EP 66: Investing in Creativity and Celebrating Community

Did you know that, when art is present in a community, there’s also an increase in neighborhood livability, community identity, and social inclusion? This is exactly why one nonprofit is investing in creativity and developing places for artists to thrive! With more than 50 live-work developments throughout the United States, Artspace is now expanding to Tampa – and the Artspace Tampa Initiative is being championed as the first development of its kind in the region! 

In this podcast episode, host Sarina Fazan is joined "On The Record" by advocates Alex Sink, the former CFO of the State of Florida, and Peter Lefferts, the chair of the Artspace Tampa Initiative Steering Committee, along with veteran journalist Brendan McLaughlin, to discuss the importance of fostering art in the community - and to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in the Red House Streaming (www.CPComms.com/red-house-streaming) studios at CP Communications (www.CPComms.com)!

According to a press release from the Artspace Tampa Initiative, a recent market study revealed a need to address economic disparities and to provide affordable housing in Tampa’s rapidly expanding market. The proposed initiative is being backed by a diverse coalition of elected officials, community leaders, artists, civic organizations, and philanthropists – including Sink and Lefferts – because it promises to help revive struggling neighborhoods, bring back affordability to rapidly gentrifying communities, provide arts-driven economic development activities, and attract visitors to the area. 

“Tampa Bay has become a thriving arts community. Yet, through extensive listening sessions, our community has identified a critical need for affordable housing options for our burgeoning artists. To address this issue, a steering group of local community leaders is working with Artspace to develop a mixed-use facility with apartments, meeting rooms, and event spaces where resident creative artists can live, work and thrive in affordable spaces. Artspace is the nation’s leading nonprofit developer of affordable spaces for artists having created and operated 54 successful facilities across the USA over the past three decades. This is a very exciting opportunity and I applaud the vision of local leaders who wish to enhance the vibrancy of Tampa Bay,” says Sink, Florida’s former Chief Financial Officer and proponent for bringing Artspace to Tampa. 

Advocates for this initiative point to a cross-section of socio-economic factors that make this proposed economic development project particularly timely including Tampa’s increasing population growth, rising unemployment rate, and predicted long-term implications from the COVID-19 crisis. 

As the third-largest city in Florida, Tampa has seen several neighborhoods and areas of the city, including downtown, the Channel District, and Ybor City become increasingly expensive over the past decade starting a cycle of displacement of creative people and entrepreneurial businesses. The proposed Artspace initiative seeks to address the scarcity of affordable housing by offering housing alternatives that are 30-60% below the going market rate as well as generating economic revitalization and development by providing job opportunities before, during, and after construction. 

The ability to successfully kick-off development for this initiative will be in large part dependent upon support from local community organizations many of which have already expressed an interest in the project, including the Tampa Housing Authority, and Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation. 

Potential neighborhoods being considered for development includes Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, Ybor City, Downtown, and West Tampa. 

Artspace is a nonprofit organization that uses the tools of real estate development to create affordable, appropriate places where artists can live and work. Over the last three decades, Artspace has led an accelerating national movement of artist-centric community transformation. While embracing the value the arts bring to individual lives, Artspace has championed the once-radical idea that artists living on the edge of poverty and chronically underfunded arts organizations can leverage fundamental social change. Artspace is America’s leading developer of art facilities and has served as a consultant to hundreds of communities and arts and culture organizations nationwide. Visit www.ArtSpaceTampa.com for additional information.

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