Fatima Laster, owner of the 5 Points Art Gallery & Studios in Milwaukee’s 5 Points neighborhood, is facing potential foreclosure on the building she purchased in 2018. She acquired the property through the city’s ARCH loan program and financed it with a five-year loan from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Impact Investing program. The balloon payment of $260,000 is due by December 1, 2025. Laster has been fundraising to save the space, which has hosted hundreds of artists and thousands of visitors. Her current immersive installation, “Interrupted: Cash for Homes,” replicates her grandparents’ home and addresses gentrification and housing displacement on Milwaukee’s north side.
The gallery has served as both an exhibition space and a community hub for underrepresented artists, offering artist residency apartments and programming that examines systemic issues like housing insecurity. Its potential closure would leave a void in Milwaukee’s cultural landscape. Laster cites rising costs, cuts to arts funding under the Trump administration, and the COVID-19 pandemic as financial challenges. The story highlights the precarious situation faced by Black-owned cultural spaces and the broader impact of funding cuts and economic pressures on community-based art organizations.