In Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own," she wrote that a woman needs to have her own space. While her work is largely cited in University-level women's studies classes, Woolf was also speaking as an artist. The message: Having your own space is essential to creating.

Thus, when the Asian Arts Initiative (AAI), a community arts group based in Philadelphia's Chinatown neighborhood, found out four years ago that the Pennsylvania Convention Center expansion would be bulldozing through their space, panic ensued. The AAI had a great deal. The organization would be hard pressed to find another rental space like the Gilbert building, which provided rent at the bargain price of $5 a square foot. In addition, to keep with their mission, AAI would need to find space in the densely packed Chinatown, with real estate at a premium and development whittling down Chinatown's small corner of the city.

Fast forward from 2007 to today, and take in a magnificent 24,000 square foot building that the AAI now calls home. Standing on the north side of Vine Street, the building is a thriving independent community arts center serving the needs of the community and youth of all ethnicities. Its language is artistic expression and community engagement, with an Asian emphasis that welcomes and embraces all cultures. The center hosts town hall meetings, art exhibitions, open mic nights, video production workshops for young people and break dancing competitions at its 12th and Vine street location.

"There was such a great sense of panic and fear," recalls Gayle Isa, executive director of the Asian Arts Initiative, who remembers not knowing what would come of the organization. "I couldn't have dreamed this."

Making Room for New Space and Vision

Funding from the City of Philadelphia through the Cultural Corridors bond initiative and the state helped secure renovation dollars for the building. And the locally-based Reinvestment Fund provided funding so AAI could officially purchase the building. In addition, individual donations have fueled the program's success.

AAI is now looking to create an environment for like-minded arts and community organizations, much like the Gilbert building did before the Convention Center expansion. Isa describes an environment at the previous 1315 Cherry Street location, where you could walk from artist studios to the Fabric Workshop.

"The original idea was to put all displaced organizations from the Gilbert building here," says Isa. But plans and state and local funding for the building took two years to secure. And many of those organizations found other spaces in Chinatown North, further breeding renewal in that area, and more real estate for Chinatown's evolving identity.

Ironically, the Vine Street Expressway, once and sometimes still viewed as a hurdle between established Chinatown and the newer concept of Chinatown North, affords an open expanse that gives an unencumbered view of the city skyline from the front of the second floor that will be rented out. That second floor, gutted and open, will accommodate thriving artist studios and community organizations to provide art galleries, dance studios and civic engagement groups.

And if the scene on a recent Saturday afternoon is any indication, AAI is already well on its way to delivering such enrichment and diversity. Walking in the brightly lit studio on the first floor of AAI, you'll first see Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceilings. A group of 20 teenagers -- some Asian-American, African-American, and Caucasian -- are taking ceramics classes. According to Isa, African-Americans make up more than 20 percent of the people who take part in the AAI programming. That speaks to the reason Asian Arts Initiative started in the first place: Its main focus was to use art to improve relations between Asian-Americans and African-Americans after the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles. Those relations are still an issue throughout Philly, including in its public schools.

A Slice of Changing Chinatown

Chinatown, as a matter of fact, is also an ethnic melting pot of various cultures that don't fit into a broad "Asian" designation, just as those in Chinatown shirk the oversimplification of its neighborhood as simply a "tourist destination." But AAI is well versed in peeling back these layers. A permanent collection graces the studio's walls, depicting various Chinatown slice-of-life portraits by Rodney Atienza. These photographs show Chinatown neighborhood workers, whether Korean, Chinese, Japanese or Cambodian, along with excerpts of their unique oral histories. By bringing these cultures together, using art as just one language, Isa's hope is that the organization will promote better understanding of all cultures. She describes the arts center as "organic" and "broad-sweeping."

Revenue from additional tenants will help fuel further programming and keep the organization sound, but the Asian Arts Initiative will continue to rely on public funding and donations. The multi-tenant arts facility will have a total 20-year fiscal impact of $11.2 million for the City and State, according to AAI. And there's another unquantifiable benefit: providing a nurturing and artistic environment that might also spur urban renewal.

Community programming is integral to this puzzle, as well. Next month, the AAI will team with The Laundromat Project, for a project entitled, "What Does Home Mean to You?" Artists Michael Premo and Rachel Falcone of the ongoing documentary Housing is a Human Right organized a town hall meeting on June 2. Community members were able to discuss definitions of home and social hurdles, providing dialogue for expression.

The teenagers who have come to AAI's free ceramics class have their own definitions, as well. One after another, they describe this center using terms that sound a lot like home: "a place to be," says one teenager, emphasizing the word 'be.'

The center has become a magnet for youth in more far-flung parts of Philadelphia, such as Northeast Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill. The young adults hope on multiple trains, subways and buses to take advantage of the center's programming. They discuss an energy that keeps them coming back. It's this dynamic programming, for both youth and adults, that generates income as well as revitalization.

"We have programs in school," says Jonathan Tieu, 17, who comes from Northeast Philadelphia. "But it's different here. Everyone just leaves there. Whenever I come here, no one ever wants to leave."

Which is exactly what Chinatown and Chinatown North are counting on.

MARCI LANDSMANN is a freelance writer based in Montgomery County. Send feedback here.

Photos:

Gayle Isa, executive director of the Asian Arts Initiative

Children working in the space during an after school session (Marci Landsman)

The Asian Arts Initiative team meets in its gallery space

Installation at AAI

A multi-purpose gallery/studio space

Isa during a meeting with staff

Isa with Nancy Martino, AAI's director of development and marketing (Marci Landsman)

All photographs by MICHAEL PERSICO unless otherwise noted