The One Cottage Street building.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
EASTHAMPTON — During an emotional evening, Cottage Street Studios tenants, artist allies, community members and public officials completely filled the CitySpace Blue Room on July 11 for a public event in support of keeping affordable studio space at One Cottage Street.
Current and former tenants, along with other supporters of the arts spoke during the hour-long public meeting to emphasize the need to slow/reduce the rate of an increase in rent proposed by Riverside Industries, the One Cottage Street mill building landlord, while still supporting Riverside’s mission of empowering adults with disabilities.
Riverside announced in April that the rents for their 100 tenants, around 80 of which are artists and small businesses, will increase by 25% to 125% to a flat rate of $15 per square foot on Sept. 1, regardless of size, space, tenure in the building or nonprofit status. Current rental rates in the building range from $5 to $15.
“This amount of increase is untenable for most of us, and it threatens our ability to stay in business,” said Ellen Koteen, a photographer who has worked in the mill building for 18 years, during the July 11 public meeting. “We are concerned that the huge rent increase is a bad omen for the city as its revitalization and dynamic cultural climate require affordable spaces for artists and creative pursuits.”
Koteen is a representative of the Cottage Street Tenants Association, which was formed, along with a steering committee, to represent the dozens of artists and creative businesses at Cottage Street Studios who are advocating to keep their workspaces affordable after Riverside’s announcement.
For the past couple months, tenants, some of which have been in the building for four decades, have expressed concerns that an increase this stark would cause mass displacement of artists at the mill building and ruin the community and cultural vibrancy that has been cultivated at One Cottage Street since 1976, when J.P. Stevens donated the 174,000 square-foot building to Riverside for $1.
Markus Jones, the senior director of development and strategic operations for Riverside, told Reminder Publishing in early spring that Riverside recently embarked on a new strategic planning process, and found that costs to operate the One Cottage Street building were rising, especially since the coronavirus pandemic, and that the tenant’s rental rates at the current price were not enough to help cover those costs.
Riverside has argued that the increase in rents will help cover these added costs to the building, along with specific capital projects like updating a fire suppression system and installing a new boiler.
Since forming, the Cottage Street Tenants Association has sent three letters to Riverside’s board of directors with the hope of discussing alternatives that meet the needs of the tenants as well as the financial needs of Riverside. Artists said no meeting has been offered by Riverside.
Additionally, nearly two dozen people spoke during the June 25 Easthampton City Council meeting in support of the Cottage Street artists. The council eventually voted in favor of a non-binding resolution in support of affordable workspace for artists, but they cannot control what Riverside does.
Tenants have until Aug. 1 to let Riverside know if they are staying at One Cottage Street or not, which means an urgency to keep the community aware of the situation was high during the July 11 meeting.
“We’ve been talking a lot about the hypothetical case of our tenants having to leave,” said Margaret Larson, co-owner of Cottage Street Woodworking, who was fighting back tears. “For us, it’s real because we are leaving Cottage Street.”
Some speakers shared fond memories they experienced with tenants over the years, while others said that the mill building’s uniqueness was a reason why they chose to set up shop at One Cottage Street.
Janna Ugone, a tenant of One Cottage Street since 1987, also fought back tears when talking about the 53 businesses she and her nine employees have been affiliated with over the years to help produce her collection of handmade lighting lamps. She lamented the idea of a possible “mass exodus” of artists from the building because of the rent increase.
“If there is a mass exodus … the level of mastery in our building … the book binders, the fine wood workers, the painters and artists that have been honing their craft for 30 to 40 years cannot easily be replaced,” Ugone said. “We may lose a piece of the soul of Easthampton in this, and I really hope this is not true.”
Heather McLean, the owner of Dragonfly Stained Glass Studio, which used to be at One Cottage Street but is now at Eastworks, told a story about how she had the privilege of assisting Denise Herzog, a pioneer in Easthampton’s art renaissance and a progenitor of an arts program at Riverside, with an annual auction that supported Riverside’s programs.
McLean shared the story at the July 11 meeting as a way to highlight the tight relationship Riverside and artist tenants have shared over the years.
“I love Riverside’s mission; I love my artist friends; I love Easthampton,” McLean said. “I know there’s got to be a solution because love is always greater than fear, so let’s just come to the table and talk and share ideas and figure a way that it can be a win-win.”
A couple other speakers, meanwhile, spoke specifically about how the rent increase would affect them as tenants of the mill building.
Lisa Hersey, a bookbinder, workshop instructor and small business owner of Antler Editions who has been at One Cottage Street for six years, said it felt “very scary” when she received the notification that her rent would increase 36% come September.
“It was a total shock and surprise, and it has just been really depressing to walk into my studio,” Hersey said. “I’ve worked so hard to turn my business into income for myself. It’s my entire livelihood.”
Like others, Hersey contextualized the impact of the rent increases on artists.
“If 80 artists get displaced out of that cultural district, it will be a devastating impact for the town and Easthampton as a whole,” Hersey said.
Allies of the One Cottage Street artists, like Ami Bennitt, also spoke during the meeting. Bennitt is a volunteer steering committee member for #ARTSTAYSHERE, which is a volunteer coalition of artists, musicians and advocates — people working in different parts of the creative economy — who, through coming together in one voice, work both to prevent arts and cultural displacement throughout Greater Boston.
The coalition helped the Cottage Street tenants form its own association and are continuing to offer support the artists who reside in the mill building.
A longtime arts administrator, marketer, fundraiser and advocate, Bennitt said that Easthampton is the first time the coalition has worked with artists in Western Mass.
“Art Stays Here has worked with multi-billion-dollar development corporations and municipalities far bigger than Easthampton, and we have found collaborative solutions for thousands of artists, musicians and creatives,” said Bennitt. “I find it impossible to believe that a solution doesn’t exist here too, but we need time, and we need cooperation from all. Both Riverside’s mission and the artist’s contribution are valuable.”
Bennitt said the problem of arts displacement is not new but has never been solved because it can sometimes take 10 to 20 years to change. She noted that there needs to be statewide solutions and added that the coalition is working with the Cottage Street Tenants Association to make them a nonprofit.
“We’re hoping to cut through all that red tape, get to all of the state stakeholders and try to start solving the problem through government-owned buildings [and] through working with community development corporations,” Bennitt said.
Pasqualina Azzarello, the arts and culture program director for the city of Easthampton, emphasized the seriousness of the situation and noted how there are resources in the city, like the Planning Department and Easthampton City Arts, where the public can continue to share their thoughts.
“We have a lot of creativity in Easthampton … we have a lot of resources,” Azzarello said, during the meeting. “There will always be a public space to continue sharing your voice through that municipal channel.”
Readers can learn more about the ongoing situation at One Cottage Street by visiting prior coverage: https://tinyurl.com/328bt4wv.
