[1] In the fall of 2006 the members of an arts collective known as the Treemausers began holding performance events in their tiny apartment in Jamaica Plain.
Their goal was to create something unlike anything else they could find in Boston; a weekly performance space, open to the public, sustainable and safe, devoid of social competition, and pushing the boundaries of consciousness, experience and thought.
As Hootennanies began to grow, the Treemauses moved into a five story mansion that was recently re-built from a state of dilapidation.
In February 2008, Many Mansions organized a show in the Whitehaus called Psych-Fest and this marked the beginning of the WFR movement away from Hootenannies and toward Happenings.
The success of Psych-Fest gave the WFR the impetus to organize their biggest event at that time, Blastfest.