Vodka vs. The MTA

    As hundreds of thousands marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to work in freezing temperatures this past winter due to the MTA strike, the group at Galapagos Art Space, a performance art space/bar in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, conspired to help.
    “If you are going to work in Manhattan,” says Marketing Director Kyle Jarrow, “you are adding at least two hours to your commute during the strike. “What is hurting us, is if you walked over the bridge, then you hitched a ride home. Are you then really going to want to go out and get a drink?”
    The staff circulated the tag line of “It’s dark, it’s cold, and the MTA won’t even offer you a hat. But at Galapagos, it is warm, snuggly, and come hell or high water, the shows go on!” The MTA Shot promotion was straightforward and effective: a free shot of vodka with any drink order during the strike.
    “We try to be, as much as we can, a haven in a really trying time,” Jarrow says. Showing the community that they cared, and ensuring there would be warm bodies inside the building to witness the performances, Galapagos’s MTA Shot worked.