Meeting the Regulars: House of Bricks

Here at MSW, we’re starting a new series of articles looking at the regular poetry gigs around Melbourne (some that have been going for decades!) and looking at how they run as an introduction to poetry/spoken word fans in Melbourne to see what gigs have been circulating around and what you might like to go check out for yourselves. We begin our series by looking at a new kid on the block, House of Bricks.

Words by Sheridan Mills

The House of Bricks gallery and studio space is a warehouse space in the heart of Collingwood (just around the corner from The Tote Hotel), which hosts a range of arts and cultural events – supporting both local and international artists.

Once a month we hold a spoken word event (typically on the last day of the month depending on our events calendar), which has been gaining momentum over the past year.

Our premise is to support local writers and to offer a platform for both emerging (we welcome first-timers) and established writers and spoken word artists to come together and share their work with a different audience.

We have from 50-100 people attend our events and our audience is not only made up of writers, but also people from all aspects of the arts and the general public.

The event runs a callout once a month for people to put their name down for a ‘feature’ time-slot on the night (which is a 10 minute time-slot) and we have up to 4 features per event.

We also have up to 10 ‘open-mic’ time-slots of up to 3 minutes each.

Santo Cazzati ‘PJ’s’ the event (poetry jockey) who has been involved in the local/interstate writing and spoken word scene for over 10 years and is one of the most colourful, energetic, and accommodating PJ’s around (he is, in fact, the ONLY PJ around, as he invented the concept at House of Bricks!).

We also hand out – free – spoken word zines filled some of the most amazing words for you to enjoy and take away with you (with entries from readers at previous events).

There is a P.A. and mic, cheap drinks (gold coin mostly), some cushions for sore bums, and lots of friendly faces.

Please come along and enjoy some of the most diverse and wonderful spoken word artists around (again both established and grass roots).

The gallery is located at 40 Budd street (on the corner of Budd and Keele streets):

Bring your friends and family, invite everyone you like, this is an open event.

The next House of Bricks is happening on Friday, May 3 at 7pm at House of Bricks gallery, 40 Budd Street Collingwood. Check out the Facebook event to help spread the word and check the ‘upcoming events’ page for any more upcoming House of Bricks events.

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Annie Solah

Annie Solah is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, activist and the Director of Melbourne Spoken Word. She grew up in Western Sydney before calling Melbourne home in 2008, where she's performed since 2010 around Melbourne's regular spoken word and poetry nights including Passionate Tongues, The Dan Poets, Voices in the Attic and House of Bricks as well as the NGV and White Night. She's released a chapbook, broken bodies, and two spoken word albums, Duel Power with Santo Cazzati and The World Doesn't Make Sense EP.