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Artists take over empty New York shopfronts for free

Works by local artists displayed in a "for lease" space in New York on Saturday. Thousands of shops and eateries have closed this year as the virus ravages the Big Apple's economy, and artists are now getting some of them as studios and exhibition sp
Works by local artists displayed in a "for lease" space in New York on Saturday. Thousands of shops and eateries have closed this year as the virus ravages the Big Apple's economy, and artists are now getting some of them as studios and exhibition space in an initiative spearheaded by non-profit organisation Chashama. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

NEW YORK • Artists are taking over New York storefronts made empty by the coronavirus pandemic, receiving invaluable free exposure and breathing life into depressed shopping streets.

Thousands of shops and eateries have closed as the virus ravages the Big Apple's economy, and artists are now getting some of them as studios and exhibition space.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Chashama, a 25-year-old New York non-profit organisation that persuades property owners to temporarily donate unused units to struggling artists to use as studios and to display their work.

With landlords struggling to fill vacated lots, Chashama is raising its efforts amid the pandemic and plans to add 100 spaces within the next year to the 150 studios it already operates.

Artists receive the space for free and take home all money made from any sales, a godsend in New York where retail space is prohibitively expensive and galleries customarily take a cut. The arrangement - which sees artists move out after the unit has been leased - also works well for property owners.

A similar initiative is happening in the Upper West Side area of Manhattan, where vacant storefronts in the prominent Columbus Avenue thoroughfare are prominently displaying the works of local artists.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 30, 2020, with the headline Artists take over empty New York shopfronts for free. Subscribe