Pay 2 Play: A Look at Race and Art Space in Minneapolis, MN

A Look at Race & Art Space in Minneapolis, MN

INTRO How do art organizations move from renting to owning physical space, and why?

What is the relationship between race, wealth, geography, and the ability to own and maintain buildings?

Between February 2017 and June 2018, Juxtaposition Arts and artist researcher Adrienne Doyle partnered to conduct an arts-based research project on the racial and geographic inequities of the ownership and investment of art spaces in Minneapolis, MN.

The hypothesis for this project is that POC-led and -focused art organizations in Minneapolis, MN experience significant barriers to raising the capital and other resources they need to own and adequately invest in facilities out of which to do their work. White-led organizations don’t experience these barriers or experience them to a lesser extent.

Research Method Timeline: Feb 2017 Develop interview questions and survey to be sent to interviewees and other art organizations to identify what types of art organizations will be interviewed: 1. Art organizations in Minneapolis, MN 2. Art organizations with annual budgets

under $2 million

3. Executive Directors of art organizations,

or other high-ranking staff persons

Feb-July 2017 Conduct interviews and administer survey Transcribe interviews

Aug-Oct 2017 Analysis of transcribed interviews Write findings report

Nov 2017-Jan 2018 Share findings with small focus group and receive feedback Develop content for the zine to share findings

Jan-Feb 2018 Design and finalize zine Plan for zine launch event

March 2018 Hold public event to share findings

May-July 2018 Design and finalize zine Plan for and hold a public event to share findings

29 organizations participated in this project.

Of those, 8 were surveyed and 21 were both surveyed and interviewed. 8 of the participants were from POC-led organizations and 21 were from white-led organizations.

For the purposes of this project we identified POC-led and focused art organizations as entities able to answer yes to 2 out of 3 of the questions below: 1. Are the head staff of your

organization people of color?

2. Is the majority of your organization’s

staff people of color?

3. Are your organization’s primary

beneficiaries people of color?

Was the Hypothesis Proven True?

Kinda.

All participants from organizations that own space said that raising capital to purchase space is difficult, however all participants from POC-led organizations and 2 white-led organizations discussed funding through a lens of wealth and racial equity – meaning they understood and had experience with things like navigating prejudices and experiencing difficulties accessing resources as a result of the intertwined systems of racism and capitalism.

What Worked and What Didn’t?

Success: •

Digging into and contributing to

the dialogue around racial equity,

displacement, ownership, and art space in Minneapolis

•

Recording and sharing valuable community knowledge around renting, owning and maintaining

Challenges: •

Small sample size

•

Negotiating research method

and work timeline

•

Locating POC-led art organizations in Minneapolis

Interview Highlights 1. Participants from POC-led organizations that rent and own largely reported different barriers to ownership than participants from white-led organizations. a) Wealth and resource inequity inhibits the

possibility of growth and development of

POC-led organizations.

b) Systemic and institutional racism impedes

access to opportunities and resources like loans and physical space.

c) Lack of experience owning property and

managing money results in an increased

likelihood for mistakes and missed

opportunities. d) Some funders have created a catch 22 around operational grants – mid-sized organizations are often ineligible for general operating

funding if they don’t meet annual budget requirements, but can’t execute programming projects without operational support.

“We’re at a disadvantage being people of color in many ways. We were very lucky that we encountered individuals who were willing to be in a conversation and enter into an agreement with us. We had our white board members and mentors doing that negotiation on our behalf.”

“It’s a kinda chicken or the egg thing. Like, people weren’t going to invest until you said— we could say we’re gonna be located here and here is the actual building, kind of thing.”

Interview Highlights 2. Ensuring that the space you have fits your needs is imperative for arts organizations,

especially artmaking will happen there.

All participants said that they were able to

finance renovations or physical improvements to their space except for participants from POC-led organizations that rent their space. “Besides paying monthly rent, none of the items in there belong to us besides a printer.�

“We haven’t been able to do a lot of improvements or all of the money that we bring in pays for the rent and the bills and the programming. We don’t have a paid staff, so it’s volunteer, but it’s structured very much outward facing that it is an organization that has a full-time paid staff. We fake it really well, but myself and my co-director work a lot of jobs on the side.”

Survey Highlights Are the head staff members at your organization people of color?

24% Yes 76% No Is the majority of the staff at your organization people of color?

24% Yes 76% No Are the audience or primary beneficiaries of your organization’s work people of color?

48% Yes 52% No

Regarding the primary space where organizations conduct their operations and produces their work, surveyed organizations: 76% Rent their space 16% Own their space 8%

Other or none of the above

If your organization does not currently own space is it a goal?

36% Yes 48% No 16% My organization already

owns its space

Any Advice?

Participants from organizations that own their space had the following advice to give to other organizations looking to own space:

“I would encourage people not to make the mistake that we had made and learn. You need to invest in the buildings all along. Our buildings are worth less today than they were when we bought them because we haven’t invested in them. You should have the ability to improve on your buildings and keep them in good shape.”

“I’ve talked to some places that have asked, you know, for advice about this and everyone has great ideas and goals, but you know, when it comes down to, like, are you gonna get the donors that can help you do this and the funding and a loan? And the answer is, well I don’t know. Then you shouldn’t be buying it. Don’t buy a building till you know that answer.”

“I believe the organization should have a history of doing the thing they think they wanna do before they move to buying a building. The reverse side of that is that I could see a strategy where you buy a building as, like, a leverage point. To just like, let me just buy this and then I’m gonna crack some stuff off, but now I have this asset that I own.”

Any Advice?

“There’s a lot of costs involved that a young non-profit is not necessarily going to be aware of as they’re growing their programming and figuring out what’s going to be a good sustainable model for them and in some regards maybe it’s prudent to rent a space until you have a better understanding, you have more flexibility in terms of what you can afford to pay a mortgage.”

“I think a lot of people are afraid of owning their own spaces because that becomes your responsibility, but I see it differently. I think this responsibility comes with a really great power. So you can control your space, you have control over you time and scheduling, you are increasing your capacity to support your community. So you have to really think it’s a positive benefit to the agency.”

“So, owning a building affords you power in a lot of ways. You can borrow money on it, you can rent it out and make money on it. I mean it costs money too. So you gotta balance those things out. So I could see a strategy that would go in that direction, but for people that don’t have a lot of financial assets or a lot of knowledge about owning a property I would say, get on solid footing with the thing you want to do before you jump into buying a building.”

This project was funded by Twin Cities LISC and this zine was created by Juxtaposition Arts’ Graphic Design Lab. For more information on this project, contact Adrienne Doyle at adrienne.doyle@juxtaposition.org.