Artist Studios in Hillsborough

We are very excited to announce a new partnership and great opportunity for artists in the Hillsborough area. HAC and the Orange County Arts Commission (OCAC) have partnered with C3 Hillsborough to offer affordable artist studios in the heart of downtown.

For those who are not familiar, C3 is a co-working space in Hillsborough. From their website: "C3 Hillsborough, located in the historic district of downtown Hillsborough, was created to provide a co-working space for local small businesses, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and others in our local community.  Our goal is to support our community and local economy so all benefit and rise together." They offer short and long term options, as well as different membership levels to suit any needs. Although this model of shared work space is growing in popularity in larger cities, they are the only such option in Hillsborough.

C3 occupies a two story building, formerly a bank, with office work spaces, a kitchen, and other amenities downstairs. The second floor is finished but bare, with beautiful light in large, open spaces. That's where the arts joined the picture. Thanks to OCAC and C3, we have been given the opportunity to turn this into artist studio spaces. This creative work space will be divided between four artists for a minimum of one year. Artists who are interested in visiting the space and learning more about this opportunity can submit interest on our website. We'll be scheduling tours once this submission closes on June 17th. There are some restrictions to the space - it''s a 2nd floor walk up with no ADA access at this time. Work that requires heavy ventilation or filtration systems won't be a good fit for this first set of studios.

If this model is successful, we hope to be able to offer more opportunities like this in Hillsborough and around Orange County under the direction of our friends at OCAC. They have long been studying the needs of the arts community in our county and found affordable work space to be among one of the top priorities of working artists (you can read the full "Setting the Stage" report here, which addresses this and other issues facing the arts in Orange County).

We are so proud to be able to serve a community that values the arts and supports the needs of our working artists.