BATA:PHX


Brownfields and the Arts: Phoenix (BATA-PHX) is an informal, ad hoc project focused on exploring an idea: whether it is possible to remediate brownfield (environmentally contaminated) properties in downtown Phoenix, using funding available to non-profits, and make these properties available for free or at reduced cost for arts-related uses.  The (current) vision is roughly a cross between Artspace and Not a Cornfield.

As of November 2009, the project is early stage and the team is focused on answering some basic questions:

  • How many brownfields are there in downtown Phoenix? Where are they? Who owns them?

  • What federal, state and local programs exist that fund brownfield clean-up? Is is true that only non-profits qualify for some or all of these programs? What kind of non-profits?  How do the various programs work? (e.g., what specifically do they fund? how does an organization apply?)

  • What specific arrangements would be possible with a brownfield owner, if we wanted to effectuate the BATA-PHX goal of making the property available for arts-focused use?

  • How is brownfield remediation done (i.e., from an engineering perspective)? How long does the process take? Who does it?

  • Has the BATA-PHX concept, or something like it, been done elsewhere? Have these other models been successful?

The short-term goal of the BATA-PHX project team is to understand the answers to these questions.  Depending on the answers, future steps could include implementing a pilot project with a particular property and a targeted arts use (e.g. theater space).

Conceivably, a long term goal could be to develop and implement a repeatable process that enables us to clean up every brownfield site in Phoenix and make significant amounts of space available to artists (for studio space, theaters, galleries, etc.) for free or at low cost — hopefully energizing the grassroots Phoenix arts community in an unprecedented manner.

Members of the core team are passionate about improving urban Phoenix, but none of us are deep experts on brownfield remediation and development.  We very much welcome input from anyone with interest and/or expertise in this area.  Please contact us with any comments, questions, suggestions or other input; please also see our post on “How to Help.”  We welcome anyone interested to join our informal team.

We plan to use this website to document our efforts and the resources that we find.