Our Space:
Space 4 Art currently provides 30 work studios and 5 work/live studios for 40 of San Diego’s finest artists, designers, and craftspeople.The centrally located facility has an abundance of natural light, spacious galleries, and multiple shared community and performance spaces. Space 4 Art also offers support facilities for artists working in a variety of creative media — from painting and printmaking to welding and woodworking.In addition to their work as volunteer builders, the tenant/artists of Space 4 Art perform six hours of service every month to keep costs down and their rent affordable. Tenant/artists are also contributing members of one of five highly specialized and productive committees focusing on areas such as education and resource development.
Our History:
In December of 2008, over 150 concerned citizens participated in a series of community meetings focused on difficulties faced by San Diego’s working artists. The group identified a pressing need — working and living studios and innovative exhibition spaces for artists.
In the months following these meetings, an online survey of 300 local artists helped to define the types of spaces and locations required. The survey results inspired two intensive, multi-day design sessions in which professionals and community members met to conceive ideas for a potential space.
These intense periods of design activity, or charrettes as they are called, generated the fundamental guiding principles of Space 4 Art: to encourage an exchange of creative ideas by establishing a gathering place for artists and a destination for the public; also to reach out to the community by providing educational opportunities and fostering cultural diversity.
In December of 2009, Space 4 Art signed the lease for our interim arts center in three adjacent warehouses located in San Diego’s East Village. Work began on New Years Day of 2010. Professionals worked with volunteers in a series of “community builds,” fabricating modular panels and outfitting each studio to match the artistic needs of the tenant. Since then, Space 4 Art has become a thriving arts center and gathering place for the community.
