11
Nov
2003
The most obvious signs of Davenport's arts renaissance can be seen with the construction of the new Figge Art Museum and the renovation of the Redstone building for the River Music Experience.
But two other projects now in the works could have an even greater impact on the Quad Cities' artistic community. MidCoast Fine Arts is in the process of turning a furniture warehouse and retail store into a mixed-use development with artist studios, galleries, classrooms, office space for cultural providers, condos, and possibly a restaurant. And Tracy Hayes is targeting emerging artists and low-income populations with the Community Arts Resource Tank (CART) in the Union Arcade building, offering classes, a common workspace for artists, several darkrooms, and private artist studios.
Both are ambitious projects that entail a certain amount of risk. Both hope to be self-sustaining - meaning that they won't require regular infusions of grant money to stay afloat. And with both of them, it should be clearer over the next few months whether community interest is strong enough to get them off the ground.
In an ideal world, these two projects would create a great arts synergy. In addition to River Renaissance developments such as the art museum and the River Music Experience that are meant to bring tourists to downtown Davenport, the MidCoast undertaking and CART could create an arts hub for Quad Cities residents.
And in the long run, if they both work and stick to their primary missions, that's certainly possible. CART is aiming to provide arts programming, material, and space to people who wouldn't get those things otherwise, while MidCoast is offering market-rate space to artists who are more established.
As a practical matter, though, having CART and the MidCoast project coming together at the same time just blocks apart has created a tension. There's only so much start-up assistance - grants and donations - available, and the projects share enough general similarities, such as providing artists with studio spaces, that there's the potential for confusion among funders and in the community.
Hayes, president and executive director of CART, is adamant that there will not be duplication with her organization and the MidCoast project, or with CART and existing programs in the community. "We don't look to compete with other organizations," she said. "I don't see an overlapping of services. We serve a different clientele than any other arts organization. We are going to do our best not to duplicate anything."
CART: Trying to Meet Arts Needs at a "Social-Service Level"
Hayes has been working on establishing CART since December 2002 and hopes to open the organization's doors in January. "I've been living off my savings for the past year," she said.
She got the idea for something like CART while working as a photographer in Arizona. As the newspaper she worked for was switching from film to digital photography, she realized that the old photographic equipment could be given to low-income and at-risk populations that might not be able to afford cameras.
After getting her bachelor's degree in 2001, she took an internship with the Argus/Dispatch and decided to move to the Quad Cities. Now she's transforming her idea into action with CART.
CART's slogan is "art workspace for everyone," and Hayes describes the concept as the "YMCA for art." The basic premise is to offer space and training for "the hobbyist, the novice" and to people who generally don't have the money to participate in arts programs. Full-time and established artists are already being served by MidCoast Fine Arts and Quad City Arts, she argues.
CART's primary source of revenue is expected to be memberships sold to individuals, families, and individual emerging artists, and those will help fund scholarships for low-income people. Membership entitles people to use of CART's common art-making area and its artistic supplies, to free workshops, and to discounts on classes. CART will be open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
To open in January, Hayes said, she needs to reach certain targets: 50 emerging-artist memberships (at $300 a year) and 200 community memberships (at $150 for individuals and $250 for families). That would generate roughly $55,000. Organizational memberships are also available.
"We really need the support of the community at this point," Hayes said. "Memberships are key to us being able to open and operate." She added that CART has just begun its membership drive.
CART will also be asking for donations of camera and art materials this Saturday, November 15, from noon to 4 p.m. at five locations.
Raising $36,000 in memberships would trigger two separate 50-percent-matching grants from the Figge and Bechtel foundations, Hayes said. If CART can raise $91,000 in memberships and grants, the Moline Foundation will commit $10,000 to the program, she added.
The organization has a five-member board as well as an advisory board, and Hayes said she expects to receive notice of her 501(c)(3) not-for-profit tax status any day now.
