At Humphreys Street Studios in Dorchester, 50 artists and small business owners create jewelry, furniture, paintings, sculptures, graphic design, set designs and more. The space was established in 2002 by a small group of local artists. When the time came for the founding owners to sell the property, they reached out to BlueHub to help the tenant–artists purchase it as a community.
Recognizing that the project needed an experienced developer who understood both the mission and the real estate, BlueHub introduced the artist community to longtime BlueHub borrower New Atlantic Development. In the three years that followed, the artists formed a new nonprofit called the Humphreys Street Artist Collective; garnered support from the community and the City of Boston; and received a $1.6 million acquisition loan from BlueHub to purchase the studios. The result: preserving a community and ensuring that critical affordable workspace exists in perpetuity.
