A local arts nonprofit organization with more than 400 members is taking the next step toward opening a permanent brick-and-mortar shop. With funding secured from the city of Evanston and a nonprofit organization, a proposed arts incubator space could redefine the arts scene in Evanston.
The arts organization, Evanston Made, is looking to locate its arts incubator space at a former printing shop at 1800 Dempster Street in Evanston’s West Village neighborhood. Evanston Made’s co-director, Lisa Degliantoni, envisions the 5,000-square-foot space as a co-working space with three studios and a digital media studio. Evanston Made will also partner with Northwestern University to connect artists with Evanston community members, she said.
Evanston Made, which has been local to Evanston since 2014, has operated out of borrowed, rented, and public spaces, according to Degliantoni. The motive for the operations to move out of her and her co-directors’ kitchen and living rooms is to create a space that will foster community and connections at a place that she said is ripe to do just that. The space will be free for the public to enter, except for special ticketed events, she said.
“This would be used for artists to gather, for community members to gather and see art, for people to collaborate across organizations, not just Evanston Made; and for the ability for Evanston Made to scale to support more members than we currently do,” Degliantoni said at the city of Evanston’s Economic Development Committee meeting in October when the TIF funds she applied for were approved at the committee level.
To finance the operation, the city of Evanston awarded the organization $217,000 in tax increment financing and it received $1.2 million from the Dale and Edna Walsh Foundation.
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According to Economic Development Committee documents, the total project cost is $1.4 million.
The arts incubator space will also include retail space in the front of the building. The arts group has sold art made by its members online for three years, and sold $274,000 worth of art at an average price point of $87 per piece, Degliantoni said.
Evanston Made will also collaborate with Northwestern University’s Department of Art Theory and Practice to provide residency studios for artists, Degliantoni said. “It’s amazing on how much talent is going on that campus,” she said. “(The university) will take things to market and exhibit them (at the incubator space) and use us a litmus test.”
The location for Evanston Made’s physical presence is intentional, and fits into the character of the neighborhood of small shops, artists and studios, Degliantoni said. She said Evanston Made is not new to the area. In September, after a series of shootings happened in the 1700 block of Dempster Street, Degliantoni said she and other community leaders organized a jamboree to remind people who live in the area how connected everyone is, and to not let that go.
“It’s important to show people that life goes on,” recounted Degliantoni. She remembers hundreds of people attended the celebration with free food, art shows, and music from various cultures.
Even with a permanent location, Degliantoni said Evanston Made will continue its annual celebrations and its sales of art at popup events. The sale of the 1800 Dempster Street property is still pending, but once finalized, as early as Spring 2025, Degliantoni anticipates the build-out to take 60 days and $200,000 to renovate, she said.
The TIF was awarded to Evanston Made unanimously by the Evanston City Council on Nov. 11 and the Economic Development Committee on Oct. 23. Alderman Bobby Burns (5th) said he would not typically approve TIF funds to go towards a nonprofit organization, but he saw the value of Evanston Made given the group’s history in Evanston.
“I think the reason why we all feel good about this is because it’s Evanston Made, and it’s Lisa, and we know that this is going to have an impact, not only, as (Degliantoni) said, in this area, but regionally,” he said.
“I just want to caution people who bring similar TIF requests— who are startups, who haven’t been around for 10 years, who don’t have 400 people, who haven’t engaged as many community members, both in Evanston and outside — and that’s why I wanted that on the record,” Burns said regarding why other arts groups will not likely have the same support from the city through TIF funds.