She has an office on the first floor of the Union Arcade building at 111 East Third Street, and CART will use the building's mezzanine and second levels. CART will also feature a coffee shop - even though Theo's Java Hut is right next door - on the first floor that is expected to provide some revenue, although initially it will only be open over the lunch hour.
Hayes said that she's paying for the space, and that the building's owners hope to one day get market-rate rent from CART.
"Tracy showed up here one day and said, 'I have a great idea,'" said Fred Dodds, president of FDL Incorporated, which owns the Union Arcade. Dodds said Hayes was ready to sign a lease in Moline when the Figge Foundation suggested the Union Arcade space.
Dodds said his company would like to get market-rate rent for CART's space but believes in the project. "We see the potential in this type of organization," he said. "We're willing to contribute."
The mezzanine level will feature three darkrooms (for different types of photography), a classroom, and a large common area for people to work on their art. The second floor will feature individual studios. Hayes said she wants to trade office space for time teaching classes, because people who rent those studios might not be able to afford market-rate space. "Our second-floor secure spaces are available to low-income and emerging artists," she said.
CART aims to give access to arts programming and materials to low-income people. "We're trying to meet those needs on a social-services level," Hayes said. The organization already has partnerships with organizations such as Friendly House, the YMCA, and the Davenport Museum of Art. Initially, CART plans to offer four photography classes, after-school drop-in programs, and other classes in watercolors, life drawing, and calligraphy. Last month, CART held a cartooning workshop for middle-school students at Friendly House.
Hayes also anticipates having a "photo outreach program" through which apprentice photographers would take, for example, senior or wedding pictures for people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them. "It's important for our future to document" the major events in people's lives, Hayes said.
Although CART will be using two floors of the Union Arcade building, it will only be using a portion of those floors at first. "There's room for growth in this building," she said. Dodds added that the Union Arcade managers recognize "the size it [CART] can get to be if it's managed properly."
Hayes has not run a not-for-profit organization before but expects to finish a master's degree in organizational leadership and an MBA in organizational management at St. Ambrose in the spring.
"It's a viable business plan," Hayes said. The goal with memberships and the café is "to be operationally self-supporting. We want to be a model for the rest of the nation."
She added that she wants CART to be self-sustaining by the end of its first year. "It's all dependent on the support of the community," she said.
MidCoast: Catering to Established Artists
Three blocks away at what currently houses Petersen-Hagge Furniture at 225 East Second Street in Davenport is the building MidCoast hopes to transform into a cornerstone of economic renaissance for the eastern part of Davenport's downtown. While it shares some features with CART - including classes and studio space for artists - the MidCoast building comes from a mixed-used model and caters to artists who are more established and require regular access to space to work. MidCoast will be charging market rate for its studios.
The success of CART is predicated on maintaining a certain number of memberships, while MidCoast plans to sell off a portion of its building for condos and make mortgage payments through rent to artists, cultural organizations, and a restaurant or other business.
"If it's reliant on grants, it doesn't have long-term sustainability," said Dean Schroeder, executive director of MidCoast Fine Arts.
"We've got a lot of interest," he said. "We haven't requested any sign-up yet."
The building has four floors, each with a different use. The top floor and part of the third will be condos. Originally, MidCoast planned to have five units of approximately 1,200 square feet selling for $85,000, but "by the looks of things now, we'll have three" larger condos at higher prices, Schroeder said. He added that his organization has confirmation of one condo purchase.
"These are true warehouse lofts," he said.
The third floor will feature space for the headquarters of five cultural organizations, plus a shared conference room. Schroeder said he had three "verbal commitments [from area cultural organizations] predicated on funding" for the office space.
The second floor will feature artist studios. The original MidCoast plan anticipated 13 workspaces of about 500 square feet each, renting from between $200 and $300 a month, but Schroeder said MidCoast is now exploring the possibility of having some group spaces for artists. Because that would reduce build-out costs, shared spaces should end up being less expensive on a per-artist basis. "Some artists like the solitude and privacy of being by themselves," while others like the energy of working in the same space as other artists, Schroeder said. There could be as few as five workspaces on the second floor, depending on how many artists would prefer to share space.
