Working Artists Ventura
The Working Artists Ventura (WAV) project will be a $57 million, state-of-the-art community designed for artists and creative businesses. Located in the cultural district of downtown Ventura, California, the WAV will offer affordable living and working space for over a hundred artists of every kind; painters, sculptors, dancers, poets, musicians, filmmakers and more.
The artists will bring to life a theater/gallery with performances, art openings and neighborhood gatherings. Arts-friendly small businesses including coffee houses, galleries, cafes, wine bars and jazz clubs will draw foot traffic and contribute to the vitality of the community.
With the community involved in every phase of development, the WAV project is being created for diverse, mixed-income families and individuals. Supportive housing services, coordinated by Ventura's own Project Understanding, will be provided to those at the lowest end of the income scale while market-rate condominiums with ocean views serve higher-income households.
The first of its kind, the WAV project represents the vanguard of community development. The entire WAV community will be designed and built to the highest standards of green building technology (LEED certified), including recycled building materials, car sharing, water and energy conservation, and renewable power from the sun.
The City of Ventura is working with PLACE (Projects Linking Art, Community & Environment, www.placeonline.us ), a nonprofit organization based in Minnesota. PLACE has developed this live/work project to provide permanently affordable housing for the Ventura community's growing population of artists.
PLACE is working with the renowned architecture firms of CardeTen (www.cardeten.com) and Santos Prescott & Associates (www.santosprescott.com) to design this innovative project, with the active participation of the wider community and the local Conceptual Oversight Group, currently comprised of the following:
| Ed Moses | County of Ventura |
| Paul Lindhard | Artist with Art City |
| Ray DiGiulio | Former Mayor |
| Karen Flock | Affordable Housing |
| Mike Merewether | Insurance Executive |
| Rick Pearson | Project Understanding |
| Nick Deitch | Architect |
| Doug Halter | Chamber of Commerce |
| Betsy Chess | San Buenaventura Foundation |
| Sid White | City of Ventura |
| Elena Brokaw | City of Ventura |
| Kerry Adams Hapner | City of Ventura |
| Cheryl Heitmann | Community Colleges |
| Karyl Lynn Burns | Rubicon Theater |
Affordable Housing & Supportive Housing
The WAV project will provide sixty-nine new units of affordable housing, all serving low income families and individuals from across the region. Because artists need high ceilings, plentiful light and open space, they and their families find it particularly difficult to live and work in traditional affordable housing. That is why WAV will provide fifty-four affordable units especially designed and funded for the needs of artists with families.
Fifteen of the units will be designed to provide permanent supportive housing, intended to house recently homeless families and individuals from across Ventura County. Rents will adjust on a sliding scale, creating opportunities for households of any income.
Project Understanding (www.projectunderstanding.org) , a Ventura-based nonprofit, will coordinate crucial services necessary to help these households break the cycle of severe poverty and homelessness. Supportive Housing is a national movement proving to be extremely effective. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that almost 84% of homeless households were still housed after one year in supportive housing, and emergency room visits were dramatically reduced, thus saving health care costs.
A unique collaboration is also being developed with Casa Pacifica (www.casapacifica.org) of Camarillo to provide space and support for eighteen-year-olds matriculating from the foster-care and Casa Pacifica systems.
Providing construction management and owner's representation on the WAV project is S. L. Leonard and Associates (www.slleonard.com), while PCL Construction (www.pcl.com) will be the General Contractor on this project. Both PCL and S. L. Leonard are national companies with extensive experience on projects in the Southern California region and were chosen for their ability to work with PLACE and the City of Ventura in ways that are innovative and that will result in an environmentally-friendly structure.
Working Artists Ventura Architectural Renderings
The renderings below represent the latest design. We met the challenge of creating a structure that will be simultaneously durable, green and affordable by using new building materials and cutting-edge architectural practices. Kalwall, one example of an innovative building material that will be used, will create translucent walls that give artists more natural light, and will allow light to escape the building at night, creating a subtle glowing effect like a Chinese lantern.
Photorealistic Artist rendering view from the corner of Ventura Avenue and Thompson Blvd.
Street Level Side View Ventura Avenue Elevation
View from Garden Street
Cutaway of Condo
The building design received final approval from the City of Ventura Planning Commission in February 2007. Below is a map showing the location, at the corners of Thompson Blvd. and Ventura Ave. of the future building site. This location will serve as the linkage between historic Downtown and a revitalized Westside. The anticipated date for groundbreaking is November 2007.
Working Artists Ventura News and Events
The WAV project must secure a total of $1.5 million in pledges and donations by November 2007. We have already identified $55 million in funds necessary for WAV and we need only this final sum to make the project a reality. There are many naming opportunities available to individuals and corporations; the following is a partial list:
WAV Naming Opportunities
| Opportunity | Gift |
|---|---|
| The WAV Community | $2,000,000 |
| The Theater Gallery | $750,000 |
| End Homelessness | $500,000 |
| Supportive Housing Community | $250,000 |
| Commercial Block Building | $250,000 |
| Supportive Housing - Individual Unit Wing | $150,000 |
| Supportive Housing - Family Unit Wing | $150,000 |
| Plaza Courtyard | $150,000 |
| Garden Courtyard | $100,000 |
| Artist Courtyard | $75,000 |
| Northern Block | $75,000 |
| Central Block Building | $75,000 |
| Community Services Bldg | $75,000 |
| Western Block Building | $75,000 |
| Theater Rooftop Deck | $50,000 |
| Central Rooftop Deck | $50,000 |
| Western Rooftop Deck | $50,000 |
| Zaguan | $40,000 |
| Artist's Hot Room | $40,000 |
| Garden Deck | $40,000 |
| Paseo | $30,000 |
| Bridges (5 total) | $25,000 |
| Electric Car | $20,000 (each) |
| Public Art Pieces (multiple) | $15,000 (each) |
| Trees (multiple) | $10,000 (each) |
| Theater Seats | $2,500 (each) |
| Tiles/Founders' Wall | $1,000 - $15,000 |
For more information regarding this project call Deborah Hazen, WAV Project Coordinator, (805) 658-4794, or visit www.placeventura.org.