Alt.art Cont’d from Page 24 ect. He said the biggest question on everyone’s mind was when these lofts would be completed, and he now has a definitive answer. “Now we can say with real confidence (that) leasing begins in 2016,” Pearson said. “In the early market research for whether or not there was a demand for the apartments themselves, we conducted a survey of the local artist community. Our research was the most successful that Artspace had seen in its 30-year history. We truly have a tiger by the tail. “The reason the Artspace model was attractive to the El Paso Community Foundation is that artists tend to be ‘pioneers’ in urban areas, settling in without the Starbucks on every corner, but attracting the type of amenities that other folks also want,” he said. “The HUD Affordable Housing ideal protects those artists’ rents from becoming subject to increasing property values in the area that they made into an attractive living community in the first place.” Pearson explained the project could help El Paso introduce a vital residential element to the downtown area that will not only be vibrant during weekday business hours, but on any night there is an event. “There is no real community in this particular part of downtown El Paso,” he said. “That’s what we are setting out to create and sustain.” Pearson is looking forward to seeing El Paso join the list of cities with successful Artspace areas, as well as El Paso adding Page 28 Artist’s conception of Artspace Lofts planned for Downtown El Paso (courtesy of El Paso Community Foundation) its own individual flavor to the mix. “El Paso is unique, and a celebration of its artists — the people who are daily documenting and eloquently articulating the real, living history of our region through their chosen media, such as music, dance, sculpture, paint, literature, etc. — are speaking the unique language that makes El Paso great.” Creative funding Even the most independent-minded artist may need financial support from time to time. Crowdfunding supports projects through raising donations, usually online or via social media. There are several crowdfunding sites from which to choose, and artistic-minded individuals have been especially passionate about taking advantage of this fund-raising method. People have raised funds through sites like Kickstarter, Indegogo or Quirky, for everything from funding music videos or film projects, to publishing books and comics. One creative space that has taken advantage of crowdfunding is Plateaux, a community café and shop set in the historic Downtown Banner Building. The space launched a fundraiser through Indigogo to help get it running, and help keep it running. In turn, the café promises to provide a space for musicians, artists and craft persons, business people and others. Donors or crowdfunding campaigns are often offered incentives for donating, and Plateaux co-founder Hector Saenz rewarded supporters with such items as t-shirts, coffee mugs, artwork and private-chefhosted events. “Having been developed by a nonprofit as a community space, we thought it would be great to already engage the community by letting them help get its doors open,” Saenz said of the campaign. El Paso artist Roman Martinez used the crowdfunding program GoFundMe.com to help raise money for paint and supplies for a mural project he did for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid on Texas Avenue. “I used GoFundMe.com to raise the money, and Qwal-paint across the street donated a lot of the paint as well,” Martinez said. “It was a great way to reach new people to help fund larger projects for public art. I’m working on my next one soon.” The City of El Paso also is working to create funding opportunities for area artists through its KickstART program. Socorro Quezada-Diamondstein, Cultural Funding and Technical Assistance Coordinator for the city’s Museums and Cultural Affairs Department, explained that programs like MCAD’s KicksART Program’s annually allocated funds are based on a three-year cycle (2015-2018). “(This program) will continue to produce arts and cultural projects enhancing the El Paso Scene Crowdfunding and other donations helped make possible this mural on Texas Avenue. (photo courtesy of Roman Martinez) cultural appeal of downtown El Paso along with the Pedestrian Pathway which will connect Santa Fe Street and Union Plaza and which is scheduled to be completed by the end of February 2015,” she said. The Guidelines for the KickstART Program will be posted on the MCAD web site at elpasotexas.gov/mcad by May 7, 2015. The due date for the applications will be June 30, 2015. Quezada-Diamondstein emphasized that supporting the arts also supports the overall economy, noting that multidisciplinary Downtown events such as Kidspalooza, Plaza Classic Film Festival, Last Thursday Art Walks, the Downtown Farmers and Artists Market and Chalk the Block not only bring thousands of people to the Downtown area. “Over the last five years, the revenue generated by these activities in the downtown El Paso area has reached approximately $238 million,” she said. February 2015