Voices from artists fearing crackdowns on artist collectives

In this photo taken Dec. 6, 2016, Emily Moore, 25, packs up her room at the Bell Foundry artist collective in Baltimore after fire and housing officials evicted the artists living there. The warehouse was raided just days after a fire at an Oakland, California warehouse left 36 people dead. City officials in Oakland have vowed to protect artists but also say safety measures need to be improved and many artists fear a possible crackdown. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman) In this photo taken Dec. 6, 2016, Emily Moore, 25, packs up her room at the Bell Foundry artist collective in Baltimore after fire and housing officials evicted the artists living there. The warehouse was raided just days after a fire at an Oakland, California warehouse left 36 people dead. City officials in Oakland have vowed to protect artists but also say safety measures need to be improved and many artists fear a possible crackdown. (AP Photo/Juliet Linderman)

By Associated Press December 8, 2016 4 min read

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – As the San Francisco Bay Area’s artists grieve the loss of life from a deadly warehouse fire in Oakland that killed 36 people, they are also bracing for a possible city crackdown. The city has vowed to protect artists, but many have voiced concerns and point to Baltimore where officials raided a collective called the Bell Foundry, just days after the fire in Oakland.

Here’s what artists in Oakland and Baltimore are saying:

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JAY FIELDS, 35, Oakland-based musician went to the Ghost Ship to meet friends but arrived to see it in flames and later learned several of his friends died. The Ghost Ship was particularly unsafe, he said, and not representative of Oakland’s diverse art scene that has flourished in old warehouses.

“These places provide a channel for expression. We need to put more resources into creating safe spaces for these people.”