- March 27, 2024
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ST. PETERSBURG — The St. Petersburg Warehouse Arts District Association raised $350,000 in its first phase of fundraising for a project to redevelop six buildings as working studios for artists.
More than 105 artists have already registered on the association's website to rent space at the Warehouse Arts Enclave, which is located on 2.7 acres at Fifth Avenue and 22nd Street South. The property was previously Ace Recycling and Soft Water Laundry.
Financial support for the project, according to Warehouse Arts District Association President Mark Aeling, comes from a variety of sources including: St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman; the St. Petersburg City Council; a $200,000 donation from the J. Crayton Pruitt Foundation of St. Petersburg; and hundreds of other individual donations.
The association hopes to raise another $850,000 in order to complete renovations at the Enclave over the next few years, according to a release. The group's vision is to create a community in which painters, writers, photographers, performers, sculptors and musicians can learn and collaborate with each other in the daily business of creating and showing their work.
With the renovations the association hopes to create a large gallery/exhibit space, classrooms, a foundry, recording studios, offices and a cafe. The complex is located along the Pinellas Trail between two well-established art facilities: the Morean Center for Clay and Duncan McClellan Glass.