There is a creative space crisis in the Greater Boston cultural ecosystem. A&BC’s goal, with its partners, is to approach this space crisis through an equity and systems change approach. 

A&BC’s preservation of Western Avenue, through its Creative Campus Initiative, exemplifies our mission to preserve existing, vibrant artist communities for generations of creators to come. This ownership transition is a wonderful example of the power of working with mission-driven owners of creative spaces to preserve equitable and affordable spaces where art is made, rehearsed, and shared.  Through its stewardship of Western Avenue, the A&BC is ensuring the future of these maker spaces that might otherwise have been repurposed, as has happened for so many other studio and artist spaces across Greater Boston in recent years. 

Western Avenue is home to artists and creative businesses from across Greater Boston and beyond, and serves as an engine for local economic development. A&BC’s investment property will ensure that this cultural asset and vibrant community creates momentum towards future partnerships with other passionate owners, business leaders, for-profit developers that appreciate the power of arts and culture within their developments, and cities and towns that look for the creative sector to support their schools, economies, and quality of life. This space crisis is thirty years in the making and grounded in inequity, and we appreciate that it will take a sustained, collaborative, and equity-based approach to be a small part of the solution.