Seva Granik (born April 20, 1975 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) is a New York City-based party promoter.

Background

Born in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, Uzbekistan, Granik immigrated to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, where he became involved in Brooklyn's underground techno

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

scene. Dubbed "the reigning king of NY nightlife" by ''

i-D Magazine ''i-D'' is a British biannual magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art, film and youth culture. The magazine was launched in 1980 by Terry Jones, originally as a hand-stapled fanzine it has since evolved into a glossy publication. In 2023 the ...

'', Granik has since become an event producer known for holding parties for

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

Brooklynites as well as the international world of high-end

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

Nightlife and events

In 2005, along with his

roommate A roommate is a person with whom one shares a living facility such as a room or dormitory ''except'' when being family or romantically involved. Similar terms include dorm-mate, suite-mate, housemate, or flatmate ("flat": the usual term in Brit ...

and

friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

, Granik started the email

listserv The term Listserv (styled by the registered trademark licensee, L-Soft International, Inc., as LISTSERV) has been used to refer to electronic mailing list software applications in general, but is more properly applied to a few early instances of ...

and experiential events company MyOpenBar, which published information about open bars and notable nightlife events, and produced parties featuring experimental performances in off-the-grid settings. Between 2005 and 2009, MyOpenBar opened offices in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Following the closure of MyOpenBar in 2009, Granik and ex-MyOpenBar editorial director Rebecca Smeyne launched ABRACADABRA, a

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

underground performative events agency that showcased left-field and unusual talent in unsanctioned venues. In 2010, Granik joined the curatorial committee at

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

's ''Warm Up'' event series as Bookings and Production Manager. He quit this position the following year. In 2013, Granik partnered with the NYC nightlife personality and event producer

Ladyfag Rayne Baron, known professionally as Ladyfag, is a New York City-based writer, performer, nightlife personality, and events producer. Background Born in Toronto, Canada, she ran a store selling vintage clothing and antiques. After becoming inv ...

on the launch of SHADE, the first queer underground rave event series in New York. Granik and Ladyfag also produced New York Fashion Week parties, for such clients as

Givenchy Givenchy (, ) is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics of Parfums Givenchy. The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert d ...

, Alexander Wang,

Dsquared2 Dean and Dan Caten (née Catenacci; born December 19, 1964) are Canadian fashion designers, radio personalities, and businessmen. They are identical twin brothers and the founders and owners of Dsquared², an Italian luxury fashion house based i ...

, and magazines such as

Maurizio Cattelan Maurizio Cattelan (; born 21 September 1960) is an Italian visual artist. Known primarily for his hyperrealistic sculptures and installations, Cattelan's practice also includes curating and publishing. His Satire, satirical approach to art has re ...

and Pierpaolo Ferrari's ''

Toilet Paper Toilet paper (sometimes called toilet/bath/bathroom tissue, or toilet roll) is a tissue paper product primarily used to clean the human anus, anus and surrounding region of Human feces, feces (after defecation), and to clean the external gen ...

''. In 2015, as an employee of the fashion PR and events agency KCD, Granik acted as the senior producer on fashion runway shows for clients including

Derek Lam Derek Lam (born 1967) is an American fashion designer. In addition to designing his own line, Lam was Tod's creative director for ready-to-wear and accessories from 2005 until 2010. Early life and education Lam was born in San Francisco, Californ ...

and

Narciso Rodriguez Narciso Jesus Rodriguez III (; born January 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer. Early life and education Rodriguez was born in Newark, New Jersey, the eldest child and only son of Cuban parents. His parents, Narciso Rodríguez Sanchez II, ...

. The aforementioned seminal event series SHADE ran for three years and was shut down in the fall of 2015 as Granik's next underground queer rave project, UNTER, was already underway. Eschewing press and media coverage, UNTER was an underground techno rave project that frequently moved between unsanctioned locations and spawned several spinoff event series highlighting the diversity of musical genres in the dance music underground, such as

gabber Gabber ( ; ) is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of Hardcore (electronic dance music genre), hardcore, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as hardcore, and is characterised by fast beats ...

, "slambient,"

House music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

, and faster strains of techno. Throughout this time, Granik contributed his writing and voice to various print and online publications such as ''

Medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

'' and''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

''. In 2018, Granik was invited by

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

to write a syllabus for and teach a course on producing electronic dance music events. In the fall of 2023, Granik shut down the UNTER project. Two new underground party series were launched in the spring of 2024: Faggots Are Women (with his partner

Kay Gabriel Kay Gabriel is an American essayist and poet. She is the author of three books, co-editor of a poetry anthology, and received both a Poetry Project fellowship and the Lambda Literary fellowship. She lives and works in New York. Work Gabriel g ...

and friends), and Zero Chill. In the fall of 2024, Granik co-produced FKA Twig's

Eusexua ''Eusexua'' ( , stylised in all caps) is the third studio album by English singer FKA Twigs, released on 24 January 2025 through Young and Atlantic Records. It marks her first studio album in five years, following '' Magdalene'' (2019), and her ...

Brooklyn event, a dance party and an installation that sought to promote the artist's eponymous new album.

Art

In the summer of 2023, Granik partnered with the NYC-based trans artist Ruby Zarsky on "ALL DOLLED UP," a one-night immersive art installation of NYC's first and only Trans-Women Dancers

Strip Club A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...

featuring all trans women performers. In the fall of 2023, Granik produced and co-directed "CHOKE HOLE,"^{3/sup> a queer drag wrestling show.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granik, Seva
1975 births
Living people
People from Tashkent}