Firestation 2 - an open source art and community center

proposal

The soon to be decommissioned fire station is the perfect location for an arts centered multi-purpose downtown community center and to bring some life, culture and commerce to the failing western downtown trainyard area.

Why?

As the County Seat, Shakopee should be a showcase for Scott County’s growing arts and culture.

To fill the lack of a downtown community gather-ing point like a coffee shop.

To catalyze an existing arts & DIY (Do it Yourself) culture that exists in this part of Shakopee.

To educate and engage the public in arts and crafts.

To facilitate downtown community events.

To add a reason for tourists to come downtown.

To increase the quality of life for the downtown community through beautification.

Briefing Room

This section of the fire department with its separate entrance is perfectly suited to be a rentable / reservable space for:

- Scout Troops- Community Education- Start-up companies- Independent online study groups- Special interest groups- Family Reunions- Card Clubs- Knitting Circles

hoW to redeFine the spaces oF the Fire stationWith minimal investment and development, we can maintain the novel character of the fire station and create a flexible use facility

North Bays

A coffee shop managed by the High School DECA or Junior Achievement clubs could be manned by volunteers from local non-profits to raise funds. Adding glass garage doors would let in the light during winter months and could be opened during the warm summer months for a very unique cof-fee house environment. This space would act as a social center for the downtown community including its many seniors.

The walls of this coffee shop would display the painting, art and sculpture produced in Shakopee and Scott County. Local musi-cians, writers, and artists could also per-form in the space

Works could be sold, with the center taking a commission.

Rear Bays

This could be a shared studio space for Shakopee / Scott County artists. The large doors and high ceilings would be very at-tractive to large scale painters and sculp-tors. Rolling up the inside door could give the coffee shop patrons one to one access with the artist and creative space.

To have access to the space, artists could pay a membership fee and be encouraged to hold classes or create art to enhance the aesthetics of downtown Shakopee such as public sculpture, murals, life enhancing workshops for the schools or special needs groups such as the womens’ prison.

Funding

There are many grants available for cultural and economic development. A couple of examples:

nea’s our toWn grant for up to $250,000 for communities that have created public-private partnerships to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical, and economic characters of their neigh-borhoods, towns, cities, and regions. NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman made the announcement during an online press conference.

Chairman Landesman said, “Communities across our country are invest-ing in the arts and smart design to enhance Americans’ quality of life and to promote the distinctive identities of our communities. Our Town creates partnerships among local governments and arts and design organiza-tions to strengthen the creative sector and help revitalize the overall community.”

NEA’s Director of Design Jason Schupbach noted, “Creative placemak-ing is a strategy for making places vibrant. Arts and design are essential parts of the complex work of building a livable, sustainable community.”

Our Town grants range from $25,000 to $250,000 and represent a range of rural, suburban, and urban communities with populations rang-ing from just over 2,000 people to more than 8.2 million people. More than half of the Our Town grants were awarded to communities with a population of less than 200,000, and seven to communities of fewer than 25,000 people. Grants were awarded for planning, design, and arts engagement projects that strengthen arts organizations while increasing the livability of communities across America.

By requiring a partnership between local government and an arts or de-sign organization, Our Town encourages creative, cross sector solutions to the challenges facing towns, cities, and the arts community.

http://WWW.nea.gov/neWs/neWs11/our-toWn-an-nouncement.html

artplace is a collaboration of nine of the nation’s top foundations, eight federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, and six of the nation’s largest banks. ArtPlace supports creative place-making with grants and loans, research and advocacy.

Participating foundations include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Ras-muson Foundation, The Robina Foundation and an anonymous donor. In addition to the NEA, federal partners are the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Edu-cation and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council.

Funds committed to ArtPlace are overseen by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a nonprofit lender and financial consulting organization that serves as investment and grant manager for the collaboration.

ArtPlace will also be supported by a $12 million loan fund capitalized by six major financial institutions and managed by the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Participating institutions are Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Chase, MetLife and Morgan Stanley.

ArtPlace believes that art, culture and creativity expressed powerfully through place can create vibrant communities, thus increasing the desire and the economic opportunity for people to thrive in place. It is all about the local.

ArtPlace periodically awards grants to organizations doing ground-breaking work in creative placemaking.

http://WWW.artplaceamerica.org

Why this Will Work

THE ART SCENE IN THE AREA IS GROWING

Artists around Shakopee and Scott County are already organizing to make art more public.

The Scott County Art Crawl is in its 3rd year. The crawl is heavily centered on downtown Shakopee and brings over 60 artists and the public together.

Savage Arts Council has a public studio space in down-town Savage with close ties to the Savage Depot Coffee Shop.

The Jordan Art Festival is branching out to create a more lasting arts presence through a relationship with Minne-sota Harvest Apple Orchard.

The area around the fire station is already home to many arts/ crafts / DIY businesses and museums.(see FolloWing page)

it has Worked BeFore

History holds that artists begin economic change.

The Minneapolis warehouse district went from near aban-donment to a thriving commercial neighborhood, begin-ning with artists who flocked to the cheep, character-filled industrial empty spaces.

Cities such as Stillwater and Northfield have become des-tinations due a great part to the focus on regional art and culture.

it ’s Working noW

Many small to mid-sized cities benefit from a community arts presence in their downtowns.

Minnetonka Center for the Arts:www.minnetonkaarts.org

Egan Art House:http://www.cityofeagan.com/live/article.aspx?id=41032.

Lanesboro Art Center: www.lanesboroarts.org

Arts Center of St. Peter www.artscentersp.org

There are plenty more.

this is more than Just an art center

All of these art centers are stand-alone entities. By com-bining a community meeting place and an event space with an art center, we generate more opportunities for the public to experience and engage with art. We also generate more opportunities for our artists to engage and be inspired by the community.

Museum / Arts / Crafts / DIY

1 Shakopee Trading Post2 Total Rental3 Downhome Craft Boutique4 Kosse Studio5 Eagle Creek Quilt Shop6 Historical Society7 Tupelo Design8 Custom Creations Photography9 Mt. Holly

Vacant Real Estate of Interest A Lumberyard - Privately OwnedB Former Motorsports - Privately OwnedC Fire Station - City OwenedD Gas Station - Privately Owned

Open Outdoor Spaces Public & Private - Greenway / Park- Event Spaces (flea markets) (art fair)- Murals

1

2

3

4

5 7

a

B

c

Western doWntoWn shakopee related Businesses and opportunities

6

8

9

d