Asheville Artists Advocate for Affordable Housing

The Center for Craft is focused on developing affordable spaces for creative artists and performers.

A month ago the Center for Craft and the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce launched the “Artspace Survey” campaign facilitated by Artspace Consulting to gather information about and support for the arts and for artists in Asheville.

Survey participants are eligible to win $250 toward creative supplies of their choosing.

To draw public attention, the Center for Craft commissioned a large art installation on its building, including a 14-foot long “yarn bombing” that depicts the silhouette of an apartment building—an echo of its focus on developing affordable spaces for creative artists and performers in Asheville.

As of early March, more than 885 individuals and 120 businesses and organizations have participated in surveys, with a goal of raising those numbers to 1,200 and 150 by March 26, 2018, when the survey ends.

“The survey response rate has surpassed our expectations and is a testament to the strength of Asheville’s creative sector and the need for permanently affordable space solutions,” says Mike Marcus, Assistant Director at the Center for Craft.

Yarn Bombing for a cause

The “yarn bombing” was designed with the help of Grace Casey-Gouin of Echoview Fiber Mill and Stephanie Mergelsberg of Show & Tell Pop Up. The two women worked with 23 local fiber artists to produce 336 colorful knit and crocheted squares, which were stitched together into a large piece that was installed onto the side of the Center’s exterior stairwell on Broadway Street.

“The individual squares reflect the personality and style of the people who made them. Seeing them all come together in such a large and loud expression of creativity really speaks to the heart of Asheville,” says Casey-Gouin, who views the yarn bombing as a way for textile artists to engage in affordable space solutions for Asheville’s creative sector. “I’ve seen so many talented textile artists here in Asheville who had to give up because they just can’t afford to keep going financially or energetically,” says Casey-Gouin.

Artists are being priced out of the market

Brandy Bourne and Justin Rabuck, founders and owners of The Big Crafty and Horse + Hero, estimate that roughly 40% of the artists they represent have to supplement their income by working other jobs—and are being priced out of Asheville’s creative community

“Forging a successful creative business takes time, and most of these artists have spent years fully developing their craft in order to get to that point. Making living and working spaces affordable would be a gift of time, time to create the work that enriches our community. It would make the creative path possible for a wider range of talented people,” says Bourne.

Many longtime local artists and creative professionals have helped create Asheville’s unique culture, but can no longer afford to live here.

Stephanie Hickling Beckman, founder/owner of Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, took the survey because she knows the struggle of finding suitable rehearsal spaces.

“Artists don’t typically work 9-5 or white-collar jobs, which make high rental and property costs more attainable. Most performing artists work in the restaurant business because of the flexibility of hours and the ability to supplement their income through tips.”

Asheville—including its artist population—is hugely self-segregated, she says. “I truly believe that a project such as what Artspace is proposing, designed to remedy the invisibility of our African American and Latino artists, could be a great start toward healing and change.”

Artspace notes that artists often pay rent on two spaces: their home and their studio or performance space, increasing their vulnerability as the cost of living rises. As Asheville City Councilwoman Sheneika Smith says, “This project is a wonderful display of how community-led solutions help advance efforts to solve Asheville’s housing challenges. I encourage creatives from all artistic disciplines to weigh in so that no other artist or cultural leader is lost to another region.”

For more information and to take the survey by March 26th, visit keepavlcreative.com.