It's not a famous venue, but unless you live somewhere like New York or San Francisco, it's like the best of the all-ages youth centers in your area. And it has successfully hosted "name acts" such as Fugazi. It may indeed have shaped the formation and development of such a center in your area by its example. I know that in my area, the Flywheel Arts Center has become indispensable, as a center for youth and alternative culture,and is a decade younger than 242 Main, suggesting some influence. From an article in Vice about the Burlington youth center:
It isn't a household name like the now-defunct CBGB in New York City, and it doesn't get the same recognition in the punk rock history books as a spot like 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley. But 242 Main Street is special in its own way: Nearly 30 years after opening its doors, it is now one of the longest running all-ages music venue in the country, beginning as an offbeat government-funded effort to overturn a draconian city ban on live music that resulted in the transformation of an old administrative building into the municipal youth center that exists to this day.This wasn't an expensive, big-government project imposed on the town or state. Instead it attracted young, enthusiastic people willing to put in the work to make their own dream come true, a victory for the DIY mentality:
"It was something that the community of young people said that they wanted, needed, and were willing to take care of," she said. "They didn't ask us to give them anything—they asked us to provide the opportunity. Everyone was very well aware that they had to police it and make sure that there were no problems. For us, it was a belief that if kids feel that they're respected and needed and that they're a component of a greater good, then that's fantastic."It's a small thing, but it certainly isn't politics and government as usual. Of such small pieces in then-Burlington mayor Bernie Sanders socialism made, touching peoples' lives as they live them, allowing for ever-greater democratic control and participation in our public life.
Now, as Bernie Sanders gears up for a 2016 presidential run, the formation of the Mayor's Youth Office and 242 Main provides interesting insight into the administrative style of Vermont's beloved Socialist senator—an offbeat yet tangible manifestation of Sanders' ideas about democracy, which almost radically encourage participation in government. With his work in Burlington, Sanders, whose anti-establishment politics have puzzled pundits and endeared him to liberals looking for an alternative to Hillary Clinton, staked his claim that government can be a positive force in people's lives. And for generations of kids in Burlington, 242 Main Street has been just that.I encourage everyone to read the Vice article linked above.
