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A.P.E.'s programming 33 HAWLEY STREET continues its core mission to support contemporary artists working in all disciplines, by preserving and supporting the spaces in which they create, perform and exhibit their work.
 
By initiating the development of a community ARTS TRUST, A.P.E. seeks to ensure creative spaces in the heart of community, with 33 Hawley Street as a first significant project.  Further, A.P.E is partnering with The School for Contemporary Dance and Thought (SCDT) and Historic Northampton to bring vibrant programming to 33 Hawley Street.
 
Using the Land Trust model, the ARTS TRUST preserves what is essential for a thriving community and serves as a template for others wanting to sustain creative vitality through the arts.
“The core of the Arts Trust is education around the value of creative space for the health of a community.”
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Gordon Thorne, founding director of A.P.E.; Northampton Community Arts Trust Board Member; a core funder of Hawley Street - directly investing in community.
Left to Right: images by Stephen Petegorsky, Lailye Weidman by Jen Polins
EXPLORE PAST PROJECTS • A.P.E.@Hawley Archives
In 2017 Gordon Thorne states: "Hawley Street is a place for creating, for generating conversation and stories about the value of creative space, and for accumulating research and data to support other communities and individuals involved in similar efforts.

This distinctive, centrally located, energy-efficient building is a way of making concrete the importance we place on the preservation of creative space in community, and communicating ideas about these issues. The arts organizations and the diverse art forms in the building offer varied perspectives, serving as tributaries of the same river."

Art Partners at Hawley St.
Since 2017, three of Northampton’s leading art organizations facilitate programming at 33 Hawley. 
A.P.E., Available Potential Enterprises
NCFA, Northampton Center for the Arts
NOM, Northampton Open Media
Learn more about the ​Northampton Community Arts Trust.
"To grow creative centers requires harnessing and capturing creative talent and rewarding the creativity of each and every individual - not just Bill Gates and the Andy Warhols. But in every state we are cutting the only two investments that matter: investments in art and culture and investments in education - the only two investments that stimulate our economy.
If we don't start investing in creativity and making sure that every young person's artistic energy is harnessed and channeled...... if we continue to isolate ourselves and engage in a war economy.... then we will destroy the foundation of competitive advantage which built the wealth. Don't go after the federal government now. The place we have leverage is local, and we need to work together in every community to make it happen." 

Richard Florida, in The Rise of the Creative Class