Twenty years and going strong
Western Avenue Mission
We started in October of 2005 with 33 art studios sharing the mill with commercial tenants. Since 2012 we have been 100% art studios and artisan business.
In 2022 Western Avenue was purchased from our founder, Karl Frey, by the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston to preserve us as artist space in perpetuity as part of A&BC’s Creative Land Trust.
We are now almost 400 artists & makers, and an extraordinarily stable and lossless real estate property. The artists renting here are committed to our stability and maintain a .01% rent default rate in an industry that expects 4% to 5% default. We are here to stay in large part because of the artists’ commitment and loyalty.
Your donation helps us to make capital improvements, save toward maintenance expenses that will come with our aging mill complex, and offer programming to allow a wider group of artists and community members to participate in and benefit from the community and support built by the core 380+ artists here.
As a nonprofit, Western Avenue is dedicated to keeping artist studios safe and affordable, so creativity can thrive for generations to come.
Your support, whether by attending our Luminosity fundraiser, making a gift, or simply spreading the word, helps us sustain this landmark creative community.
A home for authentic artistry
Western Avenue
Twenty years ago, Western Avenue was just beginning: an old mill filled with possibility, a handful of artists, and a dream of building a creative community. Fast forward to today, and that dream has flourished into the largest artist community in New England, with five floors of working studios, two floors of lofts, a co-op gallery, a coffee shop, a brewery, a performance space, seven mini galleries, and more.
Join the loyal community
Western Avenue Artist Relief Fund
For the over 50% of our artists living on low income, a single life emergency can make even an affordable studio rent payment temporarily impossible. This particularly affects both our younger and elderly artists, and those without access to generational wealth.
THE ARTIST RELIEF FUND expands our ability to support artists in times of difficulty. Through the generosity of donors from both within and outside the Western Avenue artist community we are able to offer emergency studio/loft rent assistance so that the continuity of an artist’s practice and growth is not derailed by a single life event.
It takes years for an artist’s practice to recover from a forced move away from a stable space. This fund is designed to keep artists working and bolstered during unexpected emergencies beyond their control.
As a nonprofit, Western Avenue is dedicated to keeping artist studios safe and affordable, so creativity can thrive for generations to come.
Your support, whether by attending Luminosity, making a gift, or simply spreading the word, helps us sustain this landmark creative community.
Join us on October 4th as we celebrate 20 years of Open Studios the first Saturday of every month.
Join us on November 12th as we celebrate 20 years of Western Avenue with our first fundraiser.