Artspace Projects Inc

About Artspace Projects Inc

Finding And Retaining Affordable Space Is An Age-Old Problem For Artists, Painters, Sculptors, Dancers, And Others Who Require An Abundance Of Well-Lit Space In Which To Work. Many Artists Gravitate To Old Warehouses And Other Industrial Buildings, But Their Very Presence In An Industrial Neighborhood Often Acts As A Catalyst, Setting In Motion A Process Of Gentrification That Drives Rents Up And Forces The Artists Out. This Is Precisely What Happened In Minneapolis' Historic Warehouse District In The 1970s, And It Led To The Creation Of Artspace In 1979. Established To Serve As An Advocate For Artists' Space Needs, Artspace Effectively Fulfilled That Mission For Nearly A Decade. By The Mid-1980s, However, It Was Clear That The Problem Required A More Proactive Approach, And Artspace Made The Leap From Advocate To Developer. Since Then, The Scope Of Artspace's Activities Has Grown Dramatically. Artspace?S First Three Affordable Artist Housing Projects Were In Saint Paul: The 52-Unit Northern Warehouse Artists' Cooperative (1990), The 36-Unit Frogtown Family Lofts (1992), And The 66-Unit Tilsner Artists' Cooperative (1993). Our First Project Outside The Twin Cities Transformed A Six-Story Junior High School In Duluth Into Washington Studios, A Mixed-Use Building Containing 39 Housing Units And A City-Owned Community Center (1995). Projects In Pittsburgh (Spinning Plate Artist Lofts, 37 Units, 1998), Portland, Ore. (Everett Station Lofts, 47 Units, 1998), Reno (Riverside Hotel Artist Lofts, 35 Units, 2000), Galveston (National Hotel Artist Lofts, 28 Units, 2001), And Chicago (Switching Station Artist Lofts, 24 Units, 2003) Bring To Nine The Total Number Of Affordable Artist Housing Projects Completed By Artspace To Date. Two More Live/Work Projects Will Be Completed In The Spring Of 2004. The Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts Will Create 50 New Affordable Artist Housing Units And 38,000 Square Feet Of Compatible Arts/Commercial Space In Two Adjacent Buildings In Seattle's Historic Pioneer Square District. In Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Artspace Is Renovating An Historic Three-Story Hotel Into The Hotel Kaddatz Artist Lofts, A Mixed-Use Facility Containing 10 Residential Units On The Upper Two Floors, Compatible Commercial Uses On The Ground Floor, And Flexible Community Space On The Lower Level. In All, These 11 Live/Work Projects Provide 424 Artist Housing Units As Well As A Variety Of Galleries, Meeting Rooms, And Arts-Compatible Commercial Space. In The Mid-1990s, Artspace Broadened Its Mission To Include Non-Residential Projects. The First Of These, The Traffic Zone Center For Visual Art (1995), Transformed An Historic Six-Story Bakery In The Minneapolis Warehouse District Into 24 Studios For Mid-Career Artists; It Also Contains Four Floors Of Market-Rate Commercial Space. Artspace's Largest Project, Now In Predevelopment, Is The Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts And Education Center In Downtown Minneapolis. When Completed In 2006, This $34 Million Regional Arts Center Will Serve As A Home To More Than 20 Small And Midsize Arts Organizations. Over The Last Several Years, Artspace Has Evolved Into A National Organization. We Now Have Projects In Operation Or Development In More Than A Dozen States. In The Last Five Years, Through Our National Consulting Division, We Have Provided Consulting Assistance To Communities With Arts-Related Space Issues In More Than Forty States. The Nature Of Our Work Is Evolving, Too, To Include New Construction As Well As Renovation, Multiple-Facility Projects, Arts Districts, And Long-Range Planning. Expanding Our Mission In This Way Makes Sense Both For The Communities Where We Work And For Artspace Itself. Multiple-Facility Projects Enable Us To Work More Efficiently By Reducing The Need For Our Staff To Break New Ground With Every Project. Long-Range Planning Expands Our Own Range Of Expertise And Enables Us To Balance More Effectively The Many Demands On Our Staff.