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The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority voted unanimously Wednesday to move ahead with drafting a plan to reshape Central Square into a cultural district, zeroing in on the historic Dance Complex as the first project.
At a board meeting, the CRA moved to commission a “demonstration plan” that will identify key cultural organizations in Central Square and outline strategies to preserve them.
The move comes as Central Square faces increasing commercial pressure and rising costs in the wake of the pandemic. City officials have warned that without targeted support, longtime cultural and nonprofit spaces could struggle to stay in the neighborhood.
The first target of the project will be the Dance Complex, a nonprofit arts center that offers dance classes, workshops, and performances. The organization, a fixture in Cambridge for more than three decades, is currently working with the CRA on a “building stabilization strategy” to tackle longtime financial strain, according to a memo presented at the meeting.
During the meeting, Jon Williams, a senior project manager at the CRA, said the plan would translate years of research on how to support cultural nonprofits in Central Square into concrete action.
“We really see the demonstration plan for Central Square as a way that will help realize goals that have already been previously identified by the community and a number of different planning studies,” he said.
The plan follows a 2021 directive from the Cambridge City Council tasking the CRA with identifying “cultural and human service” spaces in Central Square that advance the city’s development goals. Williams said the effort will focus on preserving cultural institutions, supporting small businesses, and expanding mixed-income housing to ensure residents can “patronize and staff” those spaces.
As part of the Wednesday plan, the CRA pledged to help secure capital for “mission-oriented organizations” and form partnerships with nonprofits and the City of Cambridge through a mix of leases, capital improvements, and potential site acquisitions.
“We really want to focus on supporting independent and small businesses, given how they’ve shaped the commercial character within Central Square,” he said.
Williams said it would take roughly five months for staff at the CRA to complete a final draft of the plan, and that the group aims to secure approval from its board by February 2026.
Support for organizations like the Dance Complex will come through both funding and technical assistance, the group wrote in the memo. The CRA currently supports a Forward Fund, which awards grants to infrastructure projects focused on serving city residents.
In April, the group awarded nearly $500,000 to seven organizations, including the Dance Complex which received a fifth of the pool. The CRA also announced that the Forward Fund has allocated funding for two additional organizations: Buildingways, which develops shades over public spaces, and the Multicultural Arts Center.
The group also promised continued support for the Neighborhood Storefronts Project, launched in 2023 to offer affordable rents for small businesses seeking storefronts in the Cambridge area.
“At the hearings about Central Square, the City Council said, ‘Don’t come to me with more planning. We need action,” Williams said. “And so this is the official way to get our toolbox as a Redevelopment Authority into the mix to help the city meet its goals.”
—Staff writer Stephanie Dragoi can be reached at stephanie.dragoi@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Thamini Vijeyasingam can be reached at thamini.vijeyasingam@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @vijeyasingam.
