SomArt has helped us at Creative by Nature make our program a reality. We are a Youth Arts and Outdoors program run by SHS Alumni. Because of SomArt, we get to meet in a beautiful centralized location that is easily accessible to teenagers. We've played games, made art, built friendships, and showcased photography here, and we've enjoyed every second if it.

After Covid we began to give in person theater classes to Italian learners and Italian expats connecting people of any age and backgrounds in creating art and community. Thanks to SomArt we are about to rent venues for classes, rehearsals and even shows at an affordable price making our programs accessible to anyone

Pasting link to video testimonial as page wouldn’t upload it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1psm4y9LmfpA9xP-Je1faa-hkZblmMqRi/view?usp=drivesdk

The SomArt program has been an incredible resource for Eventual Dance Company. There is a huge lack of rehearsal space for dance artists in greater Boston. The third floor armory space is a critical piece of infrastructure for my work.

When we were invited to show our work at Jacob's Pillow, we had a very short turn around time to rehearse an old piece, and very limited funding. Having affordable space at the Armory to rehearse was everything for us. Because we could rehearse at the Armory, we were able to say yes to this offer, and meet this incredible opportunity with our best foot forward.

Without the SomArt program, we simply could not do our work here in Somerville. Thank you!

Having the opportunity to rehearse and practice zouk here has been amazing.

I have been taking the queer/trans ballet classes offered by TransDans, which hosts classes at the armory through SomArt. This class has been absolutely fantastic - I feel so safe being able to practice dance in a queer space. I am a drag performer in my spare time, and this class and this space lets me improve my movement skills for the stage and generally take care of my body.

The SomArt program has had an immense impact on myself and my dance company Continuum Dance Project. We have been rehearsing in SomArt spaces since 2019 and often use these spaces as our first choice for rehearsals when booking.

As a Boston/Somerville/Cambridge based dance company we have a very small budget. We use most of our funding to pay our performers, who are already underpaid artists. The affordable rehearsal rates at SomArt have been so important to keeping us running as a small local business. While other rehearsal spaces exist, they are often 35-50 dollars an hour depending on the time of day you are renting. This is not feasible for a company our size who is trying to rehearse weekly. SomArt spaces allow us to pay an affordable rate to keep making art in cities that are already very expensive. As inflation grows, more artists get push out of living/working in the city. These programs are essential for keeping the arts alive in Somerville.

Continuum Dance Project was founded in 2013 by artist Fernadina Chan and myself. We have been able to employ 5-8 dancers per year because of programs like SomArt. In 2020, we receive an AiR residency from SomArt. This allowed us to create a transformative work with sculptor Michael Alfano. The performance we created 'Not Eye, Us' has been performed over a dozen times since its creation, in spaces including: the USS Constitution Museum, the Cape Cod Museum of Art, and the Boston Center for the Arts. Without the SomArt residency, the dance would have not been made in the same way. During our process, for both the initial premiere and re-staging, we were able to store the large sculpture we use in the work. Without the SomArt program, we would have had to load in and out this large scale art piece each rehearsal; it would have made it almost impossible to reset.

Please keep SomArts a dance/performing arts space. There are so few spaces for rehearsals left that offer affordability and accessibility. Keep these spaces intact so we can continue having art in our cities. I've attached a photo for Not Eye, Us, a performance that was originally conceived and rehearsed at SomArt space.

Thanks to SomArt I was able to join Italian theatre classes and express myself in a long-term passion. As I praise Boston, because it is a city where a person can also find opportunities in Italian renaissance theaters, I also should let everyone know that this is happening in SomArt.

Trans Dans has offered me a safe space to be expressive, and to learn how to be expressive without traditional gender norms. Because traditional ballet is very often gendered, as a nonbinary trans man, a traditional ballet class would be very difficult to participate in. Allowing the program to be in the SomArt space has greatly impacted my ability to dance and be expressive in a world that wants to silence me.

As a dance artist living and working in Somerville, the SomArt program has been a huge part of me developing my personal creative work through the ability to book studio space for personal research, to hold rehearsals with other local dancers and performance artists, as well as hold public-facing classes that focus on improvisational movement and creative expression for all levels of embodied experience, whether you identify as a professional dancer, or are curious to take your first movement class.

