How can New Yorkers hope to stay put in a city where rents make living all but impossible? Impelled by her own personal experiences, artist and organizer Caroline Woolard advocates for permanently affordable space in New York City, banding together with artists and non-artists alike to build a real estate investment cooperative. According to the New York City Comptroller's Office, from the years 2000 to 2012, median apartment rents in the city rose by 75% (compared to 44% in the rest of the United States) while real incomes of New Yorkers declined. Artists face a unique challenge with rising rent costs, typically having to rent both living and working spaces. Upon graduating from art school in 2006—in the middle of the New York City rent explosion—Woolard and a group of friends went all in on a large Brooklyn workspace, building out over 40 individual studios from scratch and fostering a tight-knit community in the process.
From the series, "New York Close Up"