BRIDGE ARTSpace
By Shelly Prevost
Twenty-five years ago, in a little developed area of
Richmond near the Richmond Bridge, Jim Wright
started a storage company. Bridge Storage consisted
of 762 units and was a successful business. He was
eventually joined by his son, Jeff Wright, who, after
fifteen years as a math professor, left the University of
San Diego to help his father.
The storage yard was deserted with the exception of
an occasional stray storage user, the Wrights and their
Director of Operations, Daryl Henline, envisioned
a remarkably different place. They recognized that
Richmond was lacking in community and artist spaces
and decided to experiment with transforming a portion
of the storage area into creative workspaces for artists
at affordable rates. They knew their value to the
community was more than simply providing storage.
Could they attract a new type of customer? Their efforts
were rewarded as artists fleeing from high rent areas
began to move in and form what is now known as the
Bridge ARTSpace. With his father’s passing in 2015, Jeff
to continues to grow the family business.
On December 2, 2016 a fire broke out in an Oakland
warehouse, known as the Ghost Ship, which was a
converted
artist
collective.
A total of
thirty-six
people
were killed
in the
fire, the
deadliest
fire in
Oakland’s
history.
The unsafe
conditions
Camilia Zulpo, Kids Art instructor
Mayor Tom Butt next to his granddaughter’s art.