The Aurora Cultural Arts District is ramping up efforts to create more work space for artists interested in locating their studios and businesses in the north Aurora area along East Colfax as more artists flock to the area.
“Prices are going up all around the entire city and artists are looking for spaces,” said Tracy Weil, managing director of the Aurora Cultural Arts District. “When I talk to people, these are artists here in the neighborhood and they’re looking for space near to where they live. A lot of real estate is moving out here, and we’ve found ourselves in a very active area and it’s creating a draw for people to want to come here.”
Weil also manages 1400 Dallas Street, . He has a waiting list of 12 artists looking to get a little space. To help ease that demand, he partnered with Pasternack’s Pawn Shops, 9745 E. Colfax Avenue, to transform vacant storefronts into 12 more artist studios, most of which will be ready to rent next month.
“Pasternack’s Pawn and its owner, Scott, has had a presence in the neighborhood for several years,” Weil said. “We got to talking to them about doing some studios in one of their vacant buildings there. We’re maxed out with our 10 spaces at Dallas Street.
“It’s absolutely necessary to have a work space to make art a career,” He said. “With more people wanting to do that, we’re trying to create the most conducive atmosphere.”
One local group of artists called The Aurora Art Group has a similar mission of helping artists in the Aurora area find the resources they need to be successful at selling their work. The grassroots organization has been forming over the last three years through local meet-ups, and one of its founders, Aurora resident Reno Carollo, says they are beginning to look for their own dedicated studio and showing space.
“We hope to build a place — whether it’s in the Aurora Cultural Arts District or it’s in another part of the city — as we start getting more members and gaining more momentum,” Carollo said. “Our eventual goal is to create an Art and Invention Center where both artist and inventors can work in shared and individual work spaces.”
Carollo, who has lived in Aurora for 23 years and been a professional sculptor and artist for 34 years, said the key to a thriving and successful arts community is a combination of a supportive community and an understanding of business practices that can establish successful careers. He said the city is in dire need of that kind of collaborative working and teaching space for budding artists.
“We want to just start getting people together and doing some shows — one this year and maybe three or four next year — to create more of an awareness of who the artists in our community are. What are they making, what are they doing, what are they selling, do they want to make a living out of what they’re selling and how can we help them achieve that,” Carollo said. “There’s a lot of tools out there that I don’t think a lot of people know about. We hope to have some workshops as well to share with them how to become a professional there are many ways to make a living as an artist and there’s a lot of interest to do that.”
The Aurora Art Group made an unsuccessful bid to take over the city’s along Havana Street for its cause, and now Weil and other members of the arts district are hoping they will consider settling on East Colfax.
“I would love to see them make ACAD their home,” Weil said. “There’s a big 20,000 square foot space for sale, and we’ve been pitching that as a possible option.”
Aurora also recently requested proposals for developers to design a large, affordable live-work space in the heart of the arts district. Bob Hagedorn, president of the art district board, said ArtSpace, a leading company in the development of arts facilities, is exploring those uses now.
“They’re looking at the Friends Building, a 21,000 square foot space that is very opportunistic,” Hagedorn said. “But I understand that Reno and his group are looking for a place, and if that building becomes an art focused center, that will be the largest art space on all of Colfax Avenue, both east and west. What he’s trying to do is very special, and trying to have the largest art building of Colfax would be quite the thing.”
The demand for art and visual art real estate in the arts district is so high that either way, most of the vacant properties in the area are being examined for an arts use of some kind.
“We’ve got a lot of open space right and a nice concentration of artists around and they all need space,” Weil said. “There’s a demand for visual arts space just as much as studio space, and we’re just enjoying this growth and looking forward to the type of community these developments will spur.”