From Empty to Energized: Turning Vacant Spaces Into Creative Community Assets | Local-Motive Tour

Though vacant storefronts and underused commercial spaces can feel like signs of decline, they can also become some of a community’s most promising opportunities for renewal. In this session, Evan Snow and Andrew Martineau, co-founders of Zero Empty Spaces, will share how they’ve helped transform empty commercial properties into affordable working studios, creative hubs, and places of connection for local artists, property owners, and neighbors.

Drawing from their experience building a repeatable vacancy activation model across multiple communities, Evan and Andrew will walk participants through the practical ingredients that make these projects work: finding the right spaces, building trust with property owners and local partners, creating a sustainable operating model, and measuring broader community impact.

This session will explore how arts and culture can help bring life back to overlooked places through flexible, incremental, community-centered action. Whether you’re a local advocate, property owner, artist, or neighborhood organizer, you’ll leave with concrete ideas for identifying underused spaces in your own community and turning them into productive, people-centered assets.

Participants will come away with a clearer understanding of how vacancy activation can strengthen local economies, support creative people, improve the public realm, and help residents see new possibilities in the places they already have.

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Get a single-stop ticket to attend just this session, or get a round-trip ticket to attend all Local-Motive sessions for the fall 2026 tour.