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Historic Jester Park farmhouse to become collaborative artist workspace

Jester Artspace, Inc.
The historic Jester Park farmhouse will be converted into a collaborative artspace after repairs.

A local group called Jester Artspace has just signed a 20-year lease to transform the historic Jester Park farmhouse into a collaborative artspace.

The art group has been working with New Castle County for two years to iron out the logistics of the lease.

The county will spend the next roughly eight months to one year repairing the Civil War-era home before artists can move in.

Alan Baseden is President of Jester Artspace, and says the vision for the farmhouse is a co-working space for artists like himself to provide feedback for one another.

“I’m am an interactive designer and artist myself and I have various friends who are creative people," Baseden said. "And we wanted to be able to have a place where we could come together creatively and support one another.”

But Baseden says the space will also be designed to support creative endeavors of the community, not just professional artists.

“And that could mean lots of things – that could mean somebody who wants to create the next Mona Lisa, or maybe it’s just someone who wants to create a halfway decent watercolor of their kid or something like that," Baseden said.

Baseden says it’s likely frequent guests will pay a membership fee to use the space, but those details are still being worked out.

Since the house is small, there won’t be room for private artist studios.

 

Baseden has already started holding public community art events, including a cellphoneanimation workshop Thursday evening at the Highlands Art garage.

 

Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from theDelaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

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