Let's Get Ground Floor Studios Off the Ground!

THERE’S A NEW ARTS CO-OP IN TOWN!

Help Preserve Affordable Studio Space for Madison’s Creative Economy

Who We Are

We are 10 artists—painters, metalsmiths, ceramicists, and more—who have been making work and contributing to Madison’s creative economy for years.

Though we are all very different, we all have studios in a shared space in Madison’s arts-oriented Schenk-Atwood neighborhood. We are now coming together as the Ground Floor Studios Artist Cooperative to preserve this unique space for ourselves and our community.

The Challenge

The future of our shared studio space is uncertain—we could lose it to commercial interests very soon if we don’t act now.

Our studio space is housed within the Linden CoHousing/Winnebago Studios building. This building, completed in 2020, consists of 45 residential cohousing units plus a separate commercial space, originally conceived of as artist studios. We love being part of the vibrant community that lives and works in this building!

However, the developers now want to sell the commercial space where our studios are located.

Instead of viewing this as cause for alarm, we saw it as an opportunity to make this space our permanent home–and secure affordable studios for the Madison arts community for years to come.

The Solution

We realized that forming a cooperative was the way to make our dreams of permanent studio space a reality—and that’s how Ground Floor Studios Artist Cooperative was born.

Together, we have spent the last year laying the groundwork to incorporate our organization, work with the developers, and learn everything we can about the legal and financial aspects of our venture.

However, purchasing this space is not something we can do alone. We need your support to make it happen. Will you contribute to show your support for Madison’s art community?

We Need Your Help!

The power of a co-op comes from people banding together. The ten of us can do so much more than any one of us alone. Even still, buying this property is a big step that needs broad community support to come to fruition.

We’ll use the money we raise for a down payment on the property—the key thing we need right now to reach our goal. Any extra funds we raise will help us build a much-needed reserve fund to keep the studios flourishing going forward.

Will you make a contribution to help keep Madison’s artistic community thriving and vibrant? Will you help secure affordable studio space for current and future generations of Madison artists? No matter how large or small, every contribution and share is a vote for keeping the arts alive in our community!

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for believing in us!