Refuge NYC Celebrates One-Year Anniversary With Monthlong Showcase: ‘We’re Not Even Half Done With What We Want Refuge to Become’

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Refuge NYC is pulling out all the stops for its inaugural milestone, commemorating its one-year anniversary with an ambitious month-long celebration.

On Wednesday (August 12), the renowned venue unveiled an impressive roster for the four-week festivities. The lineup features heavyweights such as salute, Gabriel & Dresden, David Morales, The Martinez Brothers, 2 shell, and an immersive 12-hour set by Deep Dish, among others. The 15-night series kicks off on September 4 with salute and wraps up on September 27 with Brothers Macklovitch—the collaborative project featuring biological brothers A-Trak and Dave 1 of Chromeo. Explore the complete schedule below.

Established by seasoned nightlife veterans John Dimatteo and Craig “Shorty” Bernabeu, Refuge NYC opened its doors in September 2025 with a singular ambition: to cultivate an intimate, dancefloor-centric environment anchored by a cutting-edge sound system. Their vision has undeniably triumphed. According to Dimatteo and Bernabeu, the venue has hosted approximately 210 events over the past year, welcoming a cumulative total exceeding 100,000 patrons.

“In many respects, it feels like we are only just beginning,” the co-founders shared with Billboard in a joint statement. They noted that they are roughly halfway toward realizing their ultimate blueprint for the space. The latest addition is a custom-engineered, four-corner analog sound system designed specifically for Refuge’s newly unveiled open-air terrace. This initial iteration, dubbed “version 1.0 of the Refuge Courtyard,” debuts on August 15 with Dutch selector Julian Fijma, followed by Brooklyn’s own Tee Em Dee on August 16.

Via email, Dimatteo and Bernabeu sat down with Billboard to reflect on Refuge’s transformative first year.

What have been the standout moments of the club’s inaugural year?

The most rewarding aspect has been watching Refuge evolve rapidly from a beloved neighborhood sanctuary into a global beacon for dance music enthusiasts. The sheer dedication of travelers making intentional pilgrimages to visit us continues to astound us.

Throughout our first year, we’ve produced over 210 gatherings and hosted upwards of 100,000 guests. Ticketing analytics reveal visitors arriving from approximately 1,300 cities spanning 73 countries and six continents. Furthermore, witnessing the revitalization of a robust late-night and after-hours ecosystem in New York has been exhilarating.
Ultimately, the true triumph is the authentic community that has flourished around Refuge—uniting our Brooklyn neighbors with international travelers who come simply to dance with us.

What have been the most significant hurdles?

Managing an ongoing infrastructural expansion while simultaneously operating a high-volume venue has been our greatest test. We have not yet reached the halfway point of our master plan, requiring a constant juggling act between physical improvements and daily operations.

At present, we are expanding our restroom facilities while running weekly programming without interruption. Behind the scenes lies a mountain of unseen labor: securing permits, ensuring compliance, passing inspections, and managing the intricate logistics of building out a space while keeping doors open nearly around the clock on weekends. We launched Refuge fully aware that our ambitions far exceeded day-one capabilities, choosing effectively to leap off a cliff and construct the aircraft on the descent.

Concurrently, we’ve had to scale our team and operational framework without ever compromising the pristine acoustics, curated curation, hospitality, and rigorous attention to detail that drew people to Refuge in the first place.
Ultimately, these are enviable difficulties—the natural growing pains of accelerating faster than anticipated while striving toward a much grander vision.

What part does Refuge play within the broader landscape of NYC nightlife?

New York has a storied lineage as a sanctuary for electronic music. One can trace this golden thread from The Loft and Paradise Garage to the Sound Factory, Twilo, and their spiritual successors—establishments that thrived well past dawn, embraced diverse demographics, pioneered fresh sounds, and propelled the culture forward.

As electronic music permeated the mainstream, aggressive commercialization, bottle service culture, and rigid VIP structures diluted the traditional clubbing ethos, often sacrificing foundational principles for corporate profit. We established Refuge to safeguard the core tenets of an authentic dance music institution: uncompromising sound quality, a sacred dance floor, universal inclusivity, and an atmosphere centered on collective joy rather than status or exclusivity.

This philosophy also means redefining archaic notions of what “after-hours” entails. While some patrons dance until sunrise, others rise early for a morning coffee and join us on the floor by 6:00 or 7:00 AM. We witness both demographics every weekend. It is about honoring historical roots while actively shaping the culture for contemporary and future generations.

How do you intend to sustain innovation in artist curation, sonic direction, and overall operations?

Sonic integrity requires remaining deeply immersed in the heartbeat of the dance floor, maintaining an ongoing dialogue with artists, independent labels, promoters, and producers. When evaluating talent, we disregard social media metrics and streaming numbers. In truth, our founders do not even maintain personal Spotify profiles; we aren’t trading equities—we are programming a living, breathing dance floor.

Much of this comes down to intuition, though instinct is useless without acute attentiveness. We blend personal taste with the real-time feedback gathered within the club walls. Ultimately, the energy of the dance floor offers insights that algorithms never could. We draw equal inspiration from enduring, legendary artists and vanguard local or international talents. That intersection of generations is particularly invigorating. Great music is timeless; for us, true innovation is never about chasing fleeting trends. It relies on trusting our ears, honoring our instincts, and allowing the Refuge experience to organically evolve.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Above all, we want to express our profound gratitude. Refuge could never have materialized without the dedication of the artists, our hardworking staff, trusted partners, supportive neighbors, the broader community, early advocates, and every single person who has crossed our threshold over the past year.

Refuge One-Year Anniversary Celebration Schedule

September 4: Salute
September 5: Gabriel & Dresden
September 5: David Morales
September 6: Natasha Diggs
September 10: Vanjee
September 11: Volen Sentir, George Hewek
September 12: Rodriguez Jr Live.
September 12: Cuttin Headz with The Martinez Brothers
September 17: 2 Shell
September 18: Chris Liebing, Black Asteroid, Akua
September 19: Ahadadream
September 19: John DiMatteo + Serge Devant
September 25: Deep Dish (12-Hour Set)
September 26: Victor Calderone, Shahar
September 27: Brothers Macklovitch

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