Voices Productions, a Dubuque based not for profit art advocacy organization, has acquired a new headquarters and permanent home at 1585 Central Avenue. Formerly located in the Millwork District, Voices Productions has been without a physical address since 2015.
The new location will be referred to as Voices Studios and has 10,000 square feet in which to explore its creative placemaking initiatives. Included in the Voices Studios complex will be two 1400 sq ft art galleries, an expansive artist’s studio, a framing shop, a sculpture garden within an urban courtyard, and an art bar (think panache).
Here, Voices will launch an artist in residency program and roll out a multidisciplinary schedule of visual and performing art shows, as well as curate an always evolving sculpture garden. This new location, blessed with a richness that comes from being in a diverse neighborhood, will provide a headquarters for Voices to pursue its interest in community activism, culture jamming, and art advocacy while showcasing emerging and established artists from both near and far. Additionally, Voices Studios will function as the base of operations to the Dubuque County Cacophony Society. The Cacophony members will enter through the alley door next to the dumpster.
It’s been said that there’s a gap in the cultural life of Dubuque. By acquiring an anchorage of their own on the Central Avenue corridor, Voices hopes to help bridge that gap by leaning in on issues of racial disparity and community engagement. With the leverage that comes from being in a permanent place, Voices will seek to express the central tenet of its charter, which calls for harnessing the power of art to transform and uplift an experience.
Improvements are being made to the building, with a completion date yet unknown. Voices Studios, an organization bereft of money, seeks community support to help complete the necessary ADA upgrades. Sponsorship and naming rights to the art gallery and sculpture courtyard are under consideration.
COVID be damned – after a plague comes a renaissance.
For more information, contact Gene Tully at 563 543 3434.
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