![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WADA-Aeling-300x207.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn just about 20 years, St. Petersburg\u2019s Warehouse Arts District has evolved from rows of derelict industrial buildings into a vibrant, thriving, hub for the city\u2019s arts community.<\/p>\n
It began when St. Pete Clay Company, and then the Morean Center for Clay, moved into the old city train station. Mark Aeling arrived from St. Louis and found a place for his steel-sculpture studio. Noted glass artist Duncan McClellan turned a tomato-packing plant into a gallery, studio and hot box.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sculptor Mark Aeling is President of the Warehouse Arts District Board of Directors. \u201cThis (city) is a magic place,\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019d like to see it stay that way.\u201d Photo by Bill DeYoung.<\/p>\n
The documentary District Lines: The Rise of the Warehouse Arts District premiered Saturday on the outdoor stage\/screen at the Arts Xchange, the center of activity for the nonprofit Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA). The organization operates several art galleries and 28 artist studios on the Arts Xchange campus.<\/p>\n
The 28-minute film was created by City of St. Petersburg videographers Michael Flanagan and Amanda Henderson. It chronicles the area\u2019s bumpy first years, through the first-hand accounts of McClellan, Aeling (the current President of WADA), former Mayor Rick Baker, co-founder, attorney and longtime board member Rob Kapusta, WADA executive director Markus Gottschlich and numerous artists.<\/p>\n
In his pre-screening remarks Saturday, Aeling sounded an alarm. \u201cRight now, this city\u2019s creative community is in crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cArtists are moving away. That thing that makes St. Pete so special, I can see it dissipate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The irony: At the same time St. Petersburg is lauded worldwide for its vast and varied palette of artists and art offerings, many creatives, who live perilously close to the poverty line, can no longer afford to live here.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WADA-Welch-272x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch. Photo by Amy Kagan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWADA,\u201d Aeling explained, \u201cis focused on artists\u2019 living circumstances, affordable housing. It\u2019s the most important component that we see.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started with studios. And studios are great, and they\u2019re helpful, but if you\u2019ve got to commute from 45 minutes away because that\u2019s the only place you can afford to live, can you afford that commute to come here to your studio? The answer is simple. It\u2019s no.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to provide housing and opportunity for artists in the community. Or this special thing will be gone, just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the film, Kapusta suggested that help may be on the way. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a chunk of property that\u2019s undeveloped,\u201d he said, \u201cand we are putting together a proposal to build approximately 50 live\/work spaces on that property. That would guarantee that there\u2019s always a place for artists to live, as well as work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welch referred to the proposal in his opening remarks. \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to innovate,\u201d the Mayor said. \u201cI love the concept of having artist workspace and housing, and we\u2019re looking forward to seeing how those plans move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the largest CRA in the county, and we can use those funds for housing, so I\u2019m positive and optimistic about the way that we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In just about 20 years, St. Petersburg\u2019s Warehouse Arts District has evolved from rows of derelict industrial buildings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-266300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}