The Arts Council is vacating Seaside artist studios due to a funding crunch.

The Arts Council for Monterey County (Arts4MC) has been a hub for all things artsy since its inception in 1982. In 2016, the organization held a breakfast with artists and art supporters, whose number-one complaint was no affordable art studio space around. Arts4MC came up with an idea to find the space, hold the lease and then sublease it out to individual artists.

Its first location was in the American Tin Cannery building, where ArtWorks @ Pacific Grove opened in March 2017. Soon, the space was filled by 17 artists; they stayed there for four-and-a-half years.

The landlord, Cannery Row property holder Foursome Development Company, was generous with an affordable, month-to-month lease, according to Jacquie Atchison, executive director of Arts4MC. But with yet-unrealized plans for a hotel advancing at the time, Foursome Development asked the Arts Council to move out in October 2021.

The council announced that the ideal new studio space would be a “large, open environment,” at least 3,000 square feet, ideally with foot traffic.

In 2023, Arts4MC moved its administrative headquarters away from a large, open environment in Seaside (where it was renting from the Monterey County Weekly) to Monterey. The space they left behind became available to four artists, who spent a year working in studios there. However, Atchison says, “The lease expires at the end of May 2024 and we do not have the funding to continue.”

The artists from Seaside were encouraged to move to Salinas, where Arts4MC opened ArtWorks @Salinas on Main Street in September 2023, with studio space for seven artists and retail space. They also have the opportunity to exhibit during Salinas’ First Fridays.

But all four Seasiders say it won’t be a good option for them, because of the distance but also because of the nature of their work, such as throwing paint on walls.

Several other artists are moving into the Salinas space, Atchison says, and Arts4MC hopes to find another spot in the future. “Depending on the next year’s funding, we would like to find another affordable location in an area with lots of foot traffic, especially a First Friday, so maybe Pacific Grove or Monterey,” she says.

In the meantime, the four artists in Seaside – Carly Ganley, Shagufta Khan, Michelle Robertson and Andrew Jackson – are having a final pop-up show from 11am-4pm on Saturday, March 30 at their studios at 1123 Fremont Blvd., Suite C, in Seaside.