City Of Chicago/Artspace Partnership To Rehabilitate Former School Into Pilot Live/Work Space For Artists; Architect Is Yves Jeanty

CHICAGO, IL -- More than $1 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and nearly $400,000 in tax credits will rehabilitate a former public school into a living and working space for artists, Mayor Richard M. Daley announced last month.

The Switching Station Lofts Project is conceived as a pilot project for developing more artist's housing in Chicago. Minneapolis-based Artspace, which has developed live work housing across the country, is working in partnership with the Chicago Departments of Housing and Cultural Affairs to create 24 units of relatively affordable live/work rental housing for artists and their families at 15 South Homan Ave. The architect is Chicago- based Architects Enterprise Yves Jeanty. Construction will begin in January 2002.

The 32,000 square foot Roentgen School started life in 1906 as an telephone switching station and then was converted to the school. It has been vacant for 8 years. The structure is a two-to-four story brick building with an enclosed, central U-shaped courtyard. Preserving the original front of the building, and a central courtyard, the new project will also include a rooftop garden.

In order to recreate within the building a flow conducive to housing artists and families, the interior will be completely redone. "But it will preserve a classroom feel." The original blackboards and coat hooks will remain on the walls, and the gymnasium basketball backboard and climbing bars will also remain, "as if someone is moving into a former school," explained Artspace Project Manager Brian Gorecki.

The Duncan YMCA Chernin Center for the Arts is working collaboratively with Artspace as a community liaison and on developing a committee and a model selection process for artist tenants, as well as on developing future programming.

"There is a real cultural vitality to Chicago. But we're lacking a affordable viable space for the needs of artists," Chernin Center Artistic Director Ifa Bayeza told Arts Wire.

Indeed, in a recent CHICAGO READER article which detailed the City's artist housing crises -- including Tree Studios Building, where city-brokered commercial redevelopment is endangering a long-time artists community -- arts advocate Laura Weathered, Executive Director of Near Northwest Arts Council, (NNWAC) strongly urged a public policy for Artists housing in Chicago. For Acme Artists Community, NNWAC is converting an old warehouse into a mixed use condominium which combines non profit office space and affordable live/work housing for artists.

"Artists are being chased out of everywhere. Everybody's being pushed around. Everything's being made into condos. That's what's so sad. There's such a shortage of adequate, affordable live-work space, and work space too." the Reader quoted Arlene Rakoncay, Executive Director of the Chicago Artists' Coalition, as saying.

"Generally, philosophically, as a working artist, one of my life missions is to re-integrate artists into natural flow of community, to make artists an integral part of society," said Ifa Bayeza. "Artists communities which have emerged on their own have been the fuel for revitalization in Chicago. All of these reasons make this an important initiative. The Artspace model is a good one because they have successfully implemented it around the country."

"We are very excited about The Switching Station Project, our first in Chicago. This is a way to look at how artists' housing can part of the fabric of the city," said Artspace Project manager Brian Gorecki. "Chicago has gone thru a tragic gentrification for artists. Great for city but a tragedy for the artists who initially made devastated areas liveable."

Ifa Bayeza noted that the city is looking at other independent live/work developments, such as Tree Studios, and the NNWAC Acme project.

She hopes that the Switching Station Lofts Project will spawn real awareness of the potential of this kind development and that, in the future, funding will nurture arts programing and arts education partnerships in the live/work community.

Sources/resources:

"Mayor Daley Introduces $25 Million in New Affordable Housing Initiatives"
CITY OF CHICAGO -- http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Mayor/2001Press/news_press_25million.html

CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS -- http://www.ci.chi.il.us/CulturalAffairs/

ARTSPACE PROJECTS-- http://www.artspaceprojects.org/

Jeff Huebner
"A City Without Art It's hard to picture Chicago without artists. But if affordable studio and living space continues to dwindle, we may have no trouble picturing it at all"
THE CHICAGO READER -- http://www.chireader.com
November 2, 2001
(to access the article search for "artists housing". There is a small charge.)

NNWAC ACME ARTISTS COMMUNITY-- http://www.nnwac.org/artist_housing.html

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