Dan Yonah Marshall behind the teller’s desk of the former Citizen’s Bank at 429 Harvard Street, which he is turning into a temporary community arts center. Photo by Sam Mintz
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Dan Yonah Marshall has big plans for the shuttered Citizens Bank on Harvard Street over the next few years. He’s creating a community arts space that he plans to operate until the property’s owner demolishes the bank and builds a six-story apartment building on the site.
Marshall, who has previously led arts nonprofits in Brookline and Cambridge, signed a lease to rent the building at 429 Harvard Street starting in August and then got to work renovating the space in time for a grand opening set for Nov. 1.
Classes in the new Brookline Community Center for the Arts space will follow the same eclectic, varied mix as Marshall’s previous ventures: dance of all sorts, martial arts, DJing, independent film, computer building, jewelry and gem fabrication, silk screening, artificial intelligence and more.
“The first part of our mission is to cultivate and employ artists gainfully and equitably,” Marshall said. Teachers will be able to set their own rates, and share the proceeds with the organization.
Eventually, the building is going to be demolished to make way for a 40-unit apartment building. But as developer Oak Hill Properties goes through permitting and waits for challenging economic conditions to ease, the building is all Marshall’s. His lease, which he calls “very charitable,” is for at least two-and-a-half years and as many as five.
Jennifer Dopazo Gilbert, an attorney representing Oak Hill, confirmed that the lease is short-term and that her client still plans to move forward with the housing project.
“There was some concern expressed by some neighbors about the building being vacant, and this will also give the owner some relief from the carrying costs,” Dopazo Gilbert said.
With roughly 6,000 square feet on the bank’s first floor and basement, Marshall ismapping out a sprung-wood dance floor and performance stage, a martial arts and yoga space, a recording studio and a media lab with high-end servers and editing equipment.
A high-end DJ rig that will be in place at the Brookline Community Center for the Arts temporary location at 429 Harvard Street. Photo by Sam Mintz
In a previous iteration of his organization Marshall once rented a building on Green Street in Coolidge Corner, where he lent space to hundreds of artists who gave a myriad of classes each week.
That lease ended in 2005, and in the two decades since Marshall has jumped around between spaces in Brookline and Cambridge, including a recent partnership with the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge.
Marshall’s nomadic career dates back to his days as a student at the University of Massachusetts, where he studied engineering and dance. He’s worked in both of those worlds, plus publishing, choreography and nonprofit management consulting.
Born in Israel, Marshall, 52, has lived in Brookline since the 1980s, when he moved into an apartment with his family.
Marshall hopes the new community center will appeal to people from all walks of life. The center will be fully ADA-accessible, and, he said, will welcome walk-ins.
“Come in with your hoodie,” Marshall said. “Come in with your street shoes. Once a person is here, this is their playground and their open canvas to paint on, as long as we all respect each other.”
Dan Yonah Marshall stands in front of a 40-foot-sign that used to adorn his nonprofits’ building on Green Street and he hopes will go up on its new location on Harvard Street. Photo by Sam Mintz
