Santa Cruz’s Sonia Le is picking up that tradition. Le, 38, is an independent fashion designer who works from her studio/office at the Tannery Arts Center. But she’s also a teacher, looking to instill the skills of fashion into a new generation.
A financing plan to build a rental loft tower where local artists with low incomes can live and work is being redrawn after the project slated for state land in Kakaako encountered a $10 million cost increase due to a construction delay.
Currently there are 12 certified creative districts across the state, including Salida, which was, along with Denver Art’s District on Sante Fe, one of the first districts certified in 2012.
The former Bell School Campus in Treme is being transformed into residential and work space for artists and their families. The project is being led by the nonprofit Artspace. Eileen Fleming met up with Artspace spokesman Joe Butler for a look at the historic property – inside and out.
Carla Perlo is twirling a ribbon and dancing around a formerly vacant alley off 8th and Kearny Streets NE. Right off the sidewalk, one of those flailing inflatable tube men flaps over itself in the wind. A steady stream of local officials, artists, and community residents are filing into the alley and a ground level dance studio in the Brookland Artspace Lofts, to celebrate the groundbreaking of what will officially be known as the 8th Street Arts Park.
With the Public Space Permit unanimously approved by the DDOT Public Space Committee, Dance Place announces the Groundbreaking of the 8th St Arts Park on Thursday, March 31 at 4pm.
ERIK HOWARD WAS IN A PANIC. The founder of The Alley Project (TAP)—a community center and gallery for youth creating street art and garage murals in Southwest Detroit—was working on an ArtPlace America Grant for Creative Placemaking. But his application had gone all wrong. “We found out late in the process that somehow we’d applied in the wrong category,” Howard recalls, “so we were improperly prepared for what we had to submit.”
