It seems everything is getting the streamlined, digital treatment – even finding and reserving an open venue in the city.
SpaceFinder Mass launches Friday, January 23, and its goal is to put the free creative space in Boston and Massachusetts on the map, making it easier for artists and groups to find a venue and plan more rehearsals; at the same time, the service helps marketize spaces that generally go under-used.
SpaceFinder, launched in NYC in 2012, was developed by Fractured Atlas, a nonprofit tech company that helps artists build successful careers. It’s been likened to the “OpenTable for artists”: just as OpenTable scouts available table space for diners, SpaceFinder gathers available studio space for creatives. Here in Mass., Fractured Atlas is working with the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, with support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, to make the database possible.
Massachusetts is the 11th market to join the SpaceFinder network, and the second network to launch statewide. Here in Mass., artists and groups can search the newly launched SpaceFinder database of more than 200 rental spaces by budget, location, timeframe, capacity and creative needs. Listed uses on the site include: Performance, Rehearsal, Special Event, Class, Audition, Photo Shoot, Studio Art, Audio Recording and more. Reservations for spaces can be made online, or via the renter’s preferred method.
Currently, there are 241 venues listed in the Massachusetts database, and those venues exist in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Lowell, Northampton, Amherst, Arlington and more. Each space lists its address, square footage and permitted uses, and some have uploaded their calendar, in order to view the available dates for booking. Familiar local venues listed on SpaceFinder include the Central Square Theater, Artists For Humanity: EpiCenter and multiple rooms inside the Boston Center for Adult Education.
In order to find more venues — especially those that are more affordable and lesser known to the public — SpaceFinder Mass plans to hire local artists to help with outreach and research.
Said Anita Walker, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, in a statement:
Artists need affordable, functional, accessible spaces to do the work that is the foundation of our Commonwealth’s creative economy. SpaceFinder is a smart online tool to help them find available work space, rehearsal rooms and performance venues to practice and present their art.
When it comes to affordable venues, there are currently two in the Mass. database, both in Cambridge, that will rent for $10 an hour: Bhoomi Art Space and Green Street Studios, Studio 3. Ten more are willing to “barter” the price, and others will allow the space as a “work study” venue.
Whether or not you’re an artist in need of a free performance, rehearsal, what-have-you space, or someone with space to rent, SpaceFinder will work to fill the void of accessible creative venues in the area, and that’s something everyone should be able to appreciate.
Image via Fractured Atlas
