After nearly six years as a renter, Portland’s Indigo Arts Alliance now owns its East Bayside studio site.

The Black-owned art collaborative first moved into 60 Cove St., a purpose-built community and studio space, in 2019. At the time, the young operation, which was founded the previous year, could only afford to rent the roughly 4,000-square-foot space, but Executive Director Jordia Benjamin said ownership was always the plan.

“Being able to own was part of our mission to be able to be here for the long term,” Benjamin said. “We wanted to be able to make sure that we had a home here, and, no matter what happens, we’re able to continue our work.”

In the years since its founding, Indigo Arts has fostered dozens of artists who grew up locally or came from away. It now offers 14 residencies each year: 10 via a mentorship program, wherein visiting artists are paired with locals; three residencies dedicated for artists of color with Maine roots; and a recently launched curation and research fellowship based in New York, Benjamin said.

During that time, Indigo Arts built its reputation locally and across the country and developed a strong network of donors, she said.

A smaller group of donors, dubbed “Change Agents,” gave money specifically earmarked for purchasing Indigo’s office and a pair of artist residences, as well as building a fund to help maintain the organization’s long-term sustainability, Benjamin said.

She declined to disclose the building’s purchase price. Details about the site’s value were not available from the Portland tax assessor’s database, which may not include sales made since April 2024.

The sale was finalized in January, though Indigo announced its ownership last week. Details on the price were not available from the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds.

By inviting Black and brown artists to Maine, Indigo aims to challenge perceptions that Maine’s culture and history are overwhelmingly white. Indigo also aims to highlight Portland’s urban liveliness for newcomers, compared to residency programs in idyllic landscapes elsewhere.

“Our visitors can truly get a full understanding of what we offer as a community, all of the services, the resources, the careers, the industries that are taking place,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin said she hopes that perspective will encourage Black and brown artists to settle or regularly return to Maine, and “when they leave, (they) can accurately describe and depict the state in its fullness.”

She noted East Bayside’s legacy as a home to immigrants and what she called a rich Black history.

“We chose this community because of its historical diversity and its being one of the oldest Black neighborhoods in the state of Maine,” Benjamin said “It is truly important for us to build legacy as a Black organization in a diverse or historically diverse neighborhood.”

Beyond stability, owning the space removes a significant cost burden, Benjamin said. Until now, rent has made up a majority of the group’s operational budget, and rental rates in Portland are only expected to rise.

She said Indigo can now dedicate more resources to long-term growth, bolstering existing programming and funding new staff positions. The agency currently employees three full-time and one part-time staff members, Benjamin said.

“The volume of the work has completely transformed and completely grew, but our staff didn’t,” she said. “We know we need additional staff members to continue the work that we’re doing to the scale and scope of what we want.”

By the end of the year, 80 artists from at least 22 countries will have completed an Indigo residency, Benjamin said.

Among them is Rosalba Breazeale, who completed a fellowship in the fall of 2023. Breazeale grew up in Maine but spent nearly a decade living away, studying art in Chicago and New Mexico. They secured the Indigo fellowship shortly after returning to Portland.

“I didn’t feel like I was getting the support that I needed as a brown artist just starting off in art school, so it was really inspiring to see Indigo Arts and what they had to offer,” Breazeale said. “I felt so welcomed, not just within that workshop, but by the whole team at Indigo.”

In the years since, Breazeale has kept up a strong connection with the alliance, which has introduced them to other local artists and opportunities.

In the next few years, Indigo plans to refine its organizational structure and determine the ideal size of its administration, Benjamin said. She also hopes to carve out and get recognition as a niche in the broader art world, continuing to forge working relationships with peer institutions.

“We want to make sure that we’re here for the long term,” Benjamin said.