SPRING 2017 NEWSLETTER

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1 SPRING 2017 NEWSLETTER

2 A NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT Happy Spring! I m delighted to share that Artspace keeps growing. We ve recently begun accepting applications for our Bell Artspace Campus in New Orleans, leasing up our project in Hastings, Minnesota, preparing for our ground breaking in Mesa, Arizona and adding two new Board members. In mid-april, we started receiving applications for our Bell Artspace Campus in New Orleans. To apply, applicants lined up over the night in Tremé at the Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center. When Artspace staff arrived at 5 am to prepare for the day, we were greeted by a painter who had spent the night in her car in order to be first in line! This woman, like so many others, was displaced to Dallas after Katrina and has struggled since trying to come back to New Orleans. As the line grew over the morning, it felt almost like a family reunion, as people connected over schools attended, relatives they knew, neighbors they had in common. By the time we started processing applications at 9 am, we had a great representation of culture bearers, including Mardi Gras Indians, and arts activists among the first applicants. There is so much wonderful excitement for this project, and we can t wait to see the Bell Artspace Campus community come to life. If you re an artist living in Minnesota looking to be inspired by views of the Mississippi River, the Hastings River Artspace Loft is where you want to be! Currently accepting pre-applications, the project will be leasing up this summer as artists begin moving into the building. Once completed and fully occupied, it will include 37 affordable live/work units for artists and their families, plenty of ground floor retail space and a resident gallery. It will also feature nearly 3,000 square feet of programmable outdoor community and event green space. On May 24, we will break ground for our Mesa Artspace Lofts. The project will include 50 units of affordable artist live/work units as well as performance exhibition space, classroom space, and a lab for creative businesses. The Lofts will be one block off the city s newly constructed light rail corridor and in the heart of downtown and is in direct proximity to numerous local arts and cultural assets including the renowned Mesa Art Center. Sincerely, Kelley Lindquist PRESIDENT AND CEO, ARTSPACE PROJECTS

3 SUPPORTER SPOTLIGHT Juan Alonso-Rodriguez Juan Alonso-Rodriguez is an awardwinning painter and public artist based in Artspace s Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts (TK) in Seattle. He counts receiving the Dejunius Hughes Award as one of his most noteworthy Artspace memories. Not only did Alonso-Rodriguez feel honored by the award, he found the congratulatory video message from his neighbors at the TK touching, making him feel as if he was a part of something big. This moment also underscores one of his favorite things about working in TK, the camaraderie and proximity to other artists and creative people. Alonso-Rodriguez says, I love the idea that everyone here is working on something creative and positive and no one is here to destroy or take advantage of anyone else. We share, we commiserate and we cooperate, and the goals are always to make life better for ourselves and everyone else around us. I knew moving into this building I would meet people, but I m surprised at the true friendships I have made in a relatively short period. Are there other surprises about working in an Artspace community? The sense of freedom he feels now that he doesn t limit his work to fit the needs of gallerists and their target audiences. The gallery in TK allows him to showcase and sell his works in an atmosphere rooted in the spirit of experimentation, expansion and authenticity. Harriet Bart Harriet Bart s most memorable Artspace experience was a day in 1992 when she and fellow artists closed on the purchase of the Traffic Zone Building. The Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art is an artist work studio cooperative and commercial space for creative entrepreneurs in the North Loop district of Downtown Minneapolis. It is one of the few arts centered buildings that has withstood the cycles of downtown growth and redevelopment, due mostly to Bart and her peers partnering with Artspace for the building s procurement, a process and relationship with the organization that started in the 80s. She sees the Artspace mission and the goals of Traffic Zone aligned, in that both exist to help professional artists and build creative communities. Traffic Zone artists have hosted thousands of visitors over the 24 years they ve been holding Open Studio events. Bart keeps Artspace on her annual list for philanthropic giving because she believes in the fantastic work they do to create safe, secure and affordable spaces for artists. She is intimately familiar with the impact the arts can have on a community, when artists are provided pathways to sustainability and building ownership.

