By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
Published: October 27, 2011
Summit Artspace in downtown Akron is hoping its newly renovated second floor can serve as a magnet for creative businesses to move in.
Summit Artspace is a project of the Akron Area Arts Alliance, which rents the building at 140 E. Market St. from Summit County. The alliance operates Summit Artspace Gallery on the first floor and has five artists’ studios on the third floor.
The group recently renovated the second floor of the building, which had been vacant since the alliance moved into the building in 2002. The project was done with the help of a $200,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to build what’s being called a “Creative Business Center,” or office space for creative industries.
Diana Watt, marketing/programming director for the alliance and Artspace, said the group sees the potential for cooperation among tenants, who could include writers, web designers, video producers, interior designers, artists or support industries.
The space could be used for startup companies, or “people doing graphic design out of their kitchen table who are ready to put a professional face on their business,” she said.
There is one tenant who rents 120 square feet — literally, a cubicle. And there is 2,350 square feet still available to subdivide as tenants might want, said Watt. It is all in one common area, which also has a kitchenette and copier area. Another 3,000 square feet can be used for event space and is available for rent to the general public.
A conference room area is available as an amenity to tenants and on a rental basis to alliance members and the general public.
The office space leases for $10 per square foot for nonprofit organizations and $12 for businesses. Watt said that is on the low end of the competitive lease rates for downtown Akron and includes free parking.
The first tenant in the new Artspace Creative Business Center is Akron Film, a nonprofit arts group that organizes an annual film festival and workshops at the Akron Art Museum.
Akron Film co-director Steve Felix said the space, which is a block from the art museum, is perfect for administrative work that was being done at people’s apartments.
“It gives us some legitimacy,” Felix said of the organization with five employees. “We do big projects on a slight budget, so it’s great for us to have access to the building’s amenities like meeting space, plus share overhead with other organizations.”
Watt said the alliance hopes that future tenants on the second floor will be able to create synergies among themselves and with the artists on the third floor.
“We don’t think it’s too far-fetched that those types of relationships and connections will be made just by being in a space together,” Watt said.
Terry Klausman, who makes welded sculptures, works as a welder/fitter for a living, but says his art lets him live. Klausman has had his studio space on the third floor at Summit Artspace for about a year.
“It has been truly amazing. I am growing by the counsel of more seasoned artists and I’m inspired by fellow artists,” Klausman said of his those who share space on the third floor. They include art quilter Connie Bloom, a former Beacon Journal reporter; portrait and landscape artist Carolyn Lewis; painter and photographer Carin Miller, and painter and sculptor Katina Pastis Radwanski.
The five artists call themselves “The Penthouse” on marketing material. Studios are open with galleries Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 5 p.m., the first Saturday of every month from 5 to 9 p.m. and the first Sunday of every month from noon to 5 p.m.
Jessie Raynor, director of the Akron Area Arts Alliance, said the new space can help encourage the arts and thwart against “brain drain” of talent in the area.
“We are fortunate that we have good university programs in the arts, but young, creative people are moving out,” said Raynor. It could be helpful “if there’s a place where they could get started with the support of an inexpensive rent,” she said.
“You may not be able to afford an office, but here you can afford a desk and get started,” Raynor said. “We’re not just arts. We’re about jobs. We create art, we create business in a neighborhood and the ancillary businesses surround us. It can be an economic drive. We want to change the way people look at the arts. It’s not just the extras.”
The building was constructed in 1927 to house the Akron Beacon Journal and, according to records, was Akron’s first art deco-style structure and the most expensive ever built in the city at a cost of more than a million dollars. The building was the home of the Akron Public Library from 1942-1969. It also served as a location for a Weaver Schools workshop.
“Summit Artspace is an opportunity for new Akron artists to showcase their work and engage with other artists in a highly visible headquarters that is part of Akron’s revitalization,” said Jennifer Thomas, Akron program director for the Knight Foundation.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blinfisher and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty
