A chance meeting with Darrell “DS” Kinsel at a Hill District bus stop 10 years ago ended up launching Cue Perry’s art career.
Perry said had it not been for the founders of BOOM Concepts, Kinsel and Thomas Agnew, he wouldn’t have realized it was possible to have a career in art.
BOOM Concepts — a museum, artist incubator space, creative hub and community safe space that aims to build success through community and collaboration — celebrates its 10th anniversary this month..
Perry’s first solo show was at BOOM Concepts.
“They broke down how to put on a show, how to talk to people, the ins and outs of art shows, how even to hang art,” Perry said.
During that first show, Perry sold a good deal of artwork.
Since then, Perry’s work has been in the Pittsburgh International Airport, local restaurants and the city council building. He’s also designed a library card for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, among other projects.
“I’ve always been a supporter of people who are trying to get to the next level and making sure that if I have the resources … that other people have those resources as well,” , said Agnew, an artist from Ohio who initially had an online magazine publication that parlayed into BOOM Concepts. “I’ve been glad to just call this space home.”
Agnew came to Pittsburgh at the age of 18. Now 39, Agnew said this is the work that continues to call him.
The current location on Penn Avenue in Garfield grew out of the need to have a workspace and studio. Agnew and Kinsel had an acquaintance who worked at Heinz Endowments and connected them with the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, which helped them find their current location, a 1,500-square-foot storefront.
“We got some help from Heinz and being able to really workout an opportunity to stay afloat for the first three to five years — it is usually that beginning period that is the hardest,” Agnew said.
What really allowed things to flourish was when BOOM began collaborating with places like Assemble and Most Wanted Fine Art, which needed a space to hold some extra events because of overflow.
“We hosted those two events here in the space and from there, it just became a community space. After that, everyone was like ‘What are you doing next and what do you have going on?’” Agnew said. “It took shape because of a community need.”
Agnew recalls that in the 2010s, Pittsburgh was losing a lot of Black-owned and Black and brown spaces. They needed something that was a cultural space for everyone.
“Shadow Lounge had closed down … 720 Records had space down in Lawrenceville where they had arts and events and music … they closed,” Agnew said.
BOOM Concepts happened right on time.
“People who were looking for opportunities within art, folks that could not get into certain galleries and different exhibition opportunities — it really became a communal space where people could come and gather, network, meet new people,” Agnew said.
They hosted events almost weekly and became part of the Unblurred Gallery Crawl that takes place the first Friday of each month.
“BOOM has had a large impact on the community by being a consistent space,” said Maggie Negrete, a freelance artist and designer.
Negrete’s creativity and career have expanded through working with BOOM.
“I am so honored that they always think of me and like to work with me,” she said. “I have a 5-year-old, so my artist career has also had to weather the storm of motherhood. DS is a father, so he gets that.”
Negrete is affiliated with the Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka and The #notwhite collective.
Covid changed the dynamics and more work happened internally that became program-centric with resident artists or collaborations with other galleries.
BOOM created its own in-house residency program in 2020. It also has a partnership with Radiant Hall Studios, where it hosts four artists. BOOM has a national partnership with Artist Communities Alliance and McKnight Artist Residencies consortium, which allows two to four artists to come to Pittsburgh from across the country to create public art, activist prints and murals. BOOM also partners with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and different outdoor markets.
Kinsel hopes that in the next 10 years, BOOM Concepts will be “able to help make some systemic changes in policy or status quo that critically affects artists’ ability to have a real-world career and be based in Pittsburgh,” Kinsel said.
They also have a studio at Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy Studios where most of their out of town visitors come in to work.
All of the artists get free studio space and a stipend to work on and build on their projects.
“We do professional business development. We surveyed them about their goals and aspirations to see how we could help them out,” Agnew said.
Perry said that without BOOM, there may not be a Black Pittsburgh arts scene.
“They were doing it when it wasn’t trendy. BOOM was underground-ish back then and people just heard about it through the grapevine, and people now know it’s possible because of BOOM. They are the push for Pittsburgh Black art.”
BOOM is gearing up for the “Unblurred Take Over on April 5 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. They will partner with a few places along Penn Avenue that will host activities and exhibition work.
At Two Frays Brewery, two of their artists will exhibit in the restaurant, and a signature BOOM beer, which is still being crafted, will be on the menu.
“All the funds raised will go toward the bigger goals of our general operations and creating programs and really trying to get a forever home,” Agnew said.
Shaylah Brown is a TribLive reporter covering art, culture and communities of color. A New Jersey native, she joined the Trib in 2023. When she’s not working, Shaylah dives into the worlds of art, wellness and the latest romance novels. She can be reached at sbrown@triblive.com.
