Last night Alexander and I had our interview with the artists of the North End Coop in Middletown. For those of you who do not know what NECP is let me share.
http://mac650.blogspot.com/
NECP is an artspace-- a government subsidized set of rental apartments for low income artists. The cool thing about the Middletown one is that, unlike the one in Willimantic, it really is just for artists. When I was helping a friend get an apartment at the Willimantic Artspaces it turned out that only about 20% or 30% of the renters were working artists. In their defense however it is a huuuuuge building. Here it's a much smaller building filled with 100% working artists! Who work to make money, possibly at "normal" jobs when they have to, but also in their crafts. There are a handful of musicians, visual artists, photographers, and jewelery makers. And most of them seem to do a little of everything.
They were are very nice and seemed to enjoy the portfolios I brought for my interview, which was awesome!
A little about the building/apartment:
The ground floor is a great big well-lit gallery space that the coop members all run as a team.
Hidden behind the door on the left in a small hallway are some really cool looking murals (that look like they're still in progress). Oh how I would love to add a couple of my own! (ps. secret obsession of mine, painting on walls... possibly because you're not normally supposed to...Sorry Mom and Dad! )
Up a flight of stairs and down the hall we got to see the lovely little apartment. Hard wood floors in the living-room, cute little kitchen with a functioning dishwasher! Big windows, a door leading to an invisible balcony (My favorite kind). Carpeted bedroom, decent sized closet, nice little bathroom with a closet where a stackable washer/dryer went. Very clean, and a nice layout. :) Downsides; no washer/dryer machine, no real storage space, no real "office space."
However, there's a laundry mat down the street, and until we get a new set of machines, we can use the cubbie where the old one was as storage for Alexander's lighting equipment.
...
lighting equipment
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in a steam-friendly bathroom
...
nevermind, baaaad idea.
Either way, creative storage is always possible, and there are several corners where a free standing closet can be put for equipment. And I can always build a desk that can fold out of a wall for when I need the surface area. So, not really a big deal.
Over all, I'm so totally excited about this place!! I can't wait to fill out the official application and move on in. :)
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