In this week’s Right Here we meet Becca Balmes the owner of Ampersand Arts, an artist run space in Macon that welcomes anyone who wants to create.

Becca Balmes checks in with three artists sitting around a table sharing paints.

“We have several artists who come in here on almost a daily basis. We have some others who come in and work. Our primary clients are artists, who come in and work, use it kind of like a co-working space.”

Co-working spaces are common in places like Washington D.C. where Becca and her family moved from. The 5,000 square foot warehouse on the edge of downtown Macon also includes a café, computer lab, studio and performance stage.

Ampersand Arts Guild Hall (photo courtesy Ampersand Arts)

“It’s where a lot of the artists already are. It’s where a lot of the clients, customers and art appreciators who are used to more urban settings and more sort of interesting, experimental art are starting to congregate, gather and live.”

Guild memberships are twelve dollars a month but artists can work for free.

“We do revenue share with the artists so we don’t ever require them to pay money up front for space rental or anything like that but any activities they do in here we do take a commission."

Becca hopes to build a community of artists making it work, “Right Here.”