For over 25 years, Arts at St. Ann's (now St. Ann’s Warehouse) artist-driven, genre-defying performances have been almost uniformly memorable. Through its commissioning of new work for music theater, ASA has played a major role in creating opportunities for concert and visual artists to “cross over” into theatrical presentation. At the same time, ASA has pioneered thematic multi-artist concerts, and made a long-standing commitment to the development of new puppet theater for adult audiences.
ASA has launched many new works of distinction, including: Lou Reed's and John Cale's Songs for 'Drella; David Byrne's The Forest; Marianne Faithfull's Blazing Away and Brecht/Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins; Susan Feldman's Band in Berlin, produced for Broadway; LEE BREUER's Peter and Wendy; and Roy Nathanson's Fire at Keaton's Bar & Grill featuring Elvis Costello and Deborah Harry.
After twenty-one years at the Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights, ASA is now located in a former spice-milling warehouse on Water Street in DUMBO, the city’s dramatic and appealing new neighborhood on the Brooklyn Waterfront.
Since opening the Warehouse in 2001, artists such as Laurie Anderson, Bill Frisell, the Wooster Group, Al Pacino, Joe Strummer, Lucinda Williams, David Bowie, The Tiger Lillies, and Jeff Tweedy have helped to establish St. Ann’s Warehouse as one of New York’s premier performance venues, with its rare combination of cutting-edge performance, versatile space, and dramatic location. In May 2004, St. Ann's Warehouse was honored with the Ross Wetzsteon Memorial Obie Award for being "both an inspiring laboratory and a sleek venue where its super informed audience charges the atmosphere with hip vitality."
In addition to producing and presenting, St. Ann’s Warehouse also serves the city’s multi-faceted cultural community by providing a wide range of services to numerous cultural organizations, individual artists, and independent producers — from rehearsal and performance space to commissioning, marketing and production management.
In association with city and state officials, local developers, merchants, and Brooklyn Bridge Park advocacy groups, ASA is intensely focused on activating the Brooklyn Waterfront and the uses of its indoor and outdoor public spaces. St. Ann’s Warehouse has proven to be a linchpin in establishing the waterfront as a vital cultural destination for New York’s visitors and residents.