The Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation (CDC) received a $40,000 grant from Etsy in October toward expanding their new art and culture workshop program and creating a limited-time shop for local artists.
The Roosevelt Row Academy launched its first series of free workshops at their new Roosevelt Row Welcome Center at Second Street and Roosevelt earlier this spring with three downtown-based artists leading their own class with their expertise of art.
Their project focuses on expanding the program to have more free classes open and adding a co-op pop up shop to give unheard artists a chance of recognition and financial support.
The grant from Etsy, an e-commerce marketplace popular among art and craft vendors, is part of the sites Maker Cities initiative, which supports projects around the U.S. that focus on creating inclusive opportunities to drive local economic development.
Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation was chosen among five winner cities because of their project’s focus on expanding Roosevelt Row Academy, said CDC’s director of operations, Nicole Underwood, Roosevelt Row
“Roosevelt Row as a community has been able to survive and thrive in a lot of changes because people are really invested in art and creativity,” Underwood said. “As an organization that champions that, we’re constantly trying to provide opportunities for people to be invested.”
Underwood continued to say as downtown Phoenix experienced a dramatic growth point in new housing investments that lead to more apartments and businesses to open, Roosevelt Row CDC has to keep the arts district relevant and sustainable.
“We just have to find different, unique ways to keep art alive and going,” she said. “One common misconception is that art has died, but it never did. It just evolves.”
Roosevelt Row CDC program manager, Amy Otto, added Roosevelt Row CDC works with local artists to teach the class because they want to foster a sense of collaboration within the community.
“You get a lot of artists who are just working or creating, but they don’t always get to pass on what they know,” Otto said, “If we can teach our skills to each other, then we’re a better community for it as opposed to hoarding those skills.”
Mike Pfister is one of those long-time artists within the downtown Phoenix community. He’s not only a drummer for a variety of bands around Phoenix, but he’s also a professor at the College of Integrative Arts and Sciences at the Arizona State University downtown Phoenix campus.
He signed up during the summer to be the first artist to teach Roosevelt Row Academy’s first fall class about “crate digging,” the act of going through records that are not known and finding something unique. It’s usually a long process and requires someone to think outside the box.
Pfister used “crate digging” as a metaphor for how to do research in finding something other people haven’t found.
“It was great because a lot of people that came were people that I hadn’t encountered before,” he said. “A lot of the individuals that came up to me after said that it helped them think about music and records in a different way.”
Pfister also addressed some fears other artists may have with Roosevelt Art District’s growth from this grant.
“As things get built up, there’s less social diversity and there’s more socioeconomic stress,” he said. “What I’ve seen sometimes in communities is that as they start to take off, you get more national chains and things get more homogenized. Then you don’t have that kind of diversity.”
Pfister has hope Roosevelt CDC will continue to find growth without pushing diverse unheard artists out because of the rise of rent in downtown Phoenix.
“It’s a delicate balance,” he said. “We don’t want a situation where it’s only one community that’s experiencing the arts the Row has to offer.”
Roosevelt Row CDC has not made official plans yet with the limited-time local artists’ store but they report they are actively working on how to implement those plans.
Pfister believes the pop up shop will prevent artists from being marginalized as Roosevelt Row continues to grow and elevate.
“It makes them visible to the community,” he said. “It allows the community to learn more and eventually support these artists.”
Underwood expressed how grateful Roosevelt CDC is in being a part of Etsy’s mission to sustain art and culture in growing cities.
“We’re just really honored to be able to be a part of it and do really good work to give artists chances to expand what they do,” she said.
Contact the reporter at acavila2@asu.edu.
