Artspace secures "transformative" million dollar funding

Leading live/work developer Artspace has received a grant of $1m from the Ford Foundation to expand its work in creating affordable space for artists. The Minneapolis-based organization already has more than 800 live/work units across the country (link to feature), home to sculptors, print makers, filmmakers, musicians and dancers. The grant will be used to underwrite the pre-development costs of projects that ‘advance cultural diversity and community engagement' by creating or preserving space for artists. It will act as a ‘revolving fund' - cash used to support one project will be returned to the fund when permanent financing becomes available.

The funding will also enable the organization to launch projects that might not otherwise have got off the ground. Nineteen of Artspace's 24 projects to date have been live/work, and money will go towards projects in culturally specific communities, after the organization was unable to find funding for a project for Native American artists in North Dakota in the 1990s.

‘We are very excited about partnering with community based groups such as the tribal councils of the Dakotas or El Barrio's Operation Fightback in East Harlem,' said Artspace President L. Kelley Lindquist. ‘Moreover we understand that working with such groups requires a different approach than, say, working with municipal governments in Buffalo or Saint Paul. What we learned in the mid 1990s is that the first order of business is to listen with an open mind.

‘A Native American group, for example, might want our help in developing an historically accurate pow wow center, or a native Hawaiian group might wish to have a residential facility that includes shared kitchens, living spaces, children's play areas and expanded community spaces,' he continued.

The donation would enable Artspace to create projects ‘in response to America in the 21st century', said the Ford Foundation's said senior program officer for arts and culture, Roberta Uno. ‘We are excited to make a grant that will advance Artspace's innovative practice as the leading non-profit developer of live/work space for artists.'

The grant meant the potential to create several new projects, said chair of the Artspace board Rebecca Yanisch. ‘But no less importantly, it has the potential to have a transformative effect on this organization by giving us the flexibility to accept projects we might otherwise have had to pass up.'