For most Villagers, the FAB! Festival on East Fourth Street between Bowery and Second Avenue this past Saturday meant homemade kimchi from the 4th Street Food Co-op, choreographed dance performances (as you can see in our slideshow, the Rod Rodgers Dance Company‘s youth ensemble performed a number from “Chicago”), and shopping courtesy of MissWit’s Deborah Goldstein (her best effort: a T-shirt emblazoned with the text “The Unbearable Lightness of Bieber”). For a handful of local artists, the day was quite literally groundbreaking.

As expected, Fourth Arts Block celebrated the opening of two new buildings with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that featured New York City Council Member Rosie Mendez and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Shortly thereafter, a host of East Fourth Street stalwarts including actor Tom Noonan of Paradise Factory broke ground on the renovation of 64 East Fourth Street, which will serve as a multi-cultural arts center. “It’s been a nightmare,” said Mr. Noonan, who purchased the building over 30 years ago. “But having a hub like this lets people know to come here and get involved. It gives the Village a cultural identity.”

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 2, 2012

An earlier version of this blog post imprecisely referred to Paradise Factory as a Latino cultural center and mistakenly stated that Tom Noonan rented in the building rather than owning it.