Willa C.
Yelp
I joined the Writers Studio in an effort to finish my second novel in what seemed like a community of serious writers, in a place I hoped was hospitable and humane.
Formidable mission, misguided execution. The studio seems to function as a showplace, prospectives constantly paraded through, to convince members to join/donors to contribute. Members are treated as bottom-rung. If you aren't a fancy visiting writer doing a talk, or an "emerging writer" or other luminary, you're kept at arm's length--but utilized for flattering fundraising optics.
They drastically oversold memberships. There's almost never a desk available. I tried mornings and afternoons, tried to game it & get a sense of traffic flow, but I was invariably exiled to other rooms not meant for writing, waiting for something to open up. The unlucky rejects are stuck at large communal tables in weird rooms, with people walking in and out, sharing spotty WiFi with the condo that hovers above. On consecutive winter weekends, the studio had NO heat. It felt bizarre to pay to sit in my parka, freezing in fingerless gloves.
The space at first looks bright and impressive, but its design is antithetical to its purpose. Thoroughfares criss-cross through the small box of a room, so that all screens are visible to everyone, and people must walk back and forth past each other's desks to come & go. The Center itself is part of a "new-Brooklyn" condo that's ruined the vibe of the Flatbush/BAM nexus. The studio's essentially a glass box that looks out on the other condos surrounding it. You can almost tune it out during the day, but once the sun goes down (early in fall/winter), it's like trying to write on the Vegas strip. LED screen animations and ads above the opposite Whole Foods/condo are being projected into and around the studio. It's frenetic and hugely distracting.
I've worked in worse places, and I'm no delicate flower. But you'd think this would've been considered. Also, if you work past 5pm during fall/winter, overhead lights illuminate the room unmercifully. You can't adjust these, although desks have small lamps (which don't help).
I joined in order to get work done, but hoped the vibe would be warm, or at least not cold. It's stilted and wooden. The reading room upstairs is nearly empty all the time. I imagined it as a salon of sorts, somewhere to read and be in the company of others who valued the same things, but it was funereal. Most people who check you in upstairs are nice enough, if not welcoming, but the two main librarians are almost comically unfriendly, DMV-style. No eye-contact, not a trace of a smile, often they won't even look at my friend or me -- they grab my card and slap it back. Abrupt & unsettling. Even after I'd seen them at events, no recognition whatsoever. I don't ask for much, and don't expect effusive commercial-phony customer-service. Just an inkling of politeness for the 30-seconds in play.
A synthetic "prestige" has been manufactured around the studio. Some writers seem serious, others shop for shoes or play video games, which I know because of the dearth of private space/sightlines. One woman takes personal phone calls, walking around, chatting re what she wants for dinner, her babysitter problems, etc., loud enough for all to hear, while another walks around eating salad, chatting on the phone, publicizing her own minutia.
You can only be away from your desk for 30 mins, since desks are at such a premium & people swarm like vultures. To go get lunch, you have to hustle--fine if there was somewhere in the bldg to eat, but due to the overflow, rooms are full of writers bumped from the studio. A problem when the weather's cold & you can't eat outside. Not an option to bring laptops into sitting rooms, a policy I like & endorse, but those rooms are empty while the studio is full to the rafters. They've opened the second floor to members' guests, so maybe it's an improvement?
Kids working down in the coffee shop act like they're doing you a favor. Bookstore is okay. Splashy editions of zeitgesity books, no lit mags, half the inventory's prohibitively high. Not a place to linger, or discover. Kitchen is shared w/catering team, there are always evening events (disruptive to studio), many times I couldn't get in for a quick coffee. Platters of appetizers etc dominate the space, you feel you're intruding, it's tight. People rarely do their dishes, so clean coffee cups are a rarity.
Hard pass, especially if you must commute (at least I could walk). Before Covid, I visited another Brooklyn space for writers, with a serene, clean kitchen (with good water! And real, brewed coffee! And a place to sit and eat!) and a lovely view, more than enough private desks/cubicles, and a freeze policy that lets you hold your membership if you need to. There's also a soundproof room for personal phone calls. I'd rather not settle for the fabricated cache around the Writers Studio, which is neither a studio, nor an oasis for writers.
