Spruce Street Forum and Fresh Sound Records, 1995-2013 (MSS 751)

Restrictions: Photographic negatives are restricted.

Extent: 1.6 Linear feet (4 archives boxes)

The collection consists of the records of Spruce Street Forum, an organization founded in 1995 by Bonnie Broderick Wright as a venue for experimental and avant-garde artists, writers, theorists and scholars to present their work. It contains artist files relating to performances and exhibitions, flyers, press clippings and administrative materials such as board meeting minutes and financial records. It also includes records for the Fresh Sound experimental music series, which began at Spruce Street Forum.

The Spruce Street Forum was a non-profit organization founded in 1995 by Bonnie Broderick Wright as a venue for artists from multiple disciplines to present their work. The organization made its home at 301 Spruce Street in the Balboa Park area of San Diego. The goals of the Spruce Street Forum as described in their early press releases were "to provide an environment for artistic innovation, to provide a venue for creative thought and on-going discussion, to encourage interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange, and to foster collaboration in the arts: music, text, visual."

As the Spruce Street Forum's director, Bonnie Broderick Wright (a former board member of Sushi Performance and Visual Art) identified a lack of gallery and performance space for San Diego area artists. She opened the venue on Spruce Street hoping to cultivate and promote interdisciplinary and multicultural art. The Spruce Street Forum eventually closed its doors on January 31, 2002. From the Forum, Wright, executive producer of Henceforth Records, continued as curator of her Fresh Sound music series, promoting experimental non-mainstream music at the Sushi Performance & Visual Arts space in downtown San Diego, then at The Loft at Wright's alma mater, University of California, San Diego. In 2013 Fresh Sound moved its location to Bread & Salt on Julian Avenue.

The collection consists of the records of Spruce Street Forum, an organization founded in 1995 by Bonnie Broderick Wright as a venue for experimental and avant-garde artists, writers, theorists and scholars to present their work. It contains artist files relating to performances and exhibitions, flyers, press clippings, photographs, and administrative materials such as board meeting minutes and financial records. It also includes records for the Fresh Sound experimental music series, which began at Spruce Street Forum. The bulk of the material is from the Spruce Street Forum and ranges in date from 1995 to 2002.

Arranged in three series: 1) ARTIST FILES, 2) PUBLICITY FILES, and 3) ADMINISTRATIVE FILES.

Container List

ARTIST FILES

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) ARTIST FILES: These files are arranged alphabetically by artist and contain materials relating to artist performances at the Spruce Street Forum, such as correspondence with the program director, artist statements and other related materials. Photographs and slides are housed together and are arranged alphabetically by artist's last name. Artists include Derek Bailey, Sarah K. Bean, Steven Feld, John Heward, Peter Liashkov, Matmos, and Sylvia Safdie.

Box 1 Folder 1
Bailey, Derek, 2002 October
Box 1 Folder 2
Bean, Sarak K
Box 1 Folder 3
Callwood, Dennis
Box 1 Folder 4
Carson Exhibit, 1999 September

Original negatives located in ANC1/M751/1/1-15.

Photographic negatives are restricted.

Box 1 Folder 5
Ellis, Lisle and Paul Plimley
Box 1 Folder 6
Ellis, Lisle, Larry Ochs and Donald Robinson - "What We Live"
Box 1 Folder 7
Eneidi, Marco, Peter Brotzman, and Jackson Krall
Box 1 Folder 8
Feld, Steven
Box 1 Folder 9
Heward, John
Box 1 Folder 10-11
Liashkov, Peter
Box 1 Folder 12
Matmos
Box 1 Folder 13
Ninh, Le Quan
Box 1 Folder 14-15
Safdie, Sylvia
Box 2 Folder 1
Safdie, Sylvia and John Heward
Box 2 Folder 2-3
Slides

PUBLICITY FILES

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) PUBLICITY FILES: Arranged chronologically and includes promotional materials for artist performances such as flyers, postcards and other emphera; newpaper press clippings and some reviews.

Box 2 Folder 4
Spruce Street Forum flyers
Box 2 Folder 5
Spruce Street Forum & Fresh Sound flyers

Press clippings

Box 2 Folder 6-11
1995-2000
Box 3 Folder 1-4
2001-2004
Box 3 Folder 5-9
2009-2013
Box 3 Folder 10
Reviews, 2001

ADMINISTRATIVE FILES

Scope and Content of Series

Series 3) ADMINISTRATIVE FILES: This series contains administrative materials such as opening plans for the Spruce Street Forum, board meeting minutes, a history of performances, Spruce Street lease records, and ledgers of reservations and payment records. Also included are some biographical materials about the Forum founder and director, Bonnie Broderick Wright and her Fresh Sound experimental music series.

Box 3 Folder 11
Opening plans
Box 3 Folder 12-14
Board meeting minutes, ca. 2000-2003
Box 3 Folder 15
Fresh Sound - History of performances
Box 3 Folder 16
Spruce Street lease records

Ledger of reservations/payment records

Box 4 Folder 1
1996-1997, 1997-1999
Box 4 Folder 2
1999-March 2001, Spring-Fall 2001
Box 4 Folder 3
Fall-Winter 2002