Greene Street Artists Coop Is a Haven for Philadelphia Creatives
🔭 This summary was human-edited with AI-assist.
In the United States, only a small percentage of professional creatives can earn a full living through artistic work. The vast majority are only able to pursue art as a side hustle. The Greene Street Artists Coop (GSAC) helps to alleviate this financial challenge for community artists.
Located in the Germantown area of northwest Philadelphia, GSAC is a housing collective that offers visual artists, writers, and theater artists an affordable place to live and work. It's also a supportive network in which the community can showcase their work, talk about their creative processes, and discuss their studios.
GSAC is situated in a largely Black neighborhood credited as the birthplace of the American antislavery movement. The GSAC’s 22,000-square-foot building dates back to 1919. The coop (founded in 1989 by the Artists Housing Project) purchased the property in 1991. The site was originally an appliance factory but now houses 15 live/work units. Plus the 1.5-acre lot has been transformed from paved asphalt to a community garden with plans for a rain garden in the works.
With the support of GSAC, many coop artists have gone on to win Pew Fellowships in the Arts: grants for Philadelphia’s most promising artists. The GSAC also supports artistic programs for the community. Each year the cooperative participates in the Philadelphia Open Studios Tour, a self-guided tour of artist studios and creative workspaces. GSAC and the Germantown neighborhood are connected to an artistic current that runs throughout Philadelphia.
