Frequently asked questions about the Grotto

How was the Grotto formed?

The Grotto began in 1994, when Po Bronson, Ethan Watters and Ethan Canin rented a six room flat in a rundown Victorian on upper Market Street, to use exclusively as a workspace. It was, at the time, a unique proposition: an office for the creative self-employed, people who by definition don't need to punch a clock, and it took a while for the concept to be fully understood. Early misconceptions were that the Grotto was a clubhouse or bohemian retreat, not a place where artists welcomed the discipline of structuring their work lives, and building a community of peers.

Party atop the Grotto (Dog & Cat Hospital)

In the Grotto's first incarnation, Po and "the two Ethans" were joined by filmmaker David Munro, monologist Josh Kornbluth and freelancer Tessa Souter. After two years, they moved to a larger space in the South of Market district, where the group grew to nine. An even greater expansion came three years later, when the group was evicted at the height of the dot-com boom.

"There wasn't anything left in the city to rent," Po recalls. "But we didn't want to abandon the heart of the city." The group took over an old Dog & Cat Hospital, above a parking garage near City Hall, scheduled to be demolished in two years to make way for a condominium tower. It was affordable only because doom was imminent: "To make it pay, we were going to have to put 22 writers and filmmakers in there, and build the office walls and doors ourselves, put in skylights, rewire the electrical system - knowing with every hammer fall and screw turn that it would all be coming down in just two years."

The new Grotto ended up outlasting the dot-com boom. The 22 inhabitants (or "Grottoites") managed to stay in residence there for a full five years, while the cooling real estate market delayed the demolition