One of the artist workspaces would be a live-work studio loft for artists-in-residence, perhaps from the Figge Art Museum or the River Music Experience, Schroeder said. "That brings them into the arts energy," he added.
The first floor will feature one group gallery of about 2,800 square feet and two smaller galleries between 300 and 400 square feet. The group gallery would feature "vignettes of five of the area's most recognized artists who also want to teach classes," Schroeder said. This would provide low-cost retail space for the artists and classes for the community.
On the other side of the building, MidCoast might bring in a restaurant of about 2,300 square feet, although Schroeder said that element is tentative. "It isn't that critical," he said. Whether that side of the building is used for retail or a restaurant, he added, the key will be to generate traffic near the building.
Schroeder sees his organization's project as a bookend for the "arts corridor" on Second Street that includes the Figge Art Museum and the River Music Experience, as well as a catalyst for other development on downtown's eastern side. "This building is what causes the dominoes to start falling with other investment," he said.
Both CART and the MidCoast project are "a perfect fit with the Davenport loft project we broke ground on last week," said Tara Barney, DavenportOne's senior vice president for downtown economic development. Alexander Company has begun a $10-million, 73-unit loft project that will transform warehouses north of the MidCoast building into mixed-income loft-style apartments.
Also in that area, the Judy's Antiques building east of the MidCoast project will be torn down this winter and replaced with green space, Barney said. Community Development Block Grant and private money are being used for the Judy's Antiques project, while tax credits are assisting Alexander's loft development.
MidCoast bought its building for $210,000, with four investors putting up $10,000 each for the first right of refusal on condo units, Schroeder said. "That initiated our down payment," he added. The building had been on the market for about a year and didn't sell, Schroeder said.
The new year will be a key date for the MidCoast project. Schroeder said he'll be looking for written agreements with tenants/buyers starting at the end of this month, with a goal of having 50 percent of the space committed by January 1.
MidCoast takes possession of the building in early January, and it's now on its third round of bids for construction. Schroeder said he anticipates the first round of construction being done by the end of spring, with occupancy to follow soon thereafter.
For more information on CART, call (563)323-2278 or visit (http://www.theCart.org). You can find more information about MidCoast Fine Arts by visiting (http://www.midcoast.org) or calling (309)786-2430.
Both are ambitious projects that entail a certain amount of risk. Both hope to be self-sustaining - meaning that they won't require regular infusions of grant money to stay afloat. And with both of them, it should be clearer over the next few months whether community interest is strong enough to get them off the ground.
In an ideal world, these two projects would create a great arts synergy. In addition to River Renaissance developments such as the art museum and the River Music Experience that are meant to bring tourists to downtown Davenport, the MidCoast undertaking and CART could create an arts hub for Quad Cities residents.
And in the long run, if they both work and stick to their primary missions, that's certainly possible. CART is aiming to provide arts programming, material, and space to people who wouldn't get those things otherwise, while MidCoast is offering market-rate space to artists who are more established.
As a practical matter, though, having CART and the MidCoast project coming together at the same time just blocks apart has created a tension. There's only so much start-up assistance - grants and donations - available, and the projects share enough general similarities, such as providing artists with studio spaces, that there's the potential for confusion among funders and in the community.
Hayes, president and executive director of CART, is adamant that there will not be duplication with her organization and the MidCoast project, or with CART and existing programs in the community. "We don't look to compete with other organizations," she said. "I don't see an overlapping of services. We serve a different clientele than any other arts organization. We are going to do our best not to duplicate anything."
CART: Trying to Meet Arts Needs at a "Social-Service Level"
Hayes has been working on establishing CART since December 2002 and hopes to open the organization's doors in January. "I've been living off my savings for the past year," she said.
She got the idea for something like CART while working as a photographer in Arizona. As the newspaper she worked for was switching from film to digital photography, she realized that the old photographic equipment could be given to low-income and at-risk populations that might not be able to afford cameras.
After getting her bachelor's degree in 2001, she took an internship with the Argus/Dispatch and decided to move to the Quad Cities. Now she's transforming her idea into action with CART.
CART's slogan is "art workspace for everyone," and Hayes describes the concept as the "YMCA for art." The basic premise is to offer space and training for "the hobbyist, the novice" and to people who generally don't have the money to participate in arts programs. Full-time and established artists are already being served by MidCoast Fine Arts and Quad City Arts, she argues.
CART's primary source of revenue is expected to be memberships sold to individuals, families, and individual emerging artists, and those will help fund scholarships for low-income people. Membership entitles people to use of CART's common art-making area and its artistic supplies, to free workshops, and to discounts on classes. CART will be open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
To open in January, Hayes said, she needs to reach certain targets: 50 emerging-artist memberships (at $300 a year) and 200 community memberships (at $150 for individuals and $250 for families). That would generate roughly $55,000. Organizational memberships are also available.
"We really need the support of the community at this point," Hayes said. "Memberships are key to us being able to open and operate." She added that CART has just begun its membership drive.
CART will also be asking for donations of camera and art materials this Saturday, November 15, from noon to 4 p.m. at five locations.
Raising $36,000 in memberships would trigger two separate 50-percent-matching grants from the Figge and Bechtel foundations, Hayes said. If CART can raise $91,000 in memberships and grants, the Moline Foundation will commit $10,000 to the program, she added.
The organization has a five-member board as well as an advisory board, and Hayes said she expects to receive notice of her 501(c)(3) not-for-profit tax status any day now.
She has an office on the first floor of the Union Arcade building at 111 East Third Street, and CART will use the building's mezzanine and second levels. CART will also feature a coffee shop - even though Theo's Java Hut is right next door - on the first floor that is expected to provide some revenue, although initially it will only be open over the lunch hour.
Hayes said that she's paying for the space, and that the building's owners hope to one day get market-rate rent from CART.
"Tracy showed up here one day and said, 'I have a great idea,'" said Fred Dodds, president of FDL Incorporated, which owns the Union Arcade. Dodds said Hayes was ready to sign a lease in Moline when the Figge Foundation suggested the Union Arcade space.
Dodds said his company would like to get market-rate rent for CART's space but believes in the project. "We see the potential in this type of organization," he said. "We're willing to contribute."
The mezzanine level will feature three darkrooms (for different types of photography), a classroom, and a large common area for people to work on their art. The second floor will feature individual studios. Hayes said she wants to trade office space for time teaching classes, because people who rent those studios might not be able to afford market-rate space. "Our second-floor secure spaces are available to low-income and emerging artists," she said.
CART aims to give access to arts programming and materials to low-income people. "We're trying to meet those needs on a social-services level," Hayes said. The organization already has partnerships with organizations such as Friendly House, the YMCA, and the Davenport Museum of Art. Initially, CART plans to offer four photography classes, after-school drop-in programs, and other classes in watercolors, life drawing, and calligraphy. Last month, CART held a cartooning workshop for middle-school students at Friendly House.
Hayes also anticipates having a "photo outreach program" through which apprentice photographers would take, for example, senior or wedding pictures for people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them. "It's important for our future to document" the major events in people's lives, Hayes said.
Although CART will be using two floors of the Union Arcade building, it will only be using a portion of those floors at first. "There's room for growth in this building," she said. Dodds added that the Union Arcade managers recognize "the size it [CART] can get to be if it's managed properly."
Hayes has not run a not-for-profit organization before but expects to finish a master's degree in organizational leadership and an MBA in organizational management at St. Ambrose in the spring.
"It's a viable business plan," Hayes said. The goal with memberships and the café is "to be operationally self-supporting. We want to be a model for the rest of the nation."
She added that she wants CART to be self-sustaining by the end of its first year. "It's all dependent on the support of the community," she said.
