As an alum of the Cooperative Development Foundation’s Cooperative Leaders and Scholars program, I returned this year for their Denver coop tours trip and co-facilitated a personal asset mapping workshop for the new cohort. I had a lot of fun! We chatted with local coop leaders from the Rocky Mountain Farmer’s Union, Center for Community Wealth Building, CoBank, visited the Southwest Food Coalition, ate lunch from worker coop Mujeres Emprendedoras, and visited Montevista Mobile Home Park and the Queen City Coop.
I also met up afterwards with my coop collaborator Nathan to work on our Governance Archaeology project together (site to be live soon!) at CU Boulder.
Community Venues and Cultural Land Trusts
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about community venues and community spaces, leading me to think more about community real estate options. In NYC, so many DIY art, music, and community spaces closed over the pandemic. The ones around today are still constantly at threat of raised rents, insurance, etc. The main example I’ve seen on community-owned music venues is based in the UK, through the Music Venue Trust, where, using a Community Benefit Society—a not-for-profit legal structure that I believe is specific to the UK—local community members can buy community shares to raise capital to buy venue buildings. (Am hoping to publish some writing soon on community music models, including venues as well as platforms.) I’ve also heard of a DIY art space in DC, Rhizome, attempting to buy their. building using a community financing model based on Land in Common, a nonprofit community land trust in Maine.
On this trip, Jenna, one of the current CLS cohort members, told me about cultural land trusts, a community model for art and culture organizations to collectively steward land and buildings. There are actually a few examples of this, based in British Columbia; London; Austin; Seattle; and more.
I also learned on this trip about the NYC Real Estate Investment Cooperative (NYC REIC), which I was so excited to find and then, after looking around, seems now sadly inactive. I’m really curious how these efforts went and how we can learn from them.
Very excited to explore these topics more! I think this concept of community real estate is feeling salient to me as music spaces near and dear to me in NYC have been closing or at risk of closing. While more are forming as well, and I know that the nature of New York can often be ephemeral, I’m also thinking about ways for communities to be able to share homes together. I know at least three friend groups ready to pool in on a coop home together, and I’m wondering, what financial and legal infrastructures do we have, either on the state or federal level, to support these kinds of efforts of community and collective wealth building?