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“We have a small but powerful ecosystem here: exhibition spaces, artist studios, and people who are willing to work with each other,” said Sabine Schumacher, director of BronxArtSpace in Hunts Point. “The challenge will be the political climate and if we get enough funding.”
On Spofford Avenue in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx, past factories, autobody shops, bodegas, and apartment buildings, lies BronxArtSpace—an art oasis in one of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods.
BronxArtSpace is far from alone. Nearby Mott Haven, just one stop from Harlem-125th Street on the 6 train, has become a destination for artists fleeing Manhattan and Brooklyn in search of affordable, spacious studios.
In a 2020 Curbed article, one artist compared Port Morris—the waterfront section of Mott Haven —to “Williamsburg and Bushwick in the ’90s.” But as history has shown in those neighborhoods, the arrival of artists often leads to the very outcomes they were trying to avoid.
When BronxArtSpace was founded in 2010 by artists and Bronx residents Linda Cunningham and Mitsu Hadeishi, it was originally housed in the unused ground floor of a residential building in Mott Haven. Cunningham and Hadeishi reached out to friends and other local artists to build what was essentially a guerrilla art space. Artists were not paying rent, and there was no formal structure—just a group of people creating together.
According to Sabine Schumacher, current director of BronxArtSpace and Cunningham’s wife, the initial mindset was simple: “There is an empty space next door. Let’s do some art here.”
As interest in the space grew, they formed into an official organization and began applying for grants. Soon, BronxArtSpace became a fixture in the community—a place where artists could both create and exhibit their work. Today, the nonprofit offers artist residencies and ensures that at least 45 percent of its exhibiting artists are Bronx-based.
“The mission has not changed very much,” Schumacher notes. “It was always and still today [is] a place that shows Bronx artists and curators.”
In the early days, the artists involved were nearly all Mott Haven residents. In 2011, the Gotham Gazette referred to Mott Haven as the nucleus of the South Bronx’s growing art scene. But as is often the case, affordability didn’t last. Once artists moved in, developers took notice.
“It is the ruthless market,” Schumacher said. “Mott Haven has a waterfront, and today there are 10 high-rises. It went so fast in the last 10 years.”
In 2021, BronxArtSpace’s then-landlords threatened to raise the rent to unaffordable levels.
Schumacher had already received many relocation offers from developers—but it wasn’t until MHANY Management (Mutual Housing Association of New York) reached out that a viable path forward emerged.
MHANY, a nonprofit housing developer, was formed in 1986 in response to the city’s fiscal crisis, which had led to widespread landlord abandonment. In many neighborhoods, families were forced to repair and maintain their buildings on their own. MHANY helped formalize these arrangements, working to place buildings under tenant or nonprofit control so that residents could achieve legal occupancy.
Today, MHANY remains focused on serving low-income New Yorkers, though the challenge has shifted. In a city where even its poorest neighborhoods face rising rents, MHANY now manages over 2,000 affordable units, concentrated in Central and Eastern Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and East Harlem.
The offers Schumacher received from for-profit developers were often pitched with the idea of “bringing in art,” but came with price tags that made them inaccessible. It wasn’t until a representative from MHANY asked, “How much can you afford to pay?” that she realized BronxArtSpace could have a sustainable new home in Hunts Point.
The development BronxArtSpace joined is called The Peninsula, a mixed-use project developed by MHANY, Gilbane Development, and Hudson Companies on the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center—once one of the Bronx’s most notorious youth prisons, shuttered in 2011 due to abusive conditions.
The new location is part of a 100 percent affordable building, with units based on area median income and many reserved for formerly unhoused residents. “MHANY is interested in having something for the residents in their building that they can go to, feel safe in, and be proud of,” Schumacher said.
In 2023, BronxArtSpace was joined at The Peninsula by Inspiration Point, another nonprofit art space with a gallery, a black box theater, and 20 affordable studios for Bronx artists. BronxArtSpace enjoys close ties with Inspiration Point and other local organizations.
“We have a small but powerful ecosystem here,” Schumacher said. “Exhibition spaces, artist studios, and people who are willing to work with each other.”
Still, operating an art space in a low-income neighborhood is an uphill battle. “We have no problem being here for the community,” Schumacher said. “The challenge will be the political climate and if we get enough funding.”
A recent cut to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts was temporarily offset by three private organizations, but Schumacher isn’t sure how long that lifeline will last.
“The demand on BronxArtSpace is enormous,” she said. “We could host a show here every day.”
Despite that interest, she still cannot afford to pay herself, or her community liaison Beverly Emmers, a living wage. The lease with MHANY is for just 10 years, and beyond that, their future is uncertain.
Organizations like BronxArtSpace are vital to the fabric of New York City—but they’re under existential threat from the affordability crisis gripping the five boroughs.
According to Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the Center for an Urban Future, the risks facing artists today are unlike those of past decades. “I think the pandemic broke something in the art sector in New York that hasn’t been fixed,” he said.
The warning comes at a time when arts organizations are bracing for millions in federal funding cuts. “The city’s economic and cultural vitality depends on a healthy arts and culture sector,” Dvorkin said. “The city is going to have to find ways to step up and do more.”
That may require broadening the scope of support. While the Department of Cultural Affairs has long been the city’s main financier of the arts, Dvorkin argues that other agencies should also be involved. He points to the possibility of setting aside affordable housing specifically for artists, or tapping the Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Transportation, and the Parks Department to contract more artists for citywide projects.
“For much of the past 30 years, policymakers benefited from an arts and culture sector that was firing on all cylinders,” Dvorkin said. “It was continually growing, so the city didn’t have to make it a top priority. But the reality today is very different.”
Despite the headwinds, BronxArtSpace has shown the work of more than 2,000 artists in its 15-year history. Its persistence and commitment to elevating Bronx voices embody what it means to be a New York City arts institution: a place where creativity endures even in the face of instability.
As Dvorkin cautions, the value of the arts cannot be taken for granted. “We can’t rest easy thinking that elected officials and policymakers innately appreciate the full range of contributions,” he said.
“Every year, every decade, we have to renew that case with fresh storytelling, powerful data, and new analysis,” he added. “Otherwise, when budgets tighten, the arts stand to lose—precisely at a moment when we will need them more than ever.”
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