Smaller cities support local artists: mid-sized cities around the country are attracting, housing and marketing artist's communities in innovative ways that benefit both the artists and the towns they call home

Art Business News, March, 2003 by Julie Keith

No longer the forgotten souls rambling around in loft studios, noticed only when they begin a cycle of neighborhood gentrification that ultimately drives them out, artists' communities are finding voices in some of the nation's smaller cities. Civic leaders are quickly realizing that artists are a thriving segment of the population, contribute much to the cultural fabric of society and are pretty good tenants to boot.

For a growing number of mid-sized cities, artist communities are the foundation for the development of arts districts, live/work neighborhoods, urban restoration programs and even tourist destinations. They're also providing models for artists and community leaders in other cities to follow. The following is a closer look at how four cities--Providence, R.I., New Orleans, Cleveland and Minneapolis--are making homes for artists, sometimes one building at a time.

A Colony in the City

Providence's historic downtown arts and entertainment district attracts artists and consumers to its galleries, restaurants, coffeehouses and clubs. Many artists choose to live in this portion of town because other artists are already established here and tourists and locals flock to the area to shop.

Instrumental in the development and ongoing success of Providence's downtown scene is AS220, a grassroots organization founded in 1985 by artists who shared a commitment to establish a forum for the arts. Back then, AS220 founders believed in a community where artists could freely exhibit, present or perform their original works of arts outside the limited facilities available at the time.

Almost 20 years later, AS220 has renovated a 22,000-square-foot building in the downtown arts district, which includes a cafe/performance space, five gallery spaces, nine work studios for artists and 12 residential artist studios. Striving to connect artists with each other, as well as with the public, AS220 gallery space includes places for student work, as well as such public access facilities as black-and-white darkrooms, a computer lab and a silk-screening studio. These shared areas provide training for their users and offer resources many artists cannot personally afford.

AS220 has enjoyed broad community support, as evidenced by the success of their 1991 to 1994 Build AS220 Capital Campaign, which resulted in the purchase and restoration of their downtown property. Financed by both the public and private sectors and supported by a broad range of organizations and individuals, the campaign has become a model for other cities and artists' groups hoping to establish a similar community presence.

"Artists' communities and colonies are basically places where artists can go to do work uninterrupted," said Michael Cochran of the Alliance for Artists' Communities, based in Providence. "If you're talking about an urban setting, then [the community] has to have a commercial component. Artists like the proximity of shops, restaurants and theaters. It really serves everybody."

Art Works in New Orleans

Like other cities, New Orleans has long recognized the value of its local arts and culture. But until the creation of Louisiana ArtWorks, the Big Easy didn't have a place for artists to work and exhibit together.

Steve Lanier, director of Louisiana ArtWorks, said the development of an artists' facility within the city limits was a dream of the New Orleans Arts Council for years. "The council identified a need for workspace for artists that was more than just conventional studio space," Lanier explained. "We wanted a place that housed equipment that was too expensive for individuals to purchase, so we developed shared studio space to support four major areas: glass, metal, ceramics and printmaking."

Opening in spring 2003, the 90,000-square-foot facility will house the four shared studio spaces, plus 25 to 40 private studio spaces. Located in an expanded warehouse on the corner of the arts area (the popular streetcar turns the corner at the building), Louisiana ArtWorks will allow visitors to tour the shared studio spaces via catwalks. The artists using private spaces will have open studio hours on a rotating basis, encouraging the public to get to know them and their artwork in an intimate setting. In addition, Lanier said artists can participate in master artist workshops--residence programs in which established artists will mentor young, emerging artists.

Estimating the creation of 155 permanent jobs in the program, a total annual economic impact of $74 million and more than $6 million annually in local and state tax revenues, Lanier knows his city and state are eager to see him succeed. And artists will enjoy support, access to equipment, market exposure and lower-rent facilities.

"We wanted to change the dynamic between the artists and the public," Lanier said. "Artists are meaningful, real-life members of society, and they're engaging in the stuff of life our society has moved away from. We want to dump that 19th-century notion that artists are frugal creatures who just can't cope. This is a new way of thinking about artists and their work."