One of Capitol Hill’s oldest homes for creative retail spaces and restaurants is making space for a crafty new addition.

Spacecraft, a community arts and craft space targeting “screen addicted adults” and “people who don’t necessarily consider themselves artists,” is getting its final coats of paint and collecting supplies for a planned October opening in the 101-year-old Broadway Alley building.

“I’ve always been crafty, always kind of a dabbler,” Alison Cantor tells CHS. Describing how challenging it is to find space to do those things with “people living in smaller and smaller spaces,” Cantor says Spacecraft will be a place to spread your project out and work on your art somewhere better than the kitchen table.

“It’s a community where people can come and make art,” she said.

Cantor is launching Spacecraft with hope for around 100 members, the amount she calculates will work best in the Broadway Alley space while keeping the rent paid. It’s a subscription-based business, of sorts, but Spacecraft will also be open to drop-in visitors paying on a per visit basis. Classes and private parties round out the opportunity.

While there might be times and opportunities for kids to come and play, adults are the target market. “There are a lot of places in Seattle targeting kids and all sorts of summer camps,” Cantor said. “I think for adults, it’s harder to find that.”

In addition to tables, workspaces, and arts and crafts work areas, Spacecraft will offer a resource library with gear and materials. It will also offer, Cantor hopes, a friendly mix of advice, experience, and inspiration.

“Come try something,” Cantor says, adding that Spacecraft will be a place to meet that isn’t a bar.

Meeting new friends and building something new was an urge the Seattle native Cantor decided to explore after returning to Seattle after seven years in the Bay Area. Now she finds herself neighbors with Tacos Chukis on the second floor of the Alley, and organizing her first attempts at Spacecraft creative community building — painting parties to overhaul the newly  periwinkle, white, and navy Spacecraft space.

She’s looking to sign up new members. And also is interested in taking any extra supplies or gears off your hands and out of your tightly packed storage spaces.

In the densely packed, expensive city, living space is at a premium and art and crafting is easily squeezed out of the smaller, busier living spaces. Other art space ventures in the city focus on specific media like Seattle Mosaic Arts and Sean’s Clay Corner. Meanwhile, Metrix Create:Space, a Capitol Hill creative space focused on tech, robotics, and 3D printing closed in 2018 after a decade below Broadway.

Cantor hopes Spacecraft catches on as an open canvas, so to speak, for the neighborhood’s creative needs.

Spacecraft is located at 219 Broadway E on the second floor and planned to open later this month. You can learn more and sign up at spacecraftseattle.com.

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