Harvester Arts is teaming up with the Neighboring Association on South Broadway to provide affordable artist spaces. The Neighboring Association aims to revitalize South Broadway in Wichita, and Harvester Arts would like to help artists find accessible studios to create work in. Together they’re offering space in an unused former law office about a half mile south of Kellogg. Torin Andersen caught up with them on-site to take a tour for this months "ArtWorks."
The Neighboring Movement’s Adam Barlow-Thompson explains how they ramped up security at their new facilities.
“One of the things we did when we went this direction is we re-keyed all the doors, so the artists also have their own key for their own space, so they can get in and out of the building,” Barlow-Thompson said. They have their own space [where] they can have extra security.”
The building is located about a half mile south of Kellogg on Broadway.
“It's a big rectangle of a building,” Barlow-Thompson said. “Imagine a very boring law firm. Across the street, you have the Schnitzler mansion, which is one of the old Victorian homes down here in the neighborhood.”
Harvester Arts head Kristin Beal said they have been offering rental studio space in their building at First and Washington, but are always searching for more.
“We were moving out of our original space, and I was connected with Adam and learned about this space,” Beal said. “There are 13 suites here, so we started working together to figure out if we had enough artists that we could bring them in. And we've rented out 10 of the 13 spaces so far.”
Barlow-Thompson said having these spaces creates value in the community.
“Getting creative people into these spaces that not only can create beautiful things, but also community in the neighborhood, was kind of a priority for us,” Barlow-Thompson said. “Harvester Arts represents that really well.”
Most artists don’t have a lot of money, so finding affordable space to create in is often a challenge.
“We offer the space at $1-a-square foot, so it's very affordable, and artists can go in together,” Beal said. “So if it's a bigger space, they can get two or three of their pals to go in with them in that studio.”
Now you might be wondering, is that enough to pay the bills?
“So it's not dollar and cents value right this second, but we see it as a long-term investment that we're willing to take on,” Barlow-Thompson said.
On a tour of the facility, Beal and Barlow-Thompson show off the available studios.
“This studio is 18x13 and a half, and the rent is $259 for this,” Beal said of one of the studios. “This is one of the bigger ones in the building; both these on this side and this one, are $243.”
“It's just one bill for the artist; utilities, security, internet, all that kind of stuff, is set up for them,” Barlow Thompson said. “So they just come in and pay the bill. That's it.”
The Neighboring Movement had tried the experiment before without Harvester Arts.
“We just didn't have the capacity to manage it, so having their team on board makes it so that we can really do this,” Barlow-Thompson said.
