Artspace Projects

It’s not just about buildings. It’s not just about artists. It’s about building better communities through the arts. That’s what your gift makes possible.

Twenty years ago Artspace was inspired to transform underutilized, old buildings into spaces where artists could both live and work at below-market rents and without risk of eviction should a neighborhood turn around. Artspace’s first project was the northern Warehouse Artists’ Cooperative in the Lowertown district of St. Paul, where artists were organizing to stake a claim for permanently affordable space. Over the last two decades, 26 additional projects have followed in communities from Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to Seattle, Chicago and Houston.

Our resident artists say they have never been more productive, and when artists thrive, their work bursts off the canvas and stage and into our neighborhoods. In cities around the country, out buildings are the centers of art crawls. They host gallery shows and free performances. Outside their walls, our projects foster lively streets, economic development and a deeper sense of community.

When Artspace got started, many people celebrated arts for arts’ sake, but very few believed that arts developments could pay taxes, operate in the black, and function without ongoing philanthropic support. But that’s just what we do. Our sustainable model has proven time and again that the arts do more than feed our spirits; in very tangible ways, they strengthen the fabric of community. Where the arts work, so do people.

Today Artspace is busier than ever with new projects on the horizon in places as diverse as East Harlem, New York, the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota and Honolulu, Hawai`i. Close to home our first two Minneapolis live/work projects are underway. In these communities and others, we hear over and again how creating a place for the arts is essential to preserving communities and cultures under siege. In many ways, it has always been the same question: how to help neighborhoods stabilize and prosper without displacing the very people who made revitalization possible. That’s the Artspace way.

While our projects are self-sustaining, we depend on donors like you for the early investments that get new Artspace projects off the ground and for the steadfast support that keeps our doors open and our lights on. Please consider a tax-deductible gift and thank you for helping make this important work possible.