It’s been five years since Asheville musicians Claude Coleman Jr. (the drummer of rock band Ween) and bassist Brett Spivey first brought their vision of affordable music rehearsal space to life with the launch of SoundSpace@Rabbit’s in Asheville’s South Slope. Occupying the historic site of Rabbit’s Motel and Café – known as a haven for Black travelers when it was opened in 1947 during segregation – SoundSpace@Rabbit’s offers two state-of-the-art recording studios, with plans to unveil additional artist studios as well as a soul-food restaurant. Mosaic Realty recently spoke with Coleman about the project’s positive impact on Asheville’s music community, its resilience in the face of extreme challenges (including the COVID pandemic and, more recently, Hurricane Helene), and the exciting road ahead as it continues its important role among Asheville’s vital small businesses.
When you first formulated the idea of SoundSpace@Rabbit’s, there was a clear need for affordable recording space in the Asheville music community. What has been the community’s response in the years since SoundSpace@Rabbit’s opened its doors in 2020?
We opened during the depths of the global pandemic of COVID with public life flatlined. We are deeply integrated in our music community, so we have always closely understood the necessity of practice spaces as a resource we all constantly need. We are owners who are players, utilizing the spaces on a regular basis. The response we have received locally and from the many touring groups we serve has been so incredibly positive and supportive. There is an expressed gratitude for us just being here. We’ve retained groups as clients from the moment we’ve opened, with great honor. Now more than ever, creative workspaces are needed, and we have become an integral utility for the recovery of the arts and its communities.
Our plans to bring in a soul-kitchen with chef Clarence Robinson is to extend Asheville’s historic tradition of BIPOC equity and entrepreneurship. Our plans to add murals and create a cultural landmark have also received strong attention and positive response from the Black community and city leaders, garnering local, regional, state and national media attention. We are included as a stop in the Black Cultural Trail Walk downtown. Many people in this city have helped to put much wind in our sail.
Obviously, the devastation of Hurricane Helene has had a far-reaching impact on the city of Asheville, its communities and its small businesses. How has SoundSpace@Rabbit’s weathered the recovery thus far? Are you back to being fully operational? Are there any special campaigns currently running in support of SoundSpace@Rabbit’s?
We sustained significant landslide damage to the rear of our property up to about 1 foot of the building. In addition to property damage is economic injury from lost business. But our building is safe and we are currently open, in service and running rehearsals for many displaced musicians and touring groups in return to Asheville.
The impact to everyone’s lives and livelihoods and to the city’s operations will perhaps be generational. Everything is still unfolding. For us, being survivors with the resource of our spaces still available, we have been taking in many new musicians who have lost their previous options for practice, their basement or their garage. There has actually been an incremental uptick for us. We had rehearsals being booked just days after the storm, with everything still in shock mode.
Generally, there has been very good disaster assistance support. We’ve been awarded several grants and are about to close on SBA federal disaster funding, which is a bit of a political roller coaster. There can certainly be more grant support to local businesses to support the high-ticket prices of rebuilding. It has been a one-two punch from COVID to Helene, but the music community has consistently maintained its incredible resiliency.
We will be creating our fundraising campaign shortly, to be announced soon.
As SoundSpace@Rabbit’s works to recover post-Helene, how do you see its role in the music and art community’s road to recovery?
We see ourselves in lock and step with every musician, artist, venue owner and resident of Asheville, because this is our community. We are all sharing identical experiences. Our business is the business of community, and the providing of support as a resource tool that is absolutely critical to the area’s rebound. Our mission has always been multidimensional, and now we’ve added recovery to our focus, creating greater access to our spaces with discounts, gift cards, and free days.
Plans have been in the works for a soul food café and murals project to complement music rehearsal and art studio facilities. Is there a timeline for the plans?
Our timeline has always slid around due to these exceedingly impactful events such as COVID, and now Helene which brought us property damage as well as economic injury.
For the short interim, we are engaged in a process of plans and reconstruction before anything else to structurally secure the building. We were running on a schedule for Fall 2025. We hope we don’t get too far pushed back; the scale of damage to the area has overloaded all systems to rebuild. So perhaps at worst, we’ll land around Spring/Summer 2026 for Areta’s kitchen and the art studios. The murals we’ve kicked into gear already for the rehearsal building, and we are sorting through artists for large-scale work on the two-story building.
SoundSpace@Rabbit’s is located at 109 McDowell St. in Asheville’s South Slope. For more information or to book rehearsal space, visit https://www.soundspaceavl.com.
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