Artists revitalize push for live/work housing

The quest to secure an affordable live/work artist housing project in Sarasota has languished in a preliminary phase for nearly two years, but the coalition that formed in support of the project isn’t giving up hope.

Instead, the group is starting a new effort to raise funds. Their first volley is an event Monday, focused on discussing the history of the North Trail and the process of historic preservation in redeveloping neighborhoods.

The event speaks to the vision of Veronica Morgan, the artist who first raised awarness of the initiative in Sarasota. It’s unknown if her work will ultimately pay off — or where a project would actually be placed — but she sees an opportunity for synergy between artist housing and the revitalization of the North Trail.

“I think the North Trail is the most interesting area in Sarasota,” Morgan said. “It’s the last area that hasn’t been compromised.”

In late 2013, Morgan began telling people about Artspace, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that specializes in developing live/work housing for artists. If Artspace chooses to build a project in a community, it manages it in perpetuity, ensuring the residential units remain affordable.

“They’re able to go into an area, develop a project, and the area develops around it.” — Jim Shirley

The idea was embraced quickly, and the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County agreed to take the lead on pursuing a project. Artspace representatives visited Sarasota in 2014, and an initial report suggested a mixed-use arts project could serve as a “catalyst for change” on the North Trail.

Still, that report said Artspace needed more information about the market for artist housing in Sarasota. The next step, it said, should be an “arts market study,” which came with a price tag of $42,500.

That report was finalized in May 2014. To date, Artspace advocates have raised just $10,000 toward funding the more detailed study.

The project may have fallen out of the public eye, but the effort has never been abandoned, according to Arts Alliance Executive Director Jim Shirley. Still, the fundraising effort is being ramped up, as a small group of volunteers — composed mostly of artists and North Trail residents — renew the effort to bring Artspace here.

Morgan credits Jane Nutter Johnson, who has helped guide fundraising efforts, as an important new advocate for that cause. Johnson, who serves as the organizer for the Sun Circle Art Festival, has visited five live/work artist projects in different states to get a sense of their impact. She came away with the conclusion that a similar development would be a boon for Sarasota’s artists.

“I felt they really wanted this to work in Sarasota, and we just needed to get enthusiasm going again.” — Jane Nutter Johnson

She also met with Artspace representatives and concluded that a project is still viable.

“I felt they really wanted this to work in Sarasota, and we just needed to get enthusiasm going again,” Johnson said. “It was still there, it was just languishing.”

Monday’s event isn’t the only source of new funds for the survey. The group is also working to set up an online crowdfunding website, and more events are being planned.

Although Shirley cautions against banking on any particular site, he, too, sees the potential synergy with the North Trail.

“If you look at the history of what Artspace projects have been able to do nationwide — they’re able to go into an area, develop a project, and the area develops around it,” Shirley said. “It helps bring an area up.”

For now, the group is just focused on funding the survey. Still, for the project to succeed, advocates say a bigger coalition of supporters must eventually coalesce around the effort.

“There’s got to be buy-in on the part of government and business and the community,” Shirley said. “Whenever you’re working on big consensus projects, sometimes it takes a bit of time to pull it all together.”