I would like to highlight that I am a resident of Somerville. There are limited spaces, if no other spaces, for professional dance artists who are not affiliated with an academic institution to utilize. SomArt is both conveniently located in my city, so that I do not have to commute to Cambridge or Boston. It is also a subsidized space, so I can afford it as a low-income working artist who depends on this work as well as my job as a barista to sustain my livelihood in a city where rent continues to increase. Having access to the SomArt program has allowed me to save time, money, and energy due to its locality, subsidized pricing, and well-equipped physical space for dancing and moving.

That leads me to my next point: spaces that host dancing bodies need to be physically safe for the lived body. SomArt spaces are meeting those needs. The floor is safe, and the studio spaces are clean. As a post-modern, experimental, contemporary dancer, I frequently dance barefoot and in contact with other dancers, as well as various surfaces in the space. It is vital that the space is clean and hygiene standards are upheld, as they are at SomArt. SomArt is also led by professionals in the field; they are supportive and responsive, and understand how things work for dance artists, which is different than other types of artists like musicians or visual artists. I will again mention the affordable prices and the ability to schedule studio time in a clear and accessible way through their online portal.

All in all, SomArt space has been absolutely vital and has deeply impacted me as a Somerville-based dance artist. From my personal research in the space to rehearsals, I have brought work to perform in New York City, San Francisco, Burlington, Vermont, and various local spaces. I have built connections with artists in the space that I would not have otherwise met. I have been curated to perform in, and will be producing a performance in March through the space, that is including a touring artist. I host an ongoing multi-level class series that is open to the public, the community of Somerville, professional dance artists, and whoever's curious, to practice being in their body, together. I believe this is some of the most important work that we can be doing right now as humans. With the rise of AI and systems working hard to disconnect us from our own bodies and autonomy, each other, and the world we inhabit through our lived bodies and experiences. Dancing, and dancing together, is a radical and important act, and it is dire. SomArt space helps us make it happen.

With love and gratitude,
Juliet

Video testimonial link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHT8iwVmdjk

I am a 28 year old dance artist who was raised and now resides in Arlington, MA. SomArt has been a huge part of what has made my professional dance career possible, and I don't say that lightly. The Armory dance space as well as the Hive have both made renting studios accessible to myself and my peers. I have been part of rehearsals that took place there, run my own rehearsals there, use the studios to make audition tapes and hold rehearsals for the giant dance flash mob I organize each year in downtown Boston to advocate for women's rights and reproductive rights. SomArts has enabled my art and activism, and made beautiful, well-kept art space accessible to younger dancers and dancers of color. I work for MIDDAY Movement Series, a dance non-profit that often utilizes SomArt spaces. MIDDAY has a sliding scale for all of our classes to help make them accessible to all artists, something made in part possible by renting affordable studio space.

What I especially value about SomArt studios is how thoughtfully they are maintained. I credit much of this to Callie Chapman. The studios are beautiful, clean, have important amenities like sound equipment, curtains, mirrors, and sprung dance floors, that allow us to practice our art well. I spend time in the SomArt studios about once a week, and each time I am filled with gratitude that these spaces exist in our city, and make it that much more possible to create art, something that I believe is crucial to the healing of our city and our world.

As a professional dance artist in the Greater Boston Community, the armory SomArt space is a frequent flyer of my repertoire of spaces that I utilize and has been vital to my personal artistic work, my community and network, and the work of those who employ me as a dance artist and allow me to maintain this profession. I have used this space as rehearsal space, a set for a film, and attended showings of other dance works here - enhancing and connecting the culture and community of somerville. SomArt has the elements that make creating dance work safe and equitable for professional dance artists through the safety of the floor on our joints, hygienic upkeep, providing affordable rates to dance artists, and providing slight relief in the already minimal spaces in Somerville for creating dance work. There are very few dance spaces in Somerville that are not hidden behind institutions or private businesses that make it unaccessible to the greater community. SomArt is the first program to provide this for working dance artist of Somerville. SomArt is a valuable and necessary contribution to the dance community and I hope it is maintained for many years to come.

