Making Space for the ArtsBack to News

Art-studio space is on the decline in America’s communities, creating a crisis for artists who can’t find places to live and work, to create, rehearse, produce, present and teach.

That’s why there is much excitement in Monterey County, where action by the Board of Supervisors is near on the 244- acre, 1,400-unit mixed-use development proposed by East Garrison Partners LLC, for a new town at the former Fort Ord’s East Garrison. The project won a unanimous vote of approval July 13 from the county Planning Commission. A supervisors’ hearing is scheduled for Aug. 16.

Interest has been building for years as this project slowly progressed through a bureaucratic obstacle course, testing the endurance of developers, county officials and stakeholders alike. Designed by Urban Design Associates, this project embraces the principles of smart growth and new urbanism in order to produce a livable community that is “affordable by design.” East Garrison Partners and the county have forged an agreement to provide 30 percent low-cost housing.

One of the most unusual and attractive features of the East Garrison development program is evident in the site plan: The project is divided into three equal-sized phases, with Phase Three designated an “Arts District.” The specific plan for the project calls for the provision in this area of 65 units of low-cost live/work studios for artists, plus 100,000 square feet in a historic district for day studios, rehearsal and performance space, arts administrative and classroom space, galleries and more.

This will be a true arts community, for the use and enjoyment of residents and visitors. It promises to become a model for base closures and real estate developments.

Arts Habitat will be developed and operated by a partnership of Arts Habitat Inc., and Artspace Projects Inc. Beginning in 1991, when the first base closures were announced, Arts Habitat spearheaded the drive to include an arts community as a component of Fort Ord redevelopment. It incorporated in 1996 as a nonprofit organization. Artspace Projects began 25 years ago in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, converting former industrial buildings and warehouses into spaces for the arts. Now operating nationally, Artspace has earned a reputation as the leading nonprofit developer of spaces for the arts.

Among the issues that artists face in pursuit of their professional careers, none has greater urgency than the crisis of diminishing studio spaces. An ecologist would refer to this problem as diminishing habitat. Rising rents and real estate costs, with attendant gentrification, are placing artists of all kinds into a category of endangered species.

In keeping with the ecological imagery, consider that salt marshes used to be regarded as swampy nuisances and were regularly bulldozed out of existence — until it was discovered that these marshes are the first link in the food chain that nourishes the biological environment. Now, salt marshes are treasured and protected.

In like fashion, artists’ studio spaces, where art originates, are the first link in the chain that nourishes the cultural life of our communities.

These spaces — the salt marshes of the cultural environment — ought to be treasured and protected as well.

Thanks to enlightened policymaking by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, and forward-looking development principles conceived by East Garrison Partners, coupled with the grit and determination of a dedicated group of artists and their friends during 15 years of advocacy, a magnificent cultural salt marsh will be born, and will flourish at East Garrison.

This new Arts Habitat will be rich in components, such as low-cost studios, that will foster the vitality of the arts on the Central Coast. Arecent market survey, conducted by Artspace Projects, documents a very high demand for Arts Habitat’s resources.

Another perspective views the historical role of Fort Ord when it functioned as a 26,000-acre, off-limits barrier separating the Salinas Valley and coastal communities. Now that the barrier is gone, Arts Habitat at East Garrison will encourageinterchange between these communities and will serve as a cultural bridge.

You can take your choice — cultural salt marsh or cultural bridge. Either way, Arts Habitat is a great idea whose time has come. We will all be the better for it as we enjoy its contributions to our quality of life and to our economy.

A 2002 Americans for the Arts study on the economic impact of the arts concludes: “America’s nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity every year — $53.2 billion in spending by arts organizations and an additional $80.8 billion in event-related spending by arts audiences.” We look forward to measuring the economic impact of the arts at Arts Habitat.

Two salient points were developed at a statewide conference of the California Confederation for the Arts: 1) “The welfare of the arts is directly dependent upon the well-being of individual artists.” 2) “The roots of freedom in a democratic society are anchored firmly in the arts.” Written more than two decades ago, these comments remain pertinent today, and indicate what is at stake in the success of initiatives like Arts Habitat.

Richard A. Mayer of Carmel Valley is a sculptor and executive director of Arts Habitat, Inc. He has a masters of fine arts degree and the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a Design Arts Fellowship in 1980 for his work in the field of artists’ live/work space.