Come together: Vacant space at 6706 Detroit met Billy Delfs and John G in Convergence.

Billy Delfs came back to Cleveland so he could afford to be a photographer. He graduated from the International Center for Photography in New York three years ago and wanted to make a living by taking pictures, not to support his artistic habit with a day job. And he has succeeded. His freelance work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, Cleveland, Audubon, Redbook and more than a dozen other magazines. But even with that level of success, it's hard to afford the freelance life. "I wanted to work in photography," he says, "and Cleveland's good for that because it's so inexpensive."

The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture is hoping that a better understanding of that dynamic - combined with the availability of unique spaces like vacant churches and factories, as well as dignified old houses - can help retain artists and attract more to the region. They'll explore the idea in a conference next week, "From Rust Belt to Artist Belt," which will attract panelists and attendees from around the country.

The idea of artists moving into run-down neighborhoods and improving them is not a new one in Cleveland or anywhere, as can be seen in cities like Provincetown, Rhode Island and Paducah, Kentucky, and in the multitude of wannabe arts districts around the region that are in various ways attempting to replicate that Tremont magic. There are several different ways to go about this: It can be about attracting artists, or it can be about building economic strength - especially equity - among the artists who already live in an area. Either of these can strengthen a neighborhood.

But around Cleveland, when councilmen, cities and community development corporations have attempted to legislate or broker deals to accomplish what happened in Tremont organically, they have typically come up with expensive "live-work space" and "artist loft" condos priced well beyond the reach of most artists - especially those willing to pour sweat equity into a neighborhood that needs it. When property like that is sold or leased, it's the developer who makes the money.

A few panelists booked for the conference have experience doing it other ways. Matthew Galluzzo, of Pittsburgh's Penn Avenue Arts District, will talk about that project's "Unblurred" nights, which are open studio events similar to Tremont's art walks. But in order to explain the Unblurred events and their marketing, he'll have to talk about how Penn Avenue Arts got there. And that is a much more interesting story.

Penn Avenue Arts had its roots in a 1994 study that found about 400 artists living in three neighborhoods along a 10-block stretch of Pittsburgh's then largely abandoned Penn Avenue. Most were renters. With the goal of building equity among the artist population that was already there, they started buying buildings in 1998 and selling only to artists and arts organizations, without significant price mark-up other than administrative costs. They provide institutional muscle to the project, without the profiteering motive of putting a developer in between. The result is that more artists are attracted to or stay in the neighborhood, and if the atmosphere they create improves the quality of life there, any equity that comes from increased value stays with the artists.

The district is anchored by the Pittsburgh Glass Center, which grew out of a vacuum. "Urban legend is that when the Carnegie-Melon University hot shop [glass studio] closed in 1991, people banded together to open the glass center," Galluzzo says. The glass artists had been looking for a facility when the Penn Avenue Arts District was buying buildings in 1998. Penn Avenue Arts started with a purchase of 16 buildings along Penn Avenue that year, including a 17,000-square-foot building that was originally a mattress factory and, before being abandoned, had housed social service agencies and a grocery co-op. Galuzzo says Penn Avenue Arts bought the building for about $100,000 (which cleared up back taxes and liens) and sold it to the Glass Center in 2001 for a very affordable $130,000. The artists then invested $2.7 million in the facility, creating a LEED Gold certified glass studio that has attracted 30 artists from around the country to Pittsburgh's Penn Avenue neighborhoods. The district is also home to Pittsburgh's Dance Alloy contemporary dance company, an iron-working studio, a clay studio, a renovated theater, and several other studios and galleries. Most important, about one-third of the artists' homes and work spaces are owned by the artists themselves.

This is just one of the ideas that will be explored in "From Rust Belt to Artist Belt."

"IT'S ONLY A CONFERENCE," says CPAC CEO Tom Schorgl. But he and Seth Beattie think it will generate ideas and advance discussion that could be especially beneficial to Cleveland. As Schorgl observes, the city has a robust arts scene that includes nationally known players, as well as what he calls a "sophisticated" group of community development corporations. And of course, Cleveland is rich in an important - if unnatural - resource: empty buildings.

"We are focusing on the challenges and opportunities of the industrial Midwest," Schorgl says. "We have an opportunity that stronger markets don't have - an abundance of cheap and unusual space, including industrial space, churches, and older, historic homes."

CPAC Program Manager Seth Beattie studied artists and the real estate market last year, surveying 478 artists nationwide, about one-third of whom lived in Northeast Ohio. Among key findings were that more than one in five artists living outside of Northeast Ohio were willing to move to Cleveland to get affordable living and working space. More than half of those artists living out of the region said low-cost space would be the most compelling reason for them to move. The study also found strong interest in old homes and willingness to get involved in neighborhood activities, but little awareness of available low-interest loan programs for both working and living space.

CPAC sees providing information about these programs and space opportunities as a part of its role. The organization plans to launch an online clearinghouse of information about grants, available space, commissions, auditions and other information in 2009. Other artist service projects - such as the Artist as Entrepreneur Institute - are already underway. Schorgl says investing in support for artists is another way to attract them to the region's bounty of empty space.

Photographer Delfs can testify not only to the draw of inexpensive space, but also the value of those programs that help teach artists business skills, and about finding space to live and work. He attended the Artist as Entrepreneur Institute shortly after arriving back in Cleveland, where he met Beattie. Then, when he was looking for space to host an exhibit in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, he asked Beattie for ideas. Beattie referred him to the Detroit Shoreway CDC, which helped him arrange his show in a space that had just been sold and would remain vacant for two months until a soon-to-open restaurant would begin remodeling. He and flyer/comics artist John G designed their exhibit space, built their walls and created a show, aptly called Convergence.

"We wanted to make it about the talent that's in Cleveland," Delfs says. "They're trying to build an arts district. That's what made me think it would be a perfect place for the show we were trying to do. It was a great environment to be in, and it opened my mind to the possibilities with vacant space."

From Rust Belt to Artist Belt: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday, May 14, CSU Levin College of Urban Affairs, 216.575.0331