Even without Artspace collaboration, artists eagerly anticipate affordable studio and living space at Riverdale

Hidden from the other workspaces by a shower curtain, the tiny art studio is just big enough for a desk and a fuzzy beanbag chair. Pieces of Hayes Burton’s art, including pen-and-ink sketches, magazine clippings, photographs and countless doodles, are pinned to bulletin boards that serve as the walls to their makeshift personal studio.

Burton is a senior studio art student at Hollins University, which means they have access to dedicated studio space. While it’s small, it’s a step up from creating art on their bed or on the floor, which they said they have been doing all their life — “It’s not the most conducive for what I want to make,” they said.

One day last year while Burton was walking through the art building on campus, a postcard on a bulletin board caught their eye: “Are you looking for affordable living and creative space in Roanoke?” it read.

Burton, who graduates this spring and will lose access to their on-campus studio space, was instantly excited. The postcard, from a nonprofit called Artspace, was seeking artists to participate in surveys to measure what kinds of working and living spaces were needed in the city.

Burton was drawn to the idea of affordable living and having their own space.

For young artists in the region, simply having a place to work can be the difference between making a living through creating art or quitting art for a stable 9-to-5 job.

Local developer Ed Walker plans to turn more than 100 acres of the old American Viscose plant into Riverdale, a mixed-use community with residential, industrial and commercial tenants — with a focus on supporting the arts. A collaboration with Artspace, which has built art-focused projects in 32 cities across the country, was a piece of that plan that quickly gained local support.

There was a lot of excitement within the local art community when Artspace first visited Roanoke in fall 2023. A festive event to introduce the nonprofit to the community, complete with aerial dancers, was held at Riverdale in April 2024, and Artspace officials said they received more responses to their surveys than they had expected.

In October, Artspace announced that it was committing to the Roanoke project, with plans for a three- to four-story building that would provide 60 to 80 units of affordable housing, gallery space and community workspace for artists. It would be the Minneapolis nonprofit’s first foray into Virginia.

But then Walker announced in late January that he would no longer be working with Artspace.

In a statement he sent to reporters, the developer said he was “disappointed” that things didn’t work out with Artspace, but in the end, the opportunity “did not meet [Riverdale’s] objectives.” He declined to answer further questions about his decision.

Artspace did not respond to emails or calls to comment on this story.

Affordable space for artists remains a priority for Riverdale, Walker said. An arts market study conducted by Artspace found a need for at least 67, and up to 80, live/work affordable housing units, as well as private studio spaces. Walker said he wants to build 80 affordable units in a new building at Riverdale.

Walker said that his plans also call for a 3,000-square-foot gallery and multifunction work and community space within the building.

“We are working harder than ever and making more progress than ever to deliver a transformational affordable housing project for creatives,” he said.

Sebastian Harlow works from a studio inside the Roanoke apartment he shares with his partner. Photo by Samantha Verrelli.

The need for local arts spaces in Roanoke

Almost half of the 815 artists that Artspace surveyed last year said they were interested in private studio space. Of those, 22% said they don’t currently have the room they need to make art.

Twelve percent of respondents were getting ready to graduate from college and leave Roanoke. More than two-thirds of the Roanoke residents surveyed said they have considered leaving — but almost all of them reported being more inclined to stay if live/work space was available.

Burton and some of their friends were excited to hear that Artspace was coming to Roanoke, and they started thinking about staying in the area permanently after graduation. Burton said hearing that the collaboration with Artspace has ended doesn’t change much for them, since Walker remains committed to creating affordable art spaces.

Burton wonders how quickly that space will become available, as their graduation date nears.

“I’ve been hoping that by the time I graduated that they would have made a good amount of progress on it, but I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen,” said Burton, who’s from Mathews County, near Williamsburg. “It did feel very hopeful and affirming to see that people acknowledged us as an art community.”

Walker said the remainder of this year will be spent on pre-construction development, financing, design, and architectural and engineering work.

“If we are fortunate, we’d put plans in to the city in late summer and aspire to start construction in early 2026. It will take 18 months to build, so a perfect timeline would have it open in summer of 2027, which is faster than any other timelines we’ve seen,” he said.

The news of affordable arts housing created excitement for artists living independently in the city, too.

Sebastian Harlow lives in Roanoke following his 2020 graduation from Roanoke College with an arts degree. After a quick stint in San Francisco, he quickly found himself working through multiple 8-to-5 jobs with Roanoke City Social Services, then at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Virginia Tech. He stopped painting completely.

“I live in Roanoke, and I’m meeting all these great artists that are selling artwork, and they’re being shown in galleries and museums. They’re having sustainable lives. I thought to myself, ‘Why did I give up on art during COVID, why did I stop making art?’ And I really sat back and thought about it.”

The reason soon became clear: He didn’t have a space for it as a recent graduate living with his parents. “We may be out of COVID, but it is still difficult to find spaces to create,” he said.

Harlow paints on large canvases and has just enough studio space in the apartment he shares with his partner. Some of his work from college is stacked behind a closet door in his studio room, which is just big enough to hold one easel for a work in progress. It’s important for artists to be able to move around freely, and to collaborate with others who are doing similar work, he said.

