Artist Community

Artist Live Work Space

What is an artist community or collective?

An artist collective, otherwise known as an Artist Commune or Artist Community, is a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, toward shared aims.

An artist commune may share resources in the following ways:

• Share tools and collaborate on projects • Share a living space and/or work space • Rent or purchase a building with a large space for a gallery and/or event hosting

An artist-run space is a facility operated or directed by artists, circumventing the restricted access to museums and galleries. Artist collectives could benefit other artists by offering rental of their artist-run space.

Steps to create an artist collective with live/work space

  1. Invite artists associates to create a profile on ICmatch.org to assess which of them might find in each other a good fit for a shared living space, work space, and or business partnership.
  2. After one or more groups form, that you are part of, plan and complete a joint project to assess the group’s capacity to work together and to utilize the decision-making framework you’ve agreed on.
  3. Plan for the physical locations of the collective—living space, workspace, and gallery space—to be close to each other. Some artist collectives have turned warehouses into affordable studio space or even display space. Similarly, artist-dedicated apartments can sit above ground level art shops that host gallery walks.
  4. Create a business plan that clarifies each member’s contribution and expectations for how and when they can use the shared spaces.
  5. Write grant proposals for purchase or rental of the needed spaces. To be eligible for more grants, you might team up with a university and non-profits that focus on the arts.

Examples of Artist Communes

These artist collectives include living quarters:

Featured consultants

Professionals with deep experience in this kind of community who chose to be featured here.

Bill MartinNicole Hartley BradfordCanada BC
Browse all consultants → · Are you a consultant? Get listed
Featured members

Communitarians who chose to be featured on this page. Coordinators are more likely to be offering a space or work-trade; others are more likely to be seeking.

Bill MartinMemberPineTreeDiscoReady to help set up a placeEarthMotherReady to help set up a placeCoordinatorNicole Hartley BradfordMemberMark Twain ReaderReady to help set up a placeCoordinatorLevi’s BeehiveReady to help set up a place
Search all members interested in this type → · Feature your profile here

Resources for an Artist Community

To empower creatives, particularly within artist collectives, it’s essential to address the common gap in business management and marketing expertise. The most effective solution often involves teaming up with individuals skilled in these areas, whether through outsourced services or by bringing on a dedicated team member. Our platform, ICmatch, can facilitate these connections, and further resources like Fiverr and Upwork are excellent for identifying qualified talent. For broader industry networking, consider exploring commercial art networks such as artspace.org.

National Endowment for the Arts: Nonprofit artist communities with 5 years of art programming may apply, or new communities might find a art nonprofit with 5 years, which wants to collaborate on artist live/work space. Grant applicants must have non-profit or government entity status themselves, not a non-profit fiscal sponsor.

photo by Yohan Marion