Affordable Art Studios: RedLine Executive Director to Manage Community Arts Stabilization Trust Colorado

When Louise Martorano started working with RedLine Contemporary Art Center in 2010, the organization was getting 34 applications for thirteen art studios. Today, she says, RedLine receives more than 300 applications a year for its residency, plus a growing pool of applications for its Satellite Studio Program, an effort Martorano has been spearheading since 2019 to help connect local artists with affordable studios that help them keep living and working in Colorado.

There has been a need for this type of program in Denver for several years, she says,"and of course, when our real estate market went out of control and became unaffordable and out of reach for most individuals." The Satellite program has since grown to nine locations, but negotiating affordable space on behalf of artists is only one of RedLine's initiatives.

In order to fully focus on those efforts, Martorano is transitioning from her role as executive director at RedLine after fifteen years to become the managing director of the new Colorado branch of the Community Arts Stabilization Trust.

CAST, a self-proclaimed "community-centered real estate organization committed to ensuring artists and cultural workers can stay anchored where they create," was founded in San Francisco in 2013 and has been partnering with communities that have endured systemic oppression and historical underinvestment across the Bay Area to help artists find affordable spaces.

"There does not seem to be an intermediary [in Denver] that is looking after arts and culture in this moment in a dedicated fashion, like CAST is for the Bay," Martorano says. "It didn’t make sense to me to introduce another non-profit, but rather combine capacities because of aligned values and aligned ethos, and see what we could do together. The work of CAST and RedLine Satellite was just in alignment. It allows for the work to continue in a more resourced way."

CAST Colorado marks the organization's first expansion to another city from San Francisco. “What Louise has accomplished with RedLine is extraordinary. She is a generous and resourceful strategist who has earned the trust of the Denver arts community in an arts town,” CAST CEO Ken Ikeda says in a release. "Louise will allow us to formalize CAST’s work outside the Bay Area, and we are so excited the city of Denver is our first partner in this work, bringing our expertise to other regions and participating in a growing, global community focused on art and cultural spaces.”
RedLine will be reassigning studio space agreements to CAST Colorado so that the work can continue to grow at the speed of demand, but the two organizations will be working together closely. "There’s no world that we don’t collaborate in naturally, as this entire arts community does so brilliantly," Martorano says.

RedLine will continue to focus on its residency program and will now be able to send artists who don't get the residency or who are looking for an affordable studio space to Martorano at CAST Colorado. Robin Alli Gallite is assuming the role of interim executive director at RedLine, alongside Jane Burke, who will serve as chief curator and regranting director.

"I think CAST would also say that they’re excited to join forces with what I have been doing through the Satellite program, because it offers different models if the end goal isn’t purchase, because purchase may not be possible," Martorano adds. "It’s more about getting to sustainability for artists and organizations than it is about forcing one particular model."

RedLine's Satellite program was already in alignment with CAST's goal of partnering with underrepresented communities, according to Martorano. "It’s 100 percent trying to recenter communities of color and under-resourced communities that have historically not had access to space or not had the funding to stabilize their own spaces," she says.

Thanks to a partnership between RedLine and Denver Arts & Venues, CAST Colorado will be headquartered at 1245 Champa Street, the old police building that's now part of the Denver Performing Arts Complex. DAV deputy executive director Tariana Navas-Nieves says that a lease agreement is currently being worked out, and the hope is to have the office in operation before the end of this year.

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation has also stepped in to support this work with a seed grant of $600,000 over three years. “CAST brings together Louise’s vision and deep roots in the Denver arts ecosystem, our foundation’s commitment to equitable access to cultural space, and the city’s strategy to revitalize downtown through the arts,” says Gary Steuer, president & CEO of Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. “This partnership is a milestone moment in Denver’s cultural history, and we’re honored to help lead the way.”

Martorano is excited for the main focus of her new role to be helping local artists and organizations find accessible studio spaces. "My work at RedLine was always situated within the community of need as the artists shared them with me and how we as an ecosystem communicated," she says, "and now I feel like I get to work really clearly on behalf of that ecosystem."

Editor's Note: This article has been updated with information from Denver Arts & Venues about the CAST Colorado office at 1245 Champa Street.