“A lot of that emotion can’t be seen or felt just by sitting behind the desk,” he said. “So having a workspace dedicated to that, I think, truly is a tremendous gift for artists.”

Part of the Riverdale property in Southeast Roanoke. Photo by Samantha Verrelli.

Affordability within Riverdale workforce housing

When a new artist does find a space in which to create, Harlow said, the rent, utilities and other costs can become overwhelming. He said his art program didn’t teach business and accounting skills, which he had to learn independently in order to be successful with his business, ARTxASH.

Walker said he intends to build the 80 residential units through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program administered by Virginia Housing. He plans a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Walker said the units will have an income cap of 60% of the area median income, to “lend a hand to folks who are most in need” first, and to adhere to the tax credit program limits.

This 60% AMI income cap in Roanoke, for a unit with one person living in it, is $36,600, said Costa Canavos, the mortgage banker for the housing project.

Under 2024 rent and income numbers, a studio apartment in this project would rent for a maximum of $915 per month, not including utilities. A one-bedroom apartment would cost around $980. Canavos said there could be a slight increase to the 2025 limits based on increased cost of living.

“We’re working every day to try to get the first 80-unit building done, and our hope is that if we’re successful with that, we could follow up with some more affordable workforce housing that would range between 60% and 80% of the AMI,” Walker said.

Over two-thirds of respondents to the Artspace survey self-identified as income qualifying at 80% or below average median income for the city, per Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines.

Roanoke artist Eric Fitzpatrick, in his Sourth Roanoke studio, shows a piece of his work depicting the city’s iconic Texas Tavern. Photo by Samantha Verrelli.

The city is ‘getting cooler every day,’ and young artists have a lot to do with it

Eric Fitzpatrick has been creating art in Roanoke for more than 50 years. His garage art studio in South Roanoke seems chaotic at first glance, but his own organization system allows him to quickly select any piece of his from the jam-packed space, which includes a lot of Roanoke-themed work. His studio could be an art supply store; Fitzpatrick works with virtually every medium available to him.

He said he has the business and organizational skills to make a living off his art, but he said it’s “not easy anywhere,” especially for young artists who haven’t yet developed the skills to market themselves and their art.

“You can make it as an artist in this town,” he said. “It just takes a lot of hustle.”

Having a dedicated space to work, Fitzpatrick said, is more important than one might think. He said without it, you wouldn’t get much done.

He said the arts community in the city has been growing throughout his life — and “it’s literally getting cooler every day.” He’s seeing different kinds of art emerge, too, like murals popping up across the city and along the greenways. He’s optimistic about Walker’s plans.

He said he thinks the city has a “disproportionate amount of good artists” for a city of Roanoke’s size. “There’s something in the water, I don’t know. It attracts them.”

“We’re becoming an art town, and I think young people, they’re doing really exciting stuff,” Fitzpatrick said. “These young folks have great ideas and very exciting work, and we need to find a way to help them along.”

Kelly Prim is an artist who lives in Roanoke with her husband and children and teaches aviation as her main source of income. She said she loves working with watercolors.

Her personal studio is in her home, so while she said she won’t be taking advantage of the affordable arts housing proposed at Riverdale, she hopes it will keep younger artists here, in a community where even those freshly out of college could afford to live.

“We have a lot of groups of artists that are made up of grandmas and grandpas, with only a number of younger people coming in, willing to take over,” Prim said. “If there isn’t any room for the next generation of artists here, then that talent and vibrancy of our region is going to move away. It’s going to go somewhere else, and our region will become poorer for it.”

Musicians perform for “Let’s Go to the Movies,” a summer concert at Mill Mountain Theatre. Photo courtesy of Mill Mountain Theatre.

How much money does the arts community contribute to the economy?

Roanoke is home to a symphony orchestra, an opera company, two ballet companies, two theater companies, seven museums, and numerous art galleries and concert venues, according to the city’s economic development site.

In 2019, the total economic impact of all of that came to $64.3 million, according to a study by Americans for the Arts. Of the total, $2.7 million was local government revenue. Shaleen Powell, executive director of the Roanoke Cultural Endowment, said $1 million of that represents the impact of nonprofits arts and cultural organizations. $1.7 million represents the impact of audiences.

Americans for the Arts conducts the “Arts and Economic Prosperity” study every five years, Powell said. She said there has been interest in Roanoke to participate in the next study, which will be released in 2029.

The arts sector, Powell said, plays a “fundamentally important role” in the city’s economic growth. Taken together, organizations in this sector are one of the largest private employers in the region, she said.

“While when we think of the economic impact of the arts, we often think in terms of tickets sold; it is also important to remember the impact that the sector plays in terms of employment,” she said.

And, the 2019 study cites 1,774 full-time jobs created as a result of the arts community — whereas regions similar to Roanoke are estimated to see around 500.

“We believe that an investment in the arts is an investment in the future,” Powell said.

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Even without Artspace collaboration, artists eagerly anticipate affordable studio and living space at Riverdale

The need for local arts spaces in Roanoke

Affordability within Riverdale workforce housing

The city is ‘getting cooler every day,’ and young artists have a lot to do with it

How much money does the arts community contribute to the economy?

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Even without Artspace collaboration, artists eagerly anticipate affordable studio and living space at Riverdale

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