Did you know there is a place in Albany that is dedicated to providing a sustainable creative arts incubator and community arts center? It’s a place for artists to live, work and inspire. It’s called Albany Barn and is located at 56 2nd Street in Arbor Hill.

Albany Barn, the Albany Housing Authority and the City of Albany partnered to redevelop the former St. Joseph’s Academy, which was an abandoned school. They developed the building into 22 low-cost live/work residences, and 13,500+ square feet of multi-tenant creative arts incubator, enterprise and program space called The Barn.

Albany Barn evolved from Rock2Rebuild™, a grassroots production group established to create events benefiting important causes while creating opportunities for local creative talent.  Rock2Rebuild staged several major multimedia events and founded an ongoing acoustic concert series in the Children’s Hospital at Albany Medical Center featuring capital region artists. Rock2Rebuild’s first undertaking to raise funds for children and families devastated by the 2004 South Asian tsunami disaster attracted 2,000 people, raised more than $26,000.

Albany Barn has continued Rock2Rebuild’s work as part of its broader mission, pioneering local music showcases at “Art on Lark” and “Lark Fest,” two of the region’s largest cultural events, and resurrecting the “Summer In The City Youth Talent Exhibition” to present works by young people from Arbor Hill and other downtown neighborhoods.

Learn more about the Barn here.