Making Space: A List Distilled from the Wisdom of Three Creative Placemakers

Abstract

When arts organizations are exiled from their homes, how can theatre practices grow roots over the long term? There is a repeated pattern of theatre companies losing their space—most often owing to reasons beyond their control. This loss is significant, but it is part of an unfortunately predictable cycle. This article asks what artists can do to help sustain artistic practice and the cultural life of our cities and spaces. It turns to creative placemakers Clay & Paper Theatre, MABELLEarts, and Derek Kwan as sources of wisdom. It shares a list of principles gathered from the lived experience of these artists and organizations, showing us delightful, practical, and poetic solutions for sustaining the arts ecosystem. This piece concludes with an up-and-coming creative placemaking initiative in Lakeview, the Art Shelter, led by Frog in Hand.