4 SUPPORTER SPOTLIGHT The Bush Foundation Invests in Artspace For 60-plus years, the Bush Foundation has invested in great ideas and the people who power them in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the geography. As a Minnesotabased organization, Artspace is pleased to have had a long history with the Bush Foundation. We would like to share some recent and important support Artspace has received from the foundation. In 2015, we were awarded a Bush Community Innovation grant to support our problemsolving processes on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Funding from this grant for the Oglala Lakota Artspace will lead to more effective, equitable and sustainable solutions for Oglala Lakota artists and establish a sustainable and replicable creative economy for Native communities. In 2016, Artspace was also deeply honored to receive a Bush Ecosystem grant. This award of $200,000 over two years recognizes Artspace as, in the words of the foundation, a just can tdo-without organization that helps create an environment for big things to happen in the region. Wow! We are humbled by and take very seriously this vote of confidence from the Bush Foundation. Driehaus Foundation Leads on Historic Pullman Project Artspace and our partners Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives and PullmanArts are moving forward with the development of the Pullman Artspace Lofts project in the historic National Monument neighborhood of Chicago. This project will combine historic preservation of two existing townhomes with new construction anchoring the neighborhood with 38 affordable live/work units for artists and providing ample community space. Currently, Artspace is fundraising to close the final $500,000 philanthropic gap and position the project toward a construction start date in mid We are thrilled to announce that the Richard Driehaus Foundation has kicked off our capital campaign with a transformational lead gift of $100,000! We hope to leverage this pace-setting gift to raise the remaining funds through a matching gift campaign. This is a one-time appeal, once the capital campaign is completed, no additional fundraising for the project will be required. There are ample naming opportunities for all transformational donors who want the opportunity to be part of this catalytic cultural and historic preservation project. Please contact Kathleen Kvern, at kathleen.kvern@artspace.org or call if you would like to learn more about this opportunity.

5 HOSTED ARTSPACE EVENTS MESA ARTSPACE LOFTS GROUND BREAKING Wednesday, May 24, 9am, Free Please join Artspace, NEDCO, the City of Mesa and our partners and supporters as we break ground on Mesa Artspace Lofts. Brief remarks will be followed by a ceremonial groundbreaking with artist-designed shovels. BUILDERS CIRCLE SEATTLE WEEKEND TASHIRO KAPLAN, ARTSPACE HIAWATHA LOFTS, ARTSPACE MT. BAKER LOFTS August 3 6, 2017 Join Kelley Lindquist, members of our Builders Circle and others interested in affordable housing to experience great art, private tours and intimate gatherings. We ll visit our three projects, meet resident artists, attend the Seattle Art Fair and enjoy a private tour at the Wing Luke Museum. OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST LA PALOMA PERFORMANCE AT HI-ARTS EL BARRIO S ARTSPACE PS109 Tuesday, May 23, 7pm, Free Attend a multi-disciplinary play about the reclamation of identity by incarcerated women in the Colombian prison system. The performance will be put on by Hi-ARTS, a PS109 tenant and leading organization within the urban arts movement. FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK ARTSPACE UPTOWN ARTIST LOFTS Friday, June 2, 5 8pm, Free Visit the artists of Uptown Artists Loft in Michigan City, Indiana during the First Friday Art Walk. This multi-venue event focuses on fostering the arts and the artist who create it. Artists will share their work from paintings, to sculptures, to live performances. PLANNED GIVING Another way to continue your legacy by supporting Artspace through future gifts: artspace.org/planned-giving Artspace welcomes future gifts made through various estate planning vehicles including wills, bequests, life insurance policies, retirement plan assets, life income assets, real estate and retained life estates. Whether you ve been a friend of Artspace for one year or 30, we invite you to include Artspace as part of your estate plans. It can be as simple as making a provision in your will or trust for Artspace to be named as a beneficiary. If you re interested in learning more about how to make a planned gift to Artspace, please contact Kate Tucker at or kate.tucker@artspace.org.

6 CONSULTING AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP SPOTLIGHTS TUSCON ARIZONA Artspace s Consulting and Strategic Partnerships department (CSP) performs nationwide in a multitude of ways. In 2016, we spent a significant amount of time in Tucson, Arizona. Wendy Holmes and Teri Deaver consulted with Visual and Textile Arts of Tucson (VTAT) in January and returned to conduct a Creative Space Consulting Visit in October. OVERVIEW OF VTAT CONSULTANCY: GOAL: to help chart a path toward long-term organizational sustainability VTAT, with the support of the Arts Foundation of Tucson and Southern Arizona, asked Artspace to help clarify needs and next steps in several areas: organizational governance, operating analysis, identification of fundraising prospects, organizational vision and the framework of future space considerations. Artspace worked with VTAT leaders to facilitate discussions to build consensus, provided our expertise from our experience in the development and operation of similar endeavors, conducted group exercises to help refine the concept and provided case studies of other groups that have tackled similar challenges. OVERVIEW OF CREATIVE SPACES CONSULTING VISIT: GOAL: to review development opportunities for three cultural facilities in Tucson The Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona invited Artspace to assess the feasibility of a new cultural facility. The team toured priority sites for cultural development and facilitated focus groups. On the tour, stakeholders provided insight on the structures, history and current proposed facility uses. The focus groups provided insight about creative sector space needs from area artists and from key organizations representing cultural interests from the African American and Latino creative cultures. They also explored funding and partnership opportunities, identifying goals that align with private funders and the City, which was represented by Mayor Rothschild and members of the Planning and Development and Parks and Recreation departments. As a result, we are continuing conversations with leaders in the public and private sectors in Tucson to advance relevant cultural facilities in this dynamic city. For more information on how Artspace can help advance creative sector opportunities in your community, please contact the Consulting and Strategic Partnership department by at consulting@artspace.org.