A look at what’s working at 285 Washington Street
For just over a year, the Boston Figurative Art Center’s Union Square studio has served as an oasis for the Somerville arts community. Walk into the spacious, high-ceilinged workshop between classes and you’ll find a few folks lounging on couches, working individually at tables, or talking quietly among themselves. “You need one of these on every street corner,” said founder Damon Lehrer. “In people’s neighborhoods so that you can walk into it, it’s local, you see the same people physically and—you know—talk to them.”

Spaces like these are far from popping up on every corner in Somerville. Rather, they are disappearing as rents increase and development pressure grows. In recent years, several spaces that were staples of the city’s arts community have been transitioned into housing, leased to higher paying tenants, or emptied of their artist occupants for other reasons. This includes the shuttering of ONCE Ballroom in 2020; the abrupt displacement of artists from Central Street Studios in 2021; and the highly questionable removal of the Somerville Media Center from its longtime Union Square location by the City of Somerville in 2023.
Each of these cases was caused by unique circumstances, but all resulted in the loss of community space—each a clipped thread in the thinning fabric of Somerville arts culture.
In the midst of this onslaught of closures, the BFAC opened its doors on Washington Street for the first time on January 2, 2024.
Building community in a multi-use arts space
For about 15 years, the BFAC has provided classes and long-term rental space to visual artists at its two Vernon Street locations, but its new building provides something different. As much as it is a classroom, the studio is also a community center and home-away-from-home for its members.

BFAC member Nicholas Martin, a lab designer and long-time Somerville resident, uses the BFAC as a workplace, meetup spot, and a place to relax. Martin attends regular figure drawing classes and said that they have helped him improve and maintain his drawing skills, but it is also where he turns to meet people of all ages, play music, or share leftover Christmas cookies.
“One of the things which makes the BFAC work is there is no pressure to socialize - you socialize in the context of doing other things, like working or doing figure drawing,” said Martin. “If I want to just sit reading a book all afternoon I can do that, some people come at night and play guitar. I feel as if it is my space. People are less bored and lonely because of the BFAC.”
Mary Kahle, also a familiar face at the BFAC, said that—in addition to regularly attending classes—she can rely on other BFAC members for emotional and social support. “It's not just a place where people make art, [the] BFAC is a place where community is created.” She said that the community is uniquely diverse and supportive and likes that programming is member led. “[The] BFAC has helped me connect with others by cultivating a welcoming space for people from different cultural, professional, and artistic backgrounds to connect over shared interests.”
Loss of infrastructure relegates artists to being guests in their own city
In a city where dedicated arts space has become a luxury commodity, working-class doers and makers are leveraging their skills to make do. Coffee shops have become solo workspaces; breweries the grounds for hosting workshops, skillshares, and other creative group gatherings; and the virtual ether has been designated a replacement to the social aspects of co-working.
While these collaborations are important for local economies and good for creatives, the co-opted nature of the arrangements shows through in small frictions. The obligation to make a purchase, scheduling constraints, and imperfect working conditions are a reminder that artists are being asked to beg and borrow.
This is also true in people’s ability to afford personal studio space. In 2022, the Somerville Arts Council published a report detailing the results of its arts space risk assessment. It showed that nearly half of artists rely on “benevolent landlords” to afford their spaces, often at the expense of a formal lease and the protections one provides.
This report also made several suggestions for how the city should step in to support the arts and counteract its displacement. But Somerville had already been crafting policies and legislation toward that end for years with lackluster results. Its 2019 Somerville Zoning Ordinance was meant to make development more inclusive of the arts, but vaguely defined language left room for savvy developers to take liberties and put out only token offerings to established arts communities.
Even as Somerville continues to provide opportunities for public comment, revise its laws, and tailor its own approach to implementing legislation, there is a disconnect between the wants of the people and actions of the government. This is clear in the beleaguered and ongoing process of determining a long-term management plan for the Somerville Armory building and the controversial development plans of Rafi Properties in building its envisioned Somernova campus. Both situations have left resident artists feeling insecure in their spaces and at odds with legislators.
As government-arts relations become ever more fraught, artists and arts organizations are looking to each other for strength. Alliances like Art Stays Here and Don’t F With FAB have emerged as artists seek greater security and a louder voice in city happenings. Their presence suggests that, while the arts deserve and will likely always rely, to some extent, on city support, other financing models may offer them a better future.
For some, that might look like foregoing tax breaks in favor of greater flexibility and autonomy.
Reclaiming arts-specific community space through a for-profit business model
The BFAC is a reminder of what it looks like to have places designed for the arts, physically, culturally, and financially. It has created that space while staying out of the mosh pit of nonprofits begging to get their ladle in the government’s often-watery pot of funds.
“I just think that we as arts organizations have enough to offer to the public that if we properly meet people’s needs we can function as a business like any other,” said Lehrer. “Far from needing handouts, I’d like to be able to provide resources to the city, other businesses, and the neighborhood.” He added that the BFAC was grateful for the several small grants it received that helped it get off the ground.
Lehrer has tried to create a business model that is flexible enough to work for a variety of people. He uses a tiered membership structure that offers options ranging from a $30-a-month student plan to a $300-dollar-a-month premium membership. Other income is sourced from individual classes, workshops, and organizations looking to host events.
“[This space is] a huge boon,” said Lehrer. “Unfortunately, the rent we pay reflects that.” Business, he said, has become a game of trying to pull in enough money to cover rent, pay a small staff, and also keep the BFAC accessible. Currently, he still has to subsidize the space with his personal savings, but he is hopeful that the coming year will put an end to that.

