Ellie Covan, founder of Dixon Place at her apartment (which is also the home of Dixon Place)

Dixon Place is a great example of why so many of us moved to New York. It is "an artistic laboratory with an audience," a place where performing artists of all kinds try out work in progress before an audience. From the very beginning, Dixon Place has also made a commitment to pay the performers who appear there. For a space in NYC that hosts works in progress, that's pretty rare.

It is all the creation of Ellie Covan, one of the saints of the art world. I have been going to Dixon Place since it moved to the current (and past) loft on the Bowery. James has been going since it was in Ellie's apartment in the East Village. During that time, people were told to start singing Happy Birthday if the police arrived, as it was a rather irregular situation.

The New York Times Real Estate section has an article in its Habitats section on Ellie and Dixon Place. It also talks about Dixon Place's new space on Chrystie Street, which is currently being constructed. They are still raising money for it, and I can think of few organizations more worthy of your money, if you have any to spare. None of you who go out and buy $10 drinks every weekend can plead complete poverty!

[photo by Diane Bondareff for The New York Times]