Evolution In Heels

Written By bimbo factory

A Letter To Our Community:

Dearest bimbinis, bimbos, himbos, thembos and curious kin:

It is with sadness but clarity that we have made the bittersweet decision to bring this chapter of our bimbo art palace to a close. After wishing our sister Creeps bon voyage to her beautiful new chapter in Vegas (she’s totally slaying, give her a follow), and celebrating our darling Lopez La Lopez as she shifts her focus over fulltime to Rhody Q and her rapidly growing PR and marketing agency (hell yessss bb!), our crew is down to two. Our team has been, from the beginning, very deliberately and carefully curated. Each member, regardless of their duration on this project, has brought an irreplaceably unique set of skills, perspectives, networks, and personality. Our mission was built on that particular alchemy, and the workload is simply unsustainable with only two of us.

We would be remiss not to express that running a business in the arts, especially in this economy, is excruciatingly difficult. It’s the same song that so many establishments are singing around our city as they close their doors. Out of love for the small industry we serve, we no longer feel it’s ethical to continuously tap our networks for financial support during a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet. While we all chuckle about passing the same dollar bill around, the reality of it is far from humorous, despite feeling incredible gratitude and warmth from our beloved community. Sadly, love can’t pay the bills (but if it could we’d be RICH AF). Rhode Island has a severe wealth disparity problem, and we hope those with can replace the greed in their hearts with empathy and either do something about that or pack it up and leave.

But to everyone else– thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for believing in us and giving us all you have.

That being said, The Bimbo Factory as the brand you’ve come to love and recognize will not be continuing after December 1st, 2026 (though the philosophy and lifestyle of Bimbology is forever). However, we have SO LOVED collaborating with Yearn PVD and Flamenco RI over the past year+, and are actively in discussions with them about how to keep the space itself in the community and what new leadership will look like. We understand that what we have is precious in a city that has a severe lack of accessible space for artists, and are committed to passing the torch rather than shutting everything down entirely.

As creatives and activists, we believe that the most impactful art needs to be continuously moving in order to truly reflect the communities it’s situated within. This project always operated with intent to shine light on the unique set of needs expressed by the PVD underground art world. We think of Bimbo Factory as a longform conceptual performance piece, not a venture cut short. Our space has hosted countless artists and organizers, served as a prop and costume shop, a meeting space for marginalized groups, a gathering space for creative co-workers, a pop up retail location, a visual art gallery, an affordable dance and rehearsal space, an experimental hub for new and emerging artists to showcase experimental works, a mutual aid and harm reduction hub, self-care pillow fort empire, and the physical headquarters for a production team that contributed over $100k to independent artists and gig workers over the past two years alone. This doesn’t even include the profits made by external venues and bars we brought our events to. We’ve partnered with several local organizations, been featured in local publications, and even won a Best of RI Award! Not so bad for a gaggle of silly gooses. 

Even with all of that, we’re lightyears away from the progress and change we hope to see in the greater Providence area. We know we couldn’t possibly do it on our own, nor do we need to. One of the tough responsibilities of leadership is understanding when it better serves a cause to step down as the public face of a mission. There are so many badass collectives and small businesses leading the charge right now who better represent the local demographics that should be centered, with more springing up regularly! Just to name a few, please give these rad folks a follow:

  • Yearn PVD

  • Flamenco RI

  • The Space

  • Small Format

  • Myrtle RI

  • Deadbeats

  • In Your Skin Studio

  • Pyxis

  • Dirt Palace

  • Rhody Q

  • Black AF Cabaret

  • Fat Babes RI

  • Sweet Rosé

  • Food Not Bombs

  • Bootstrap Compost

We will be running our remaining 2026 programming as scheduled and will announce new events as they pop up. Join us this month for upcoming public events, including:

June 12th + July 11th: Summer Twerk Series with LaLa Luscious

June 19th-20th: HOT BITS: A QTBIPOC-only 2-day film festival

Do you wanna pilot a dream event before we close? Host a gathering? Teach a workshop? Do an epic photoshoot? NOW IS THE TIME!!

Send us an email to hello@thebimbofactory.com with your proposal. Please note: we are a very small team stretched beyond capacity and may take 3-7 business days to reply.

The Bimbo Factory has always been a love letter in action to a space we feel PVD deserves; a space we believe is possible when people come together with open minds, hope, passion, and a genuine investment in each other’s wellbeing. Keep punching nazis (real estate developers, cops and ICE), refuse freebees to wealthy business owners and trust fund babies, flip off hyperconsumption trends that are impacting meaningful art, break up with that mediocre white man, and be LOUD. LOUD LOUD LOUD. Try new things, make mistakes and learn from them, feed your friends, wear neon, flash your titties, protect our trans siblings, support BIPOC community members, FREE PALESTINE, be gay, do crime, throw bricks, and embrace being “cringe” because being cool ruins good art.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to see how the space evolves and what gorgeous evolutions are on the horizon <3 

xoxo

Jane Doe & Belle Gunz

bimbo factory