I missed it a couple of weeks ago, but the Post ran a piece on artist housing in DC, featuring the Douglass Street project I mentioned back in July. The application process will likely open up again in the spring, and I'll post the info here if I catch it in time. Overall, a good article, if you just strike the following:
The biggest downside of the Douglass Street project is its location. While Mather Studios is in the heart of downtown, the Douglass [sic] Street project is in Northeast, near New York Avenue.
God forbid. Seriously, who wants to live near the Arboretum, the Gateway Arts District in Maryland, or Abdo's forthcoming Arbor Place? Oh, maybe it's not that bad....
But I digress. Artspace's Dance Place Project is gathering steam, with construction estimated to start in early 2008:
Artspace will develop a mixed-used project that will include 30 to 40 affordable live/work units for artists and a new home for Dance Place, a nonprofit organization that operates a dance company, a school, and a variety of children's programs. Two existing buildings on the site will be torn down to make way for the project.
A hearty welcome to our future neighbors!
Subsidized arts work-live spaces have proven economically inefficient, and artist ownership has proven especially destructive -- it has made the owners real estate speculators first and artists second. Eventually rich dilettantes or patrons have bought out working artists.
ReplyDeleteWhat cities lack most is artist work space, and that can be shared. The most urgent local need is for performing arts practice and rehearsal space, since noise is such an issue in the urban environment, but visual artists need more than light - ask any sculptor or enamellist.
DC government once fostered such arts incubators -- the Landsburg Building in the 70s, the Stables Arts Center in the 80s -- but city government has abdicated this role. It is disappointing to see nonprofits misdirect their scarce resources when it comes to the arts.