Lehrer stumbled upon the space after deciding he would either close up shop at BFAC completely or find a way to expand on what was possible with just the Vernon Street location. He had been perusing the real-estate market for nearly a year, but 285 Washington Street was the first location that spoke to him. “I walked in here and I was like, ‘this, this is it’,” said Lehrer.
He secured the lease, endured a few sleepless nights wondering what he had gotten himself into, then poured himself into renovating the aesthetics of the space. “You have to make it really attractive and someplace people want to be.”
He began to feel confident in his decision when he brought people into the space and saw them light up. “Everybody who came in had 10 ideas [about] what I would do with the space.” Many of them were also willing to chip in their time and expertise to help see some of their vision realized.
Developing a business model built on giving
This give-and-take model has enabled the space to serve more people and operate on thinner profit margins. Lehrer employs one full-time employee and a handful of contractors, but many others have contributed to the center’s vitality.
“Basically everyone who comes in here—with rare exceptions—wants to stay,” said Lehrer. “We have been pretty proud of that and it’s partly me, but a lot of it is other people who’ve kind of stamped their vision on things and helped organize, helped decorate, helped plan … what walls to build, how to make it better for everybody.” A crew of 10-12 volunteers has helped with administrative tasks, website and social media development, and staffing the reception-area.
In many cases, Lehrer says a different type of currency is being exchanged. “It’s often not money, but what I think we offer most is a sense of meaning, a sense of purpose and social contribution.”
Joining forces to strengthen nonprofit and for-profit arts viability
Lehrer and the BFAC have celebrated many successes in the past year, but he has a vision for more. One day, he hopes to no longer be a hidden gem but, rather, one thriving node in a robust network of spaces like this one.
“I’d love to be able to grow this into something that can exist more than just locally … I’m convinced that no matter where you are there are some large percentage, if not 100 percent, of people that have at least some need for this even if they don’t realize it,” said Lehrer. Other spaces might have their foundation in another creative specialty, but he is optimistic that growth will materialize. “I think it’ll happen almost inevitably if the fields are still fertile for this: if the economy is okay, if the politics don’t go down the tubes completely.”
Kahle shared a similar sentiment. “I think that we're at a critical point in society (especially post-covid) and people might not be aware of how much they need community and social interaction,” She said. “Third spaces like BFAC are the perfect vessel to enable interactions that are community-centered, playful through creativity, and … a safe space for everyone.”
Lehrer also hopes to help conceptualize more efficient funding models for the arts, locally. “We as arts organizations and artists … have a lot of cultural power and bring an intangible factor of attractiveness to a place that could be leveraged for monetary resources and to be a part of the society that actually provides rather than consumes.”
The BFAC aims to be a model for that and proof of concept that an arts space does not need nonprofit status to succeed. “[We] show that people want us enough to make that work, that, like a gym or other things people need in their lives, the arts are something that people pay for and that don’t need to be propped up by anonymous government ideas.”
Lehrer said, “If our city government and developers could sometimes follow rather than impose, and just help us pave the paths that people are already walking, I think they could save money, create goodwill, cultural abundance, and a better society.”
I use the BFAC on Wednesdays at the Meditative Drawing class. I love the space and the people I meet there. Everyone can participate. There is no judgement or competition for who is "best". The art world can be cut throat. But Damon's vision of art for everyone is so needed in the Boston area. I wish the Boston area will eventually realize what Art spaces can do for the entire community.