There’s one particular storefront you can’t miss if you’re walking after dark along the north end of Main Street in the central Connecticut city of Middletown. From an old brick building on an otherwise fairly drab block, tall windows spill light out onto the street. To the left of the front door is a small, warmly-lit shop selling secondhand books and records, with chairs for anyone who wants to sit and read, and perhaps a couple folks playing chess on one of the boards that occupy a corner of the room. To the right is a combination performance space and art gallery where the big windows mean that musicians might play as much to anyone walking by on the street as to the audience sitting in front of them. This is the Buttonwood Tree, one of New England’s most eclectic music venues.

North End Arts Rising (NEAR) is a non-profit community arts organization incorporated in 1991 by the husband and wife team of Stephan and Susan Allison, and the Buttonwood Tree is its centerpiece. There’s something happening in this friendly and unpretentious storefront almost every day from September through June, with an average of 250 events each year, including numerous folk and world music performances and lots of jazz concerts, as well as poetry slams, storytelling sessions, occasional theater productions, and "games nights" featuring participatory chess and community discussions. Located roughly halfway between the larger cities of New Haven and Hartford and within an easy drive of most of Connecticut’s population, the Buttonwood Tree serves both local residents and an extended family of fans of noncommercial music and graphic and spoken-word arts.

"We’re here to provide a space for artists who traditionally have not had access to venues," says Stephen Allison, who handles bookings. "In our early days a lot of that was singer/songwriters. We don’t do as much of that now because there are coffeehouses all over, although we do present singer/songwriters who are unusual, or maybe up-and-coming and without the access right now. Or they might be more roots-oriented, or like Cordelia’s Dad, with old traditional stuff. We have a lot of what I call expansion jazz, music that has its origins in jazz but then expands on the notion of what jazz is, some of the free-form music that doesn’t have a spot unless it’s a major city like New York or L.A., and then music from around the world."

The Buttonwood Tree is dedicated to artistic diversity. "What I choose to book is based on a level of professionalism and the quality of the music," Allison continued. "I may not like the music myself, but I’m not the only one listening to it. I want people to come and hear it. It’s all a question of exposing your audience to something new and different and hoping they’ll expand their own horizons through what they’ve heard."

This philosophy leads to a singularly eclectic roster of performers that could be matched by only a handful of much larger commercial venues. Among those who have played the Buttonwood Tree are tradition-based international music groups like La Musgaña from Spain, Makvirag from Hungary, and Ale Möller and the Nordan Project from Sweden (pictured here) , modern singer/songwriters like Dar Williams, Robin Holcomb, and the Nields, and creative rootsy bands like the Austin Lounge Lizards and the Mollys. Jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton plays regular Wednesday night gigs when he’s in the area — he teaches at neighboring Wesleyan University — and other jazz artists from New York and around the country play there at least once a week. When asked to name a favorite performer who might not be well known, Allison mentioned Massachusetts songwriter Bob Jordon: "He’s a quirky guy and he doesn’t draw an audience, but I just love his stuff, and it’s worth hearing."

The high-ceiling, brick-finished room has an official capacity of 50 and has squeezed in a few more, with all seats clustered within a few feet of the performer for an intimate feel. Coffee and a few other non-alcoholic beverages are available during shows, and while waiting for the music to begin, patrons can scan the rotating exhibits of artwork on display in the performance room or browse in the adjoining bookstore.

The current Buttonwood Tree storefront is the venue’s second location. The first, about a block away, was destroyed in a May 1995 fire, which started in an upstairs apartment, and the current room opened in January 1997. "When we got here, it was kind of a gutted space," Allison recalls. The century-old building, once a classy hotel serving area farmers who came into the city to do business, had deteriorated and become, in Allison’s words, "A drug haven in bad shape. This was a neighborhood that had a reputation for being difficult. We don’t have a problem with the people in the neighborhood, and [our audience] doesn’t have a problem. So it was a perfect fit and the rent was right." As part of a general renovation of the building by a group of nonprofit agencies, a $25,000 community development grant transformed the ground floor of the old hotel into the current inviting, exposed- brick living room. The Allisons took the venue’s name from a Colonial-era map that identified the street on which it was originally located as "a lane of Buttonwood trees."

Funding for the Buttonwood Tree comes largely from city and state arts grants and private donations. Volunteers are an essential part of the organization, and more are always welcome to help with a variety of tasks that include staffing the bookstore and handling some clerical functions. For concerts, there’s usually a suggested donation ranging from $3 to $7, but as Allison says, "We never turn people away if they don’t have the money. We go out and seek funds to make sure the arts are available to everyone, and we’re paying our performers based on the funds we raise.

"We’re not here for the bottom line, and we’re not pandering to a larger audience. We’re just trying to get exposure for performers, and we don’t want to put pressure on them by saying you’ve got to draw a certain number of people or you’re not welcome here. That’s not what we’re about — although we still have to pay ASCAP and BMI."

Still, there are some realities that affect even nonprofit operations like the Buttonwood Tree. Allison mentions that they’re considering scaling back the current five-night-per-week performance schedule: "There’s questions as to whether we’re sapping the energy of our audience. To put on as many shows as we do, we may be providing too much. We may leave some nights open for people to come by and jam or whatever." At the same time, he mentions a long-term plan to open an additional room seating 150 to 200 people to allow booking bigger shows once a week or so.

"We’re here as a resource for people," Allison concludes. "We’re open to anyone who wants to expand their creative input."

The Buttonwood Tree
605 Main Street
Middletown, CT 06457
phone: (860) 347-4957
website: http://www.buttonwood.org

Photos: Cliff Furnald

Copyright 1998 Dirty Linen Ltd