For nearly 40 years, artists transformed Asheville’s River Arts District from abandoned industrial buildings into one of the most celebrated creative neighborhoods in the country. Then Hurricane Helene arrived, destroying roughly 80 percent of artist workspaces and displacing more than 500 artists in a matter of days.

Now, the artists are responding with something unprecedented.

The River Arts District Artists  Foundation (RADA Foundation) has announced that it is officially under contract for a property on Lyman Street to create the River Arts District (RAD) Creative Campus, a permanent, flood-safe cultural anchor designed to secure the future of the district and the creative economy it supports.

The RAD Creative Campus is not simply a recovery project. It is a structural reimagining of how artist communities can survive climate disruption, rising real estate pressure, and economic precarity while remaining rooted in place.

 “For decades, artists built the River Arts District with their labor, their creativity, and their risk,” said Jeffrey Burroughs, President of RADA. “Hurricane Helene didn’t just damage buildings. It exposed how fragile artist ecosystems are when permanence and resilience are missing. This campus is about protecting what artists built and ensuring they can stay, work, and belong here for generations.”

Located above the floodplain and designed with long-term resilience at its core, the Creative Campus will provide affordable, mission-aligned studios; shared maker spaces with capital-intensive equipment; classrooms for teaching and workforce development; galleries and performance space; resiliency hub; and a public welcome center connecting visitors to the River Arts District’s creative ecosystem.

The project emerged directly from the Unified RAD Visioning Charrette, a community-wide planning effort involving more than 1,200 stakeholders, including artists, residents, business owners, and civic partners. The Creative Campus was identified as one of the top priorities for the district’s future, reflecting a broad consensus that rebuilding without rethinking would leave the RAD vulnerable to the next crisis.

Beyond the arts, the implications are economic. Before Hurricane Helene, the River Arts District generated an estimated $300 million annually for the local economy and supported thousands of jobs across tourism, hospitality, retail, and creative industries. Stabilizing artists means stabilizing a major economic engine for Asheville and Western North Carolina.

“This is not about moving art somewhere else,” Burroughs said. “It’s about keeping the arts where they already are, in the district artists built, and giving that community the infrastructure it needs to survive the realities of the next forty years.”

The RADA Foundation is launching a capital campaign to support acquisition, build-out, and long-term operations of the Creative Campus, alongside public-private partnerships and community investment. Planning is underway, with continued artist input shaping studio design, programming, and shared resources.

More information about the River Arts District Creative Campus, including the full project book and opportunities to get involved, can be found at:
https://www.rada-foundation.org/rad-creative-campus/