MidCoast: Catering to Established Artists
Three blocks away at what currently houses Petersen-Hagge Furniture at 225 East Second Street in Davenport is the building MidCoast hopes to transform into a cornerstone of economic renaissance for the eastern part of Davenport's downtown. While it shares some features with CART - including classes and studio space for artists - the MidCoast building comes from a mixed-used model and caters to artists who are more established and require regular access to space to work. MidCoast will be charging market rate for its studios.
The success of CART is predicated on maintaining a certain number of memberships, while MidCoast plans to sell off a portion of its building for condos and make mortgage payments through rent to artists, cultural organizations, and a restaurant or other business.
"If it's reliant on grants, it doesn't have long-term sustainability," said Dean Schroeder, executive director of MidCoast Fine Arts.
"We've got a lot of interest," he said. "We haven't requested any sign-up yet."
The building has four floors, each with a different use. The top floor and part of the third will be condos. Originally, MidCoast planned to have five units of approximately 1,200 square feet selling for $85,000, but "by the looks of things now, we'll have three" larger condos at higher prices, Schroeder said. He added that his organization has confirmation of one condo purchase.
"These are true warehouse lofts," he said.
The third floor will feature space for the headquarters of five cultural organizations, plus a shared conference room. Schroeder said he had three "verbal commitments [from area cultural organizations] predicated on funding" for the office space.
The second floor will feature artist studios. The original MidCoast plan anticipated 13 workspaces of about 500 square feet each, renting from between $200 and $300 a month, but Schroeder said MidCoast is now exploring the possibility of having some group spaces for artists. Because that would reduce build-out costs, shared spaces should end up being less expensive on a per-artist basis. "Some artists like the solitude and privacy of being by themselves," while others like the energy of working in the same space as other artists, Schroeder said. There could be as few as five workspaces on the second floor, depending on how many artists would prefer to share space.
One of the artist workspaces would be a live-work studio loft for artists-in-residence, perhaps from the Figge Art Museum or the River Music Experience, Schroeder said. "That brings them into the arts energy," he added.
The first floor will feature one group gallery of about 2,800 square feet and two smaller galleries between 300 and 400 square feet. The group gallery would feature "vignettes of five of the area's most recognized artists who also want to teach classes," Schroeder said. This would provide low-cost retail space for the artists and classes for the community.
On the other side of the building, MidCoast might bring in a restaurant of about 2,300 square feet, although Schroeder said that element is tentative. "It isn't that critical," he said. Whether that side of the building is used for retail or a restaurant, he added, the key will be to generate traffic near the building.
Schroeder sees his organization's project as a bookend for the "arts corridor" on Second Street that includes the Figge Art Museum and the River Music Experience, as well as a catalyst for other development on downtown's eastern side. "This building is what causes the dominoes to start falling with other investment," he said.
Both CART and the MidCoast project are "a perfect fit with the Davenport loft project we broke ground on last week," said Tara Barney, DavenportOne's senior vice president for downtown economic development. Alexander Company has begun a $10-million, 73-unit loft project that will transform warehouses north of the MidCoast building into mixed-income loft-style apartments.
Also in that area, the Judy's Antiques building east of the MidCoast project will be torn down this winter and replaced with green space, Barney said. Community Development Block Grant and private money are being used for the Judy's Antiques project, while tax credits are assisting Alexander's loft development.
MidCoast bought its building for $210,000, with four investors putting up $10,000 each for the first right of refusal on condo units, Schroeder said. "That initiated our down payment," he added. The building had been on the market for about a year and didn't sell, Schroeder said.
The new year will be a key date for the MidCoast project. Schroeder said he'll be looking for written agreements with tenants/buyers starting at the end of this month, with a goal of having 50 percent of the space committed by January 1.
MidCoast takes possession of the building in early January, and it's now on its third round of bids for construction. Schroeder said he anticipates the first round of construction being done by the end of spring, with occupancy to follow soon thereafter.
For more information on CART, call (563)323-2278 or visit (http://www.theCart.org). You can find more information about MidCoast Fine Arts by visiting (http://www.midcoast.org) or calling (309)786-2430.
