AN INTERVIEW WITH OUR CO-DIRECTORS SAM & BRYANT ABOUT “SAVING OUR HOME!”

Da Vinci Art Alliance is an intergenerational art space with the goal of building community through art. Our building was constructed in the 1800s and it needs critical repairs for us to continue providing programming here for generations to come! Learn more from Sam and Bryant about our current restoration needs and future renovation hopes below!

L: I’d love to hear the reason behind our current building fundraiser?

BRYANT: So why it's needed?

L: Yes, why is it needed?

BRYANT: Well, short answer to that is that our building is potentially nearly 200 years old. And turns out, you need to upkeep your building.

This building houses a lot of people who we really care about and a lot of art that we really care about. So we want to make sure that it's going to be here for a long, long time to come, and, of course, safely.

Fortunately, we're in the position right now, where we have a really good deal on the table with a contractor who has given us quite a wonderful offer to do some of this work before things get too hairy.

You want to make sure that you're getting ahead of the problem and not reacting to a catastrophe that might happen down the line. So that's where we're at right now. We're being proactive about what's happening to the building, and taking advantage of a very good deal.

L: Could you go into the specifics of this specific renovation? What is happening to the facade of the building?

SAM: If you've come to the building recently, you've probably noticed that there's some cracking going down the facade of the building. If you're on the third floor and look out of the window down, you'll notice a lot of the mortar is starting to get damaged.

Basically, we need to repoint the building. It's not like disastrous yet, but we want to take care of it before it gets there.

So, the contractors that are coming in are going to be taking out some of the brick work that is getting to the point where it needs to be completely reordered.

They will be putting in some structural beams behind the brick to really squeeze it all together. Then, on the side of the building, it's starting to lean to the side. Around 150 years ago there was a house there that no longer is there, and our building is starting to miss it. So, [the contractors] will be putting in start bolts to keep everything upright.

L: I've heard there's a potential accessibility renovation of the entire building down the line. What’s the scope of that look like?

BRYANT: So as you probably notice, our building isn't wildly accessible, and certainly not ADA compliant.

What we're hoping to do is to transform our space using wonderful designs created by the Community Design Collaborative and eventually approach funders to support a renovation to make it accessible to all of our members.

What that looks like is still up for debate. If you're interested, come by the gallery and see some of the floor plans that we've got drawn up! That process is going to be a rather lengthy one, but we are hoping to get the ball moving on this project so that we can eventually have a fully ADA accessible DVAA.

SAM: Once we're done making the building fully mobility ADA accessible, we want to concentrate on what accessibility means in a community art space.

So providing more text to speech options, more options for audio descriptions within the gallery and really work with our artists to think about accessibility beyond the physical aspects.

L: If people are interested in the initial Building Restoration Fund, where can they donate?

SAM: If you go to tinyurl.com/dvaa-save-our-home, you can help us reach our goal of $15,000!