ART LIVES here
Boardinghouse Arts is a multidisciplinary space that serves artists at all stages of their careers. From private studios to gallery exhibitions and audio recording facilities, its three stories are an invitation to explore and collaborate across mediums and genres.
Boardinghouse is a home for the arts. We seek to foster conversation, spark debate, welcome critique, and engage audiences and artists in a flourishing arts ecosystem.
A historic building, reimagined for the arts.
After a three-year renovation, Boardinghouse now features private studios, a contemporary gallery, and a professional recording space, designed to support creativity at every phase.
Our doors will open soon!
FALL 2026
FALL 2026
EXPLORE OUR SPACES
Private studios designed for artists, writers, and creative professionals. Each space has natural light, secure 24/7 access, and a built-in community of peers. Perfect for emerging and mid-career artists looking for space to immerse and grow.
A gallery that showcases bold, emerging, contemporary voices.
Our platform highlights queer, BIPOC, and emerging artists shaping the cultural landscape of our city, our state, and the nation.
Professional audio facilities for musicians, podcasters, and sound artists. Whether you’re tracking an album or experimenting with new media, our boutique studio allows the range of voices that make up the Boardinghouse community to be heard.
Host your next event, workshop, or celebration with us. Our historic space offers flexible rental options in the heart of Durham, perfect for community gatherings, performances, or private events.
LIVING our VALUES
Boardinghouse Arts is more than a building.
It’s a belief that when artists are offered space, care, and honest infrastructure, they don’t just create, they shape culture. Born from the tradition of shared living and collective care, we aim to reinvent what an arts institution can mean in community.
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We don’t wait for opportunities to appear; we create them. Our studios and programs clear pathways for artists to grow into and sustain lasting careers.
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Generosity is generative. We honor the creative power of giving and receiving. We choose abundance and seek collaboration.
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True transformation happens together. By sharing resources and supporting each other, we practice equity and build lasting infrastructure.
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Art is work, and work deserves respect. We honor artistic labor as valuable, worthy of investment, and essential to community. Excellence emerges when artists have the resources to dive deep.
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We believe rigor and joy go hand in hand. Sustainable practice means finding pleasure in the journey, not just the destination.
ROOTED IN LOVE
Shirlette Ammons and Laura Ritchie have spent their careers seeking, building, and advocating for spaces that honor artistic work and community. Boardinghouse is the manifestation of that vision—an environment they believe artists deserve.
Laura brings decades of experience curating visual arts programming and exhibitions, while Shirlette’s expertise fosters the recording studio and performing arts events. Together, they’ve built a space where disciplines intersect, resources are shared, and new voices are amplified.
Boardinghouse is also a love story. Shirlette and Laura’s partnership first sparked over late-night debates about the future of art, challenging traditional institutions, imagining better models, and fighting for artists to thrive on their terms. A friendship blossomed into romance, marriage, and, now, co-ownership of their dream space.
Today, Boardinghouse stands as testimony to what happens when vision meets persistence, and when history is honored while making room for new stories to unfold.
What we build is important. How we build it matters MORE.
EVENTS COMING SOON!
