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Anne-Brigitte Sirois is Director of Real Estate Development for the Arts at the Lerner Group in New York City. She is credited for the real estate development of the flourishing “art-Chelsea” scene in New York.
Beginning in 1995, Anne-Brigitte initiated an ongoing project to market the then-isolated area of Chelsea West to a group of influential art galleries located in SoHo. She formally advocated the creation of a new art gallery community in that area. Chelsea West offered more affordable spaces and a potentially fresh alternative to the fatigued post-nineties Soho art scene.
Twelve months later, her efforts culminated in the first conversion of a large storage warehouse located on West 20th Street into an art gallery building. It provided 110,000 square feet of gallery space and caused the art gallery population of Chelsea West to grow from six to 30 galleries during 1996. Today, Chelsea is home to almost 300 art galleries and hosts a vital scene for contemporary art in New York City.
Between 1996 and 2006, Anne-Brigitte has directly represented transactions totaling a value of over $250 million on behalf of various art organizations in the Chelsea district. She is currently writing a book telling the story of the Chelsea art gallery district, and remains actively involved with Chelsea’s future development phase.
Anne-Brigitte received her M.F.A. from Pratt Institute. She is the Founder of ART STATE, a company offering real estate services to leaders in the art and real estate communities. ART STATE acts as a catalyst for economic and cultural development in urban centers by combining areas of expertise in art and real estate.
ART STATE interacts with building owners, real estate developers, gallery directors, non-profit organizations, community groups and other creative space users in the capacity of consultant, broker and developer to advance the development of spaces for the arts using the principles of culture-led regeneration.
In our 9-15-06 ARTSCAPE interview, Anne-Brigitte discusses
- How art gallery districts are created and the benefits they provide to the arts community and the city at large
- The history of SoHo and how it came to be an art gallery district
- Buying and selling art
- Advice to artists who are seeking gallery representation
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