An Accessible Hub for WNY's Creative Community
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
BUFFALO, NY - June 1, 2025 - Band of Bards and Vivere Studios today announced the grand opening of Buffalo Creative Workshop (BCW) on June 27th; a 3,400-square-foot multimedia creative studio designed to address the accessibility gap in Western New York's creative economy.
BCW offers a pay what you can model, providing local creatives, artists, and community members access to a workspace equipped for photography, painting, sewing, textiles, and a comfortable working lounge with full amenities.
The studio also offers monthly and yearly membership options with additional benefits including event tickets, access to production and manufacturing services from Band of Bards and content production services from Vivere Studios.
On site will also be a retail shop that showcases books, games, and art from small press and independent publishing. A place to level the playing field with big publishing because “..many creators struggle with distribution and a lack of bargaining power in this industry. I hope this is the first step in building a new DIY network for us all” says Tim Stolinski of Band of Bards..
The BCW initiative represents the first step in Band of Bards and Vivere Studios' commitment to fostering accessible creative opportunities in Western New York, developing the local talent pipeline, and strengthening the region's creative infrastructure.
For more information about Buffalo Creative Workshop, including membership options and hours of operation, please visit workshop.bandofbards.com or contact workshop@bandofbards.com
About Band of Bards
Band of Bards specializes in publishing creator-owned comics and books that span a variety of genres; including fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and slice-of-life narratives. All unified by a focus on socially conscious storytelling.
bandofbards.com
About Vivere Studios
Vivere Studios brings vivid content production to the bold ideas of change-making mission driven businesses and organizations, a creative strategic partner amplifying their brand's story, and guidance in digital creativity.
vivere-studios.com
Media Contact:
Email: Chris@bandofbards.com
The publishing industry is changing, and comics is clearly in flux. What do we do about it? What does Band of Bards ‘need to be’— that’s the question that I keep asking myself and others.
Us smaller publishers don’t need to go extinct.
It did get me thinking, does the industry really need another creator-owned publisher? (Creator-owned gets thrown around so much now it’s lost it’s meaning.)
Let me preface this next piece, Band of Bards does not intend to stop publishing. We want to keep making Coins of Judas, Bro-D, Big Guns Stupid Rednecks, Lycan, Sentience.. we want to keep helping people bring their stories to life because they are important, amazing, and sorely needed. But what do we need to do, in order to keep doing that?
The Buffalo Creative Workshop is a first of it’s kind facility in Buffalo, and there is more than enough space for Band of Bards to pivot and grow. Our dream has always been to be vertically integrated, and to handle as much as we can in-house.
Seize the means of production they shout!
Seize the means to effectively distribute they scream!
Seize the means to be independent.
There is more coming, I don’t think it’s fair to spoil it, and we still have a lot of work to do… I don’t think anyone should be rushing into things while the whole industry reshapes around us.
But let us embrace it.
Much love,
Chris
Here are some things that local media and press has been saying around Buffalo: 1120 Press, The Buffalo Hive and Buffalo Rising!
Want to help us out?
Email workshop@bandofbards.com and please donate! We’re always looking for money (lol who isn’t), but also gently used art supplies, furniture, and whatever else might be useful!
