New Art Space "Hatches" in Hamtramck ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - When you drive through Detroit and Hamtramck, chances are you'll see just as many abandoned spaces as there are occupied ones. City officials have to figure out what to do with these spaces. As Michigan Radio's Katie Carey reports, some artists think they can step in to help.

Chris Schneider lives in Hamtramck and he is in charge of an artist's collective there called Hatch. The group has been looking for a place to house studios and a gallery for some time. Most of the abandoned places that they looked at were privately owned and really expensive. So instead they decided to team up with the city of Hamtramck, and buy a vacant police station for $1.00.

"Hamtramck could have said...well if we hang on to it for a few more years we may find a buyer for say, $50,000. But instead of taking that chance, and most likely that building falling apart and becoming a rat den or worse, they said we will give it to the art group and let them turn it around."

But like any building that you buy for a dollar, you pay for what you get:

"Our roof leaks, the interior as you can see is rough. We gotta get the pipes working again, we gotta get our furnace working again."

But there is one space in the police station that Hatch is leaving exactly how they found it: the main jail cell. They are keeping all of the graffiti on the walls, the old benches, the caged windows, the urinal, the old benches where inmates caved a makeshift checkerboard, even the door.

"Look at the door, trying to scratch to get out. This door is solid and there are dents in it. So you can imagine the kind of people that they had to lock up here."

Hatch is part of a larger movement of artists in and around Detroit who are transforming vacant buildings into art spaces. The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit bought an abandoned auto dealership for $1.00. Russell Industrial Center houses over 100 artist studios in an old Ford Production plant. Izzy's Raw Art Gallery in Corktown sits in a century old department store.

Schneider thinks this kind of "creative sector" will help revitalize the city.

"Well creative is part of it," says Sabrina Keeley. She works for Detroit Renaissance. The group works to bring economic growth to the region. "But honestly," continues Keeley, "for the city and the region we need all kinds of industry, we need to diversify what we've got. We just see the creative sector as a very important piece to that."

In Houston, Texas, something similar has already happened. About 2 blocks of row houses were completely abandoned. A group of artists came along, and turned the vacant buildings into artist studios, galleries, and residencies. The whole thing is called "Project Row Houses."

Tim Martinez works for the project. He says art - and the community it creates - can help revitalize crumbling inner-city neighborhoods.

"I like to use the term stabilization when I talk about this neighborhood. I can't say that it is 100% crime-free, but we take a lot of pride in our property and our building and that has filtered into the immediate surrounding neighborhoods."

As for whether or not something like this can happen in Detroit, Chris Schneider from the Hatch Collective thinks it can:

"I drive around and I always think: Oh there's that building. Just imagine if that building was an art center, or a YMCA, or a different kind of alternative school. I just see all these possibilities and...it's going to take creative people to really turn this city around, I think."

Schneider realizes that turning around an entire city is a pretty big goal. So, he says, until that happens, at least they'll will be bringing some art - and life - back into Hamtramck. © Copyright 2010, Michigan Radio