Making art affordable and assessable: The WHY studio
Local Seattle art studio offers a free place with supplies for local artists to create amidst the rising cost of living.
By Karla Pastrana
As the cost –of living continues to rise in Washington, artists are continuing to not only struggle to afford living in major cities but are also struggling to create art as well. One Seattle art studio known as The Why has risen to counter the struggle to create by offering a place and supplies for all artists to continue their art no matter their practice on Wednesdays.
Washington has a long history of being the home for many artists and art forms. The city of Seattle in particular has been the major force in welcoming all art forms into the state Seattle as seen through the busy streets like Sodo’s Busway, where Bus 594 brings many students from King County to UWT by driving past an entire street full of colorful murals.
Although Washington, but more specifically Seattle embraces the arts, it hasn’t stopped the cost of living from pushing artists out of the city into other cities and regions as The Seattle Times has reported. Even in their new homes, artists are still struggling with the cost of living, forcing many to place their projects and passions on the back burner and find new jobs to cover living costs, creating less time for them to create. In June of 2024 the cost of living in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue increased 3.8% when compared to 2023, according to U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2025 it went up 0.4% in two months and currently at 1.8%, according the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As discussed in a previous article covering the high cost of living impacting Washington’s music scene, artists and others who work with artists receive low payment that barely cover the cost of living in the city. Even worse, stipends and grants at times don’t cover project costs, forcing artists to look for alternative funding. Many artists have even stated that their full time non-artistic jobs outside of the artist don’t cover the full cost of their projects, according to The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times even found in a survey that in 2024 artists made less than $50,000 a year in both artistic and non-artistic jobs.
The cost of living isn’t only pushing artists away from their homes, but also weakening places that provided resources, places to create and show their art. In January, Seattle lost The Varsity Theatre which played indie films, many by local directors. The theatre like many other art related spaces, was shut down thanks to the rising cost of operations and the aftermath impact of the pandemic, continuing a negative trend that has negatively impacted the city’s and state’s culture.
This high cost of living has forced many artists to practice their art in their own homes that limits the tools and size of their projects while also leaving them limited places to exhibit their art. Limitations that add more to the struggle to create art. These were struggles that artists and founders of The WHY Studio, Chloe Kimball and Colin Reid Babcock, saw happening among their fellow peers and in their personal lives. Struggles both artists witnessed causing low morale, but they still had hope for a better tomorrow.
On Jan. 5, The WHY Studio’s Instagram announced their Wednesday open studio from 5-9pm, a community creative space for artists to practice and share their art with others for free. The mission is to give other local artists a place to come together and share their self-expression, mirroring the very mission behind the creation of the studio itself under the artistic group known as Equinox.
“We started in another studio through Equinox,” Babcock told The Ledger. “It was shared between us, but I had a different schedule than (Kimball) so I was alone a lot. So, I started to open the studio to get people to join. Equinox saw what we were doing, liked it and moved us to this studio.”
The WHY Studio is a multidisciplinary studio that is a shared private studio between Kimball and Babcock located in South Seattle that is a part of Equinox’s art studio. Equinox is made up of local artists that provide spaces for other local artists to create. The non-profit Watershed helps Equinox create and maintain spaces for artists. Just like Equinox, Kimball and Babcock wanted to provide fellow artists not only a place to create their art, but also a place to escape their financial and life struggles by offering their shared studio on Wednesday.
In a reel released on Feb. 17, Kimball explains that the open studio offers two large table spaces for painting, drawing, sewing and computer work alongside a lounge area for fellow artists to meet. The studio provides free art supplies for artists to use within the studio. The space also offers a stage area for performers that comes equipped with microphones, a piano, a guitar and a ukulele.
Since the announcement and the two reels in February showing what The WHY offered, the studio has seen an increase of people attending the open hours to create art. People coming from different backgrounds from ages like 14-70 to varying skill levels.
“We’ve always had good numbers. It started small with seven people but now it’s 15 usually. The increase has created a different and new community. It’s amazing seeing people show their art and people who don’t have an art background come and explore,” Kimball said.
Kimball and Badcock have seen a large variety of art forms find sanctuary on Wednesdays in their studio from someone bringing a ceramics project to people painting.
The high levels of attention and attendance have led many to donate to help maintain The Why Studio as even Kimball and Badcock have admitted to facing times of finical difficulties with the rising cost of living since they too get their income through their art.
At the same time, both artists have also considered extending open studio to other days of the week rather than doing it once a week in the future with the success of Wednesday’s open studio. However, both artists informed The Ledger it wouldn’t be in the current studio The WHY is located in. It would need to be a bigger one.
“Currently, the studio is both public and private. We’re trying to find funding that would help us split it into two- one side be personal and the other for the public,” Badcock said.
Since the interview with The Ledger, The WHY studio has activated their Patreon page to receive donations to help maintain the current studio and achieve their goal of extending open studio by expanding the studio. Donations are also accepted through The WHY’s official website.
Until then, The WHY studio plans to continue Wednesday’s open studio while also offering free art walks and art showcases by local artists. Additionally, Kimball and Badcock will also be offering workshops to skill share with the community to help the community stay creative and fund The WHY studio. Kimball will be teaching people how to sew, and Badcock will be helping people learn how to create music. The workshops will be one-on-ones with the artists at The WHY studio.
The WHY’s open studio is every Wednesday from 5-9pm. Workshops can be scheduled by reaching out to Kimball and Badcock’s business emails found in The WHY’s bios.