The SomArt program and Armory/Hive spaces have been vital to my creation and development as an artist. Within the dance sector of Greater Boston, there are very few funding opportunities, and even less that are available to reapply to once you've already received them. This makes it extremely difficult for artists without an established nonprofit or wealthy donors to advance in their careers. Part of what makes the Somerville Armory 3rd and 4th floor studios and The Hive studio so vital to the dance community is the affordability for artists that are making well below the poverty line access to free (BIPOC space) or affordable (The Hive/4th floor of Armory) rehearsal space. Dance making requires access to a larger space than other mediums, as well as a lot of time to create; the availability of the studios that we do have is already a struggle to navigate, outside of the running hourly rental rate that other privately owned studios ask. This creates a situation where an artist either needs to fit their schedule to the affordable studio's availability, or stop creating. To put it in perspective, I live in Jamaica Plain and commute the 1 hr train ride to be able to use the BIPOC Armory space, because I can't afford the rental rate of privately owned studios close to where I live. I worry that if the Armory and The Hive spaces are removed, many dance making artists will stop creating work, or move. As a professional artist, I've seen over and over artists moving out of the city due to low support and inaccessible conditions. If we truly want the art sector to thrive, we need to be continuing to support artists that are already at a lack of resources.

It's undeniable that BIPOC people in the Greater Boston area have historically had their resources removed, are underrepresented in the art and business sector, and generally face more hoops to jump through than their white counterparts. If the board makes a decision to remove these vital resources for dance artists, where will we as small business owners go? Maintaining the Somerville Armory BIPOC space and 4th floor, as well as The Hive as dance/performance spaces will ensure that artists can continue to thrive. This also means that more money is poured into the local community; coffee shops, restaurants, stores, local corner stores, even the library see an influx of business when we're able to save money on studio rentals. If you've ever stopped by the SomArt program spaces, seen a work in progress, a show, a dance class, you'll understand that it's a vital network of people pouring resources and support into each other's work, connecting online or in person, and being in community with one another. I urge you to keep the Armory BIPOC space and 4th floor as dance studios, as well as The Hive studio, and stop by a class or a show to witness how vital these resources are for us. My written testimony is easy to bypass, but if you show up for us the way we do for the community, you'll not only understand, but feel why I'm so passionate about this program and these spaces.

My name is Caroline Bradbury. I am co-Artistic Director of detritus dance alongside Claire Lane. From our very first rehearsal together in 2021, we have used the SomArt Spaces due to how accessible and affordable they are for artists in Boston. detritus dance has created two evening-length dance pieces within SomArt Spaces at The Armory and at The Hive, the latter in which we self-produced our performance of “Malefica” in Fall of 2024.

Due to budget restraints and how limited grants are in the city currently, we could not operate without the subsidized rehearsal rental space and affordable performance fees. Our company in its current state could not exist without the SomArt Spaces, and we would not want it any other way. We hope to utilize the SomArt Spaces throughout our career as dancers and choreographers in Boston and wish the same for our peers in the dance community.

The TransDans classes at the armory have truly changed my life. As a practicing ballet dancer for ten years and a cheerleader/dancer for most of my life, finally being able to express my queer identity in a space that welcomes me without judgement has been life changing. Being in the dance and cheerleading space since a young age has contributed heavily to me developing complex feelings about my sexuality as a Femme lesbian and hindered a lot of self discovery for me (very much "But I'm A Cheerleader"). I look forward to my ballet classes and I am so grateful for the community I have built through this program and the space. Being able to revisit a passion I had as a kid in a place where I am accepted as a dancer with a body type that isn't usually reflected in ballet, as well as my identity, has brought me peace and purpose. I attended the ballroom dancing class back in November as well, as that is a dance style I have always been interested in, and it felt so freeing to have a lesbian dance partner and have that connection honored by the instructor and dance style. Dance styles like ballet and ballroom dancing, specifically ballet, historically have not been accepting of differences in bodies, movement ability, or expression, so finding a space where I am accepted for all of my perceived differences has opened me up to a new kind of enjoyment of dance and grown my confidence in and out of the studio. I am so thankful for SomArt and TransDans and the opportunities they've offered me and other queer individuals. Everyone has such a personal connection with dance, especially as a queer person, and having a space to honor our identities has been life changing.

** feel free to edit for clarity ** can use this to advocate for SomArts to keep space in the armory and for SomArts to continue to support TransDans

I come here a few times a year to collaborate with other artists. It's a joyful and refreshing experience!

These spaces are absolutely necessary for us. Finding a good wood sprung floor that is not just hard and on cement is a necessity for our work! Wood floor spaces should not be lost. Finding affordable open floor spaces is difficult. Please keep this space available to artists like ourselves