Bushwick Artists Consider Two Rent-Saving Scenarios, WSJ Reports

The group of 75 Bushwick artists who are trying to collectively find affordable work space in the neighborhood are considering two options, The Wall Street Journal reported. One scenario is to raise donations from investors, ideally art collectors and gallery owners, to create a trust and buy a large loft building to house artist studios. The other scenario is that the artists themselves will pool down payment money and buy buildings in smaller groups. For example, ten artists could each contribute $40,000 toward a $400,000 down payment on a $2,000,0000 loft building with enough space for 10 studios. One sticking point is how to keep the buildings affordable and whether or not artists would be able to sell at a profit. The story didn’t specify if the artists are looking for live/work space or just work space alone. Painter Jules de Balincourt got the group going with a Facebook post in June in which he suggested pooling resources to secure studio space. The group has had one meeting since then, with two more scheduled this month. Balincourt, who has shown at the Whitney Biennial, has owned a building on Starr Street since 2006. Rents have risen dramatically in the area in the last year or so, as a huge number of new bars, restaurants and other businesses catering to recent college graduates have also opened there. Above, a sculpture outside a house on Wilson Avenue.

In Bushwick, Artists Try to Rewrite Gentrification’s Usual Story [WSJ]