Comments on: How Two Art Spaces Have Survived In Gentrifying D.C.

By: mike abrams

mike abrams — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 01:47:00 +0000

the thing is the building at 411 has financial pressures and the artists pay a high price to keep their space it is only by risk and ruin that arts spaces are made and sometimes survive .

By: lgarrett

lgarrett — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:44:00 +0000

Right. One of the things we tried to emphasize when we spoke with Maxwell is that these are marginal spaces that are happy to remain in the margins. We are presenting music/art that is never going to be wildly popular or
attract the interest of enough people to pay the rent on a space in a city half as expensive as DC. As someone who is passionate about weird music and the amazing creativity of some of the people who make it, I cannot imagine making the kind of sacrifices that would have to be made in order to run a “commercially viable” enterprise. Recently there was a noise festival in Brooklyn featuring some great bigger-name acts and sponsored by Red Bull; by all accounts I have heard the wild sounds were not worth the awful vibe.

Anyway, one way to carry on and present interesting art in the face of ridiculous rents is precisely to find space in buildings “disconnected from real estate market pressure….” They are out there. And otherwise, yes, to understand that the reality of presenting interesting culture within a hyper-active capitalist system is that most plausible venues are going to be precarious underground situations with limited lifespans. -Layne Garrett

By: How Two Art Spaces Have Survived In Gentrifying...

How Two Art Spaces Have Survived In Gentrifying... — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 20:13:05 +0000

[…] Also @maxwelltani reports that 411 NY Ave. NE (Union Arts bldg) may be sold soon; potential buyer plans to keep as-is http://t.co/j35E4nddTR  […]

By: District Line Daily: Meet Your (Likely) New School Boundaries - City Desk

District Line Daily: Meet Your (Likely) New School Boundaries - City Desk — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 19:40:49 +0000

[…] How do DIY spaces survive the forces of gentrification? [Bandwidth] […]

By: richardlayman

richardlayman — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 19:36:00 +0000

Hmm. Yes, I see your point. WRT 411 NY Ave. NE, in Helsinki (but in other cities as well) similar spaces that were old manufacturing plants (General Typographers sort of fits the bill) were rented by their owners to make some $ while the buildings were otherwise mothballed. That ended up leading to the building being acquired by the city to stay as a permanent arts center (Cable Factory). DC could step in here, but as I have written in a variety of posts over the years, DC doesn’t have a cultural plan and definitely not a facilities plan as it relates to supporting space provision and access for artists, so something like that happening is very remote.

By: wamu885

wamu885 — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 15:03:00 +0000

Richard, the story doesn’t make the case that these spaces have found ways of beating gentrification; they’re uniquely positioned, and that’s how they’re able to stay open amid rising costs.

Also, 411 New York Ave. NE is for sale, as Maxwell mentions in the story. Though the owner says the potential new buyer plans to maintain the building as-is. -Ally

By: richardlayman

richardlayman — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:48:00 +0000

This doesn’t really add much to the discussion. Union Arts’ building has been owned by a family for many decades that used the building originally for their business (which is still located there). So it’s “permanently” allocated space. And the other space is interstitial, and usable, by people with an affiliation in the building. In both cases the properties are disconnected from real estate market pressure to be used for other purposes with a higher rate of economic return. (Plus, I don’t know Amanda Huron, but she is an academic too, and presumably has additional knowledge about these kinds of issues, in particular the use of “public” space: http://amandahuron.net/)

FWIW, I wrote a piece about this broad issue 5 years ago (it was originally part of a presentation at a national theater conference annual meeting) wrt DC and it is still completely relevant today.

This more recent entry on the same broad topic includes links to that and other pieces:

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2014/04/naturally-occurring-innovation.html

By: School boundaries, Take 2 - The Washington Post

School boundaries, Take 2 - The Washington Post — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:41:58 +0000

[…] How two underground art spaces have survived gentrification (Bandwith) […]