Artspace is a non-profit visual art center dedicated to presenting quality exhibitions and educational programs within an open-studio environment. Since 1986, Artspace has been inspiring creative energy by bringing artists and the public together to experience the creative process in a very real and personal way.
The Artspace building, located at 201 East Davie Street, has always been a center of activity and a community focal point. The 30,000 square foot building was built in 1911 as Raleigh’s city livery. At that time Raleigh businesses were located around Capitol Square. Fayetteville Street was the main street of commerce and the City Market area focused on bringing county residents into town to sell produce and goods for markets around the city.
The next owner of the building was the Sanders Ford Car Dealership, which at the time was one of the largest dealerships in North Carolina. In 1969, urban sprawl forced the Sanders Ford Dealership to move from the downtown area, leaving the building empty for several years.
Raleigh began to refocus its efforts on downtown revitalization, and with that mission in mind, Artspace was the perfect solution to enhance and rejuvenate the City Market and Moore Square Areas.
Artspace officially opened its doors and invited the public to experience the art making process in November of 1986. At that time, the City Market area suffered from problems relating to urban decay and was in need of revitalization. In many ways Artspace and its founders were pioneers in downtown Raleigh, convincing arts organizations and artists to join them in creating this new visual art center and bringing visitors to a then blighted area.
In the fall of 2005 Artspace obtained ownership of the Sander’s Ford building from the City of Raleigh, thus securing the future of the visual arts in downtown Raleigh. Since 1986, Artspace has continued to evoke excitement in the community and raise awareness of the arts by providing a unique environment where artists can collaborate, where the public can interact with working artists and experience firsthand the creative process, and where children and adults can learn to express their own creativity in classes and workshops.
Artspace has become the second largest open studio environment in the nation and is the only non-profit organization of its type from North Carolina to Florida. Inspiring more than 2 million visitors since its inception and serving as the heart of Raleigh’s visual art community, Artspace offers more than 100,000 visitors annually over 30 challenging and award-winning exhibitions, interactive workshops to over 2,000 school-aged children each year, art programming for at-risk youth, classes and workshops to over 3,000 youth and adults annually, and over 200 public events open to all in the community free of charge.
Artspace inspires creative energy!
