Everett is $2 million closer to building a haven for artists and an all-purpose visual arts education center in its downtown.
The capital campaign being forged by the Arts Council of Snohomish County and the group called Artspace has reached a $2 million milestone. These two nonprofits need to raise $6 million to make such a center happen, and though they are just at the one-third mark, the groups believe they can reach the half-way point by spring.
“We still have a ways to go, but seeing that we’re a third of the way there is very exciting and encouraging for our dedicated staff and volunteers who are out raising funds,” said campaign manager Glenda Anderson. “The arts council has been planning for this new facility for many years, so it is very rewarding to see the community supporting this project.”
The arts council’s campaign, called “Live, Learn, Create,” is being done in partnership with Artspace Projects Inc. to build a new multiuse regional arts center.
The center is planned to be 80,000 square feet and to be built where a parking garage is currently located at 2919 Hoyt Ave., just north of the arts council’s headquarters in the Monte Cristo Hotel on Wall Street. The center will provide a new home for arts council programs. The center will also be a haven for artists by providing affordable housing for working artists and their families by developing 40 affordable housing units on the upper three levels of the center.
The arts council plans on designing and building out the first floor of the project as the new Visual Arts Education Center. This visual arts center will have about 18,000 square feet for art exhibits, classes and workshops, and art production.
Here, visitors can watch artists at work, take art classes, buy local artwork and attend art lectures and events. The new center will include flexible exhibit spaces, a multipurpose classroom, a hot shop for glassblowers from beginner to expert, a printmaking and bookmaking studio equipped for etching, silkscreening, papermaking, and bookbinding, a ceramics studio and a silversmithing studio.
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