said Power. "We sell a lot of books at our events."

The new space and new ventures are efforts to cross-promote books with other media, explained Power. "We'll be able to offer ways for readers to encounter content that takes them back to the book," he said.

PowerHouse will begin to show off its new gallery space in October with "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn," a retrospective photographic exhibit on hip-hop being held in conjunction with VH1's week-long Hip-hop Honors week.