An excerpt from an article, written by Susan Green, in Vermont Life magazine's 2009-10 winter issue.

In the late 1990s, next door to the Flynn Center and down a FlynnSpace flight of stairs, was a dive bar with the dead-end name Last Chance Saloon. “My office smelled of beer and cigarettes, says artistic director Arnie Malina, recalling the days before the Flynn was able to buy the adjacent building and transform the saloon into a vital component of cultural life in Burlington.

Converted into a “black box“ — black-draped walls, flexible seating for 180, café at the back — FlynnSpace has become a tiny perfect venue brimming with jazz, dance, theater, mixed-media and downright experimental forms of performance art.

During the long, dark winter evenings in particular, FlynnSpace is a kind of cultural hearth, burning steadily as a haven for edgy and under-appreciated performers. Many of the artists who appear at FlynnSpace would never be the right fit for the downtown tavern circuit nearby, nor could they sell out the 1,450-plus seats of the MainStage, the primary venue at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts.

The space is in constant use, and its attributes are perhaps best on display during the annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival. While a throng will be seated upstairs to hear a star such as Branford Marsalis, a cluster of cognoscenti can gather downstairs to hear the obscure-yet-legendary Yusef Lateef. With the flexibility of FlynnSpace, a performer might remain after the show for a meet-the-artist session, and A-list stars also appear at FlynnSpace during the festival for these up-close talks with fans.

The space is also the permanent home, with a theater-in-the-round format, of the Vermont Stage Company, and can be configured as a cabaret or in a range of other shapes that always creates a close-knit atmosphere for both the performers and the audience.

For more about the FlynnSpace, and to see a calendar listing of upcoming FlynnSpace events, pick up a copy of Vermont Life magazine or explore www.VermontLife.com.

To find a listing of events at the Flynnspace search the Vermont Travel Planner.