Ami Bennitt News Today

An unlikely group of artists and activists known as the Art Stays Here Coalition has emerged to help combat displacement.

The new rehearsal space is being given to the city by developer IQHQ as part of a package to offset the displacement of some 700 musicians and other performing artists from the old Sound Museum property in Brighton.

For many local musicians, affordable rehearsal space is hard to come by. Even when they can secure a place to practice that fits their budgets, there’s always the likelihood of the property being sold, developed, or demolished. Jesse Weiss, a sound engineer and drummer in the band Pet Fox, was booted from two studios earlier this year before he found an interim practice space

A new plan will make rehearsal spaces available in Dorchester for musicians who must vacate the Sound Museum at the end of this month. But the evolving saga has raised questions about whether the city could have done more to preserve a major local music business.

A life-sciences developer said Sound Museum musicians wouldn't be forced to leave before they had a new place to practice. Now, they face eviction and an uncertain future.