“While all New Yorkers understand the challenge of finding housing with ample space within their budget, the need for affordable artists’ space extends beyond just housing. Studio space within Manhattan and much of Brooklyn also remains at a premium. Artists need studios in which to work, paint, choreograph, rehearse and record, and write. They need this space in order to create the work we love…..

If we New Yorkers value the arts as much as we say we do, it’s about time we made it possible for artists to live and work here without barely scraping by or moving to other cities more welcoming—and affordable—than our own.”

—- quoted from “Making Space for Artists” by Patricia Jones, Westbeth Interim Executive Director in Chelsea News

Read entire article HERE

Jamal Jackson in performance at WESTFEST. photo: Brigid Pierce

“Right in time for spring cleaning, the Westbeth Artists Housing flung open its doors for the annual WestFest, inviting dance into every nook, hallway, and courtyard. Now in its ninth season, WestFest celebrates the diverse choreographic voices of the city and provides an opportunity for the public to see over 30 artists in both conventional and site-specific spaces.

In a festival format, it is a welcome surprise to discover artists whose work you must have more of. Rather than ending at its walls, WestFest Top Floor urges a continual exploration of its many dancers.”

– Emeri Fetzer for Dance Enthusiast

Read the entire article with photos at Dance Enthusiast

Opening reception: Thursday, May 30th, 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Exhibition dates: May 30th – June 8th, 2019
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Friday, 1:00 – 7:00 PM and Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: 245 Broome St, New York, NY 10002
Closing: Sat. June 8, 12:00 – 5:00 pm

“DYNAMIS brings together New York based artists from different areas of the globe who explore ideas of potentiality in a world dominated by cultural alienation. Works on display interconnect in areas that transcend the artists studio practices by speaking about feelings of aspirations, belonging, displacement and power, as well as women’s agency in domestic spaces. Artists featured are: Rashwan Abdelbaki (NYC/Syria), Chantal Feitosa (NYC/Brazil), Kyung-jin Kim (NYC/South Korea), Cansu Korkmaz (NYC/Turkey), and Angélica Maria Millán Lozano (NYC/Colombia)”.

http://www.residencyunlimited.org/programs/ru-exhibition-dynamis/

This exhibition is curated by the RU alumna curator Luciana Solano and graciously hosted by Equity Gallery.
Please feel free to contact Luciana lusolano@me.com to walk you through, if you want!

ARTBUILT Studios photo: Celeste Sloman

At 50,000 square feet, ArtBuilt Brooklyn, where Ms. Dickinson, Mr. Handelman and roughly 100 other artists now work, was constructed with a creative combination of private investment and civic support from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, specifically the Affordable Real Estate for Artists program of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
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Its intention is to provide physical stability to redress the economic volatility of being an artist working in New York. ArtBuilt offers below-market rents — between $13 to $24 a rentable square foot, compared with approximately $28 to $36 a square foot for commercial space in Brooklyn last year, according to CoStar, a real estate research company. Ms. Dickinson pays $1,092 for 827 square feet; Mr. Handelman pays $1,146 for 868 square feet.

Esther B. Robinson and Guy Buckles, the founders of ArtBuilt, said they worked backward from what artists said they needed …“I went backward from the math — until the math worked,” said Ms. Robinson, a former filmmaker who has a kind of unstoppable enthusiasm, even when jet-lagged. Ultimately, that meant scaling the project to 50,000 square feet, from 10,000, to bring down the rents.

– William L Hamilton

Read the entire articlein the Art and Design Section of NY Times April 22 2019

See Also Westbeth Board of Directors