"Music, arts cook in students' Kitchen"

A group of UB students are opening their own downtown kitchen this weekend, but don't expect to get full on food. This kitchen specializes in a recipe of music, art and creativity in a collaborative space called Kitchen Distribution.

On one hand, the motivation for creating this new community hotspot for local artists was a class assignment, but the Kitchen's creators say they were also driven by dissatisfaction with the Buffalo art and music scene.

"We've been members of this community for a while and we see the way up-and-coming artists and bands are underrepresented and this mainly began out of dissatisfaction," said Frank Napolski, a senior media studies major.

Napolski, Jacob Kassay and Keith Poplawski, along with a group of classmates and friends, decided to take what started as a class assignment and create a project to improve the local music and art scene. This led to the trio creating Kitchen Distribution, a place designed for artists to showcase their talent as well as a location for patrons to enjoy pure entertainment in a close-knit environment.

Kassay initiated the project and wanted to bring people with different strengths aboard to help with the many areas of the project.

"A bunch of classmates and I wanted to bring Keith and Frank along for this project because they had the type of attitude we were looking for to cover the music and sound responsibilities to the space," Kassay said.

When the three friends collaborated to improve a 1,200-square-foot space in an old building by the Buffalo waterfront, there weren't even walls up in the space that used to be the Buffalo Gasoline Motor Oil Company.

"The building was then used as a kitchen product distributor," Poplawski said.

The name of this non-profit organization is related to the former usage of the building and the space the group of students wanted to occupy. They worked on the space and made improvements and the owner, Matt Kantar, saw the physical labor as a trade for paying rent.

These students got involved in this project for more reasons than the improvement of the art and music community in Buffalo. For some, it was an idea they believed in and wanted to support on a personal level.

"I got involved because I was confident in Jake's ideas for the space. We are no-profit and we are having fun with what we do," said Poplawski.

Poplawski and Napolski handle the musical portion of Kitchen Distribution and the two have collaborated on trying to do something different for a space that offers musical entertainment.

They aim to help the audience enjoy the performances as well as enjoy the company of the performers, which is a quality that other venues do not offer.

"Frank and I handle the musical portion of it and we wanted to make events more accessible to the patrons and we wanted to make the bands more tangible," said Poplawski.

"Because other venues separate the band from the audience by hiding them in a green room, and after they perform, they leave. But at Kitchen Distribution, the bands come there and they get to meet and talk to the audience and a lot of people like that about us," he said.

Poplawski said the goal is for artists and patrons to feel comfortable. He also said that attendees of Kitchen Distribution events appreciate what this group of students is doing because they are not in it for themselves.

"I think locally people like us because we're not trying to put ourselves on a plateau. We do this because it's fun and it is also a valuable experience," said Poplawski.

Students enjoy attending Kitchen Distribution's events because they can appreciate that students are collaborating on a project to promote art and music in Buffalo.

"It's really cool that Kitchen Distribution is run by students that go to this school. Something needs to be done about Buffalo's art and music scene and it's awesome that they're providing a space for the artists," said Tori Burhans, sophomore political science major. "I like that they let students get involved, to see what buffalo has to offer."

Along with hosting every event, this group of students is responsible for seeking out local bands and performers as well as booking and organizing the performances themselves, which is something they are proud of.

"We're out searching for the bands ourselves; we speak to the publicists and managers to get the bands we think the people would want to hear," said Napolski. "We want to keep people entertained."

Kitchen Distribution will be hosting an event on Jan. 27 at the space at 20 Auburn Ave., with doors opening at 8 p.m. More information about Kitchen Distribution and their upcoming events can be found at www.kitchendistribution.com.

Kassay said that as students, it is difficult to get the support to run a business because most of the time, people do not believe in what students are capable of. But this group of students is able to run and manage a space of their own as well as provide a positive outlet for local art and music acts.

"People don't take students seriously, but we're doing what we want on our own terms and people appreciate what we do," he said.