Brooklyn Writers: Let's Migrate to an Arts Space!
By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft
Reality has been pounding on my American Dream of "getting ahead" and having lots to retire on. No other culture in the world believes as much as Americans do in being able to outdo the previous generation in prosperity. This is true of us even though reality is proving to such a large portion of us that this will not be the outcome.
Maybe all I NEED is time to create. And a place. I'm in Brooklyn's Central Library now, at Grand Army Plaza. I can't work in my apartment alone all day. There are people around me here, working quietly, which is nice. Nobody is sniffing constantly or playing music in their earbuds so loudly that I can hear the cymbals crashing.
This is fine. But to work in a space devoted to fellow artists? That would be so cool!
Recently I went to the Golden Belt Arts building, in a former tobacco warehouse in Durham, NC. It's a beautiful brick building (picture of the facade next week). It's been restored to create studio space for artists in Durham. Read more at http://www.goldenbeltarts.com/spaces/artist-studios/.
Golden Belt, along with BrightLeaf and the American Tobacco Campus, all in Durham and featured in recent posts, are part of an even bigger effort in Durham to save historic buildings and revitalize the town. It was devastated by the decline in the tobacco industry in the second half of the 20th century. Read about the challenges to pull it off in National Real Estate Investor magazine: http://www.nreionline.com/multifamily/durham-breathes-new-life-old-warehouses.
I rejoice that these buildings were saved from demolition! I crave space in one! How about you? Comment below!
The entrance to Golden Belt features an artistic cow.
The foyer.
Each artist's studio has a giant, manufacturing-grade sliding door with a window. I did lots of
peaking in.
I just love the spaces where creative people concentrate! Don't you? (You're a creative people, too!)
Through the window, this artist's self portrait.
A hallway between the studio.
A bit of self-deprecating humor.
This is a metal- or wood-working studio.
Art is messy, just like life. A common sink in the hallway. Wouldn't you just love to mess with paint in one of these great spaces? Comment below!
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