Download PDF Version Revolt Magazine, Volume 1 Issue No.4

subsequently her job to plan, organize and run
the project during its beginnings with the help of
developer Dixon Bain.
Now, there are 384-live work spaces filled with
artists from every disciple. There are painters
like Jon and there are writers, playwrights, poets
and sculptors. At one time, photographer Diane
Arbus—known for her black and white photographs
of marginal individuals such as dwarfs, giants and
circus folk—lived there. She committed suicide in
1971 after only a year of residence.
Westbeth’s popularity among artists has been so
high that they closed their residential waiting list
in 2007. Those already on it are looking at a 10-15
year wait to get through. Many artists, who move in,
never move on it seems, leaving less and less room
for younger artists to come in. Jon stays because
he can afford to live in Manhattan in one of its
most coveted areas, not an easy feat for most.
“Today artists can’t afford to live in New York,” said
Jon. “I stay here because I can afford it.”
Steve Neil, the chief executive of Westbeth Corp,
the company that owns Westbeth, said that rent
ranges currently run from $750 -1600 a month
depending on the apartment size. For $750 a
month, artists can live in a studio or a one bedroom
which runs a little more than 400 sq feet—a price
unheard of for nearly anywhere in Manhattan; even
in other, seemingly cheaper boroughs like Brooklyn
and far out in Queens or The Bronx. In the same
neighborhood a studio can easily go for $3,000
a month and that’s on the “reasonable” side of
things.
There’s also units with multiple bedrooms for
families and couples and 77 units reserved for
those under the federal section 8 program. Under
the program, residents pay 30 percent of their
household income and the federal government
makes up for the rest.
To even be considered to live at Westbeth there are
both financial and personal criteria that one must
pass. A family of four would have to be making
between $65,000-75,000 a year, said Steve, and
they have to prove they are working as an artist full
time.
The waiting process is a difficult one and the
turnover isn’t high with residents like Jon and his
counterparts deciding to stay put long-term. Painter
Joan Roberts Garcia has been living in the building
since 2000 and was on the wait list for eight years
before being accepted to Westbeth. She came via
New Mexico with two children in tow.
“It was really tough because for those 8 years I
had to prove that we of a family of 3 were living
off less than $40,000 a year,” said Joan. “And in
Manhattan that is extremely difficult.”
Now Joan lives in a light-filled three-bedroom
apartment with her very own studio not far from
Jon’s abode.
“I have been very fortunate, I’ve only been without
a studio for about 5 months in the last 30 years,”
said Joan. “I feel very fortunate to be here. I am
more and more grateful.
”Even though she has lived at Westbeth for 13
years she says she still feels like a newcomer.
Many who started in its early days, have myriad
stories to tell about the landscape of change
they’ve seen over the years.
Filmmaker Edith Stephen is a veteran of the
community and has lived at Westbeth for 40 years.
Her documentary Split Scream documents the
bohemian life she has seen living inside the artist
residence.
“My experience at Westbeth has been an exciting
experience, very much like the world. At the time
we came in, Greenwich Village was flourishing,”
she said. “We had a real bohemian life …But
since then, the world has changed. We have lost
Greenwich Village, since it has been gentrified.”
Edith expresses the changes she has seen in its
residents and how the sense of community has
decreased. She laments that its bygone era might
have been its heyday.
“When I opened up my door years ago, the hallway
was filled with people, arguing, discussing, and
talking as a community,” she said. “Today when
I open my door, there’s nobody in the hallway.
People have their doors closed and there are hardly
any names on the doors. And if you email them,
you’ll find that their email consists of numbers,
letters, and no names.
“In its recent history, Westbeth has opened its
doors with art exhibits in its in-house gallery as well
as music and dance festivals and concerts.
“In the last decade Westbeth has developed more
and more as an artists community and also is
offering a lot to the larger New York City community
in exhibitions, music and dance festivals and
concerts. I envision that Westbeth will continue to
grow as a viable arts community.” said resident
Francia Tobacman Smith.
Francia is a painter and Linoleum Reduction
Printmaker who has been a long time resident
along with her husband, musician Bruce Smith.
She believes the best part about living at Westbeth
is living within a community with other artists that
understand each other.
“The special part of being at Westbeth is that
you never feel odd or strange about being an
artist having your values, ” she said. “Other artists
understand that at times, you have had to make
sacrifices for being a working artist and what that
means in your life.
”Over its forty-year existence, the area has changed
drastically, but Westbeth has maintained its artistic
and bohemian spirit and remains a vessel in
time. One can almost envision the hallways where
Diane Arbus once walked. Some of the residents
remember her. They’ve lived through it all. It always
has been a place solely for artists, and is still to
this day, the world’s biggest artist residence. That
ideology has never changed, even as the tenants
have. Edith adds, “The most interesting thing about
Westbeth is the experience of living a bohemian
life, with kindred spirits.”
Westbeth Artists' Housing, New York, 1st Floor Plan A1. Architectural drawing courtesy of Eileen Marie Lynch Interiors.