Artists love cheap spaces and some of the nation's economically
challenged areas offer exactly that. An influx of creatives are moving
into places like Cleveland, Buffalo and Detroit looking for deals and
space.
Excerpt:
Drawn by available spaces and cheap rents, artists are filling in
some of the neighborhoods being emptied by foreclosures. City officials
and community groups seeking ways to stop the rash of vacancies are
offering them incentives to move in, from low rents and mortgages to
creative control over renovation projects.
"Artists have become the occupiers of last resort," said Robert
McNulty, president of Partners for Livable Communities, a
Washington-based nonprofit organization. "The worse things get, the
more creative you have to become."
Artists and architects are buying foreclosed homes in Detroit for as
little as $100. In St. Louis, artists are moving into vacant retail
spaces in a shopping mall, turning stores that stood empty for more
than a year into studios and event spaces for rents of $100 a month.
Artspace Projects Inc., a national nonprofit development corporation,
plans to create 35 live/work spaces for artists on vacant property in
Hamilton, Ohio, after converting an empty car factory and an adjacent
lot in Buffalo, N.Y., into 60 artists' lofts last year.
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