When retired violinist Olga Bloom of New York City had the audacious idea of buying an old coffee barge and turning it into a floating concert hall, she knew nothing about renovation or about the fundraising that would be needeed. But she told the Giraffe Project, "It was like the reverse of Mephisto, I sold my soul to God, and then everything I needed came just when I needed it."
Bloom and her husband had always talked about making a place where fellow musicians would have total creative freedom. When they retired, they mortgaged their home to buy the old barge. But when her husband died suddenly, the dream could have died with him. Instead of pulling the covers over her head, Bloom rented out the house, moved onto the barge and began renovating it with her own hands. She spent the next two years turning it into a peerless hall for chamber music.
According to Bloom, the initial reaction to her project was stupefaction. "Everyone at the time thought I was absolutely demented." But when the longshoremen and seamen saw the tiny Bloom scraping paint and sawing lumber, they rallied to help her out. As Bloom says, "If you go out there and work, someone will surely come along to help you."
The greatest difficulty came in finding a place to berth the barge, because the city had no regulations that covered such a thing. The bureaucrats took such a long time to figure out what laws applied that when they finally looked up, Olga had been at her berth at the Fulton Ferry Landing so long that Bargemusic Ltd. was an institution in the neighborhood.
Chamber musicians love performing in the intimate and accoustically perfect hall. Audiences love the low ticket price; the twice-weekly, year-round concerts; and the beautiful setting. The neighbors love Bloom and the renaissance that Bargemusic has sparked in the area. And the barge has become a popular spot to rent for weddings and bar mitzvahs, helping Bloom pay the operation\'s bills.
She still takes no salary for her round-the-clock work, living on just her Social Security check. An outrageously happy and energetic woman, she told us with a grin, "I think virtue is the most exciting way to go. Unquestionably."
