North Philadelphia: A Fortress of Art

On the Glenwood Avenue between Second and Fifth streets lies a relic from Philadelphia’s industrial golden age. Inside local photographer Kat Reilly is working to create another gilded era, one of art. Reilly is owner and director of The Fortress of the Arts, an art collective in North Philadelphia.

After moving from her previous studio, Reilly, who also runs a photography company Kat’s Eye Studios, says she came upon an industrial building once a powder-coating painting facility. Immediately, she says she knew art could thrive there.

She contacted property owner and now her partner, demolition contractor Stephen Agresta about renting the fourth floor.  “When [Kat] told me she wanted to use this place for anything, I thought she was out of her mind,” says Agresta. “I couldn’t imagine why she wanted the fourth floor of an old warehouse.”

After walking up the 89 stairs to reach the fourth floor, Reilly saw the clutter that lay between her and her vision. “It was just full of stuff,” says Reilly. From floor to ceiling there was old equipment, files and other debris, so much that Reilly says she could not see to the back wall. “But I saw the light,” she says. In a year, Reilly and Agresta renovated and cleared out the space.

The last four years, Reilly has hosted photo shoots, open mic nights and fashion and art shows. Three times a month, members of interest groups she heads on Meetup.com come together to network and learn from one another. “I try to mix it up. I try to do a little bit of everything,” she says.

Reilly says the road to create a community that connects some of what she describes as splintered artists’ scenes in Philadelphia has been difficult. “I have never taken on a project this big before and it’s really just me,” she says. “This place is like a boat as soon as you fix one hole, you got another hole.” So far the business owner has had little financial backing, but she says she does not see aligning with any major company an option anyway, because she does not want to lose The Fortress of the Arts’ grassroots identity.

“If we all pulled together, Philadelphia would knock the socks off of the East Coast,” says Reilly. “I have all this space, so all I’m trying to do is get people here and have them know that there’s a home here for them.”

Jazette Moye, an aspiring model, says she feels in Philadelphia opportunities are sometimes limited. She adds that even in the three weeks she has been working with Reilly she feels one step closer to her dream becoming reality. “I think [Kat] tries to help people help themselves,” says Moye. “We’re helping each other.”

Eventually, Reilly says she would like to have the building function dually as a non-profit for rescued animals and artist grants as well as a space where artists can rent private studios. “The goal is to have art everywhere, every little corner of the building.”

She adds, “The biggest thing [I want] to see is this to be more active, to see artists coming in here every day and working [and] for this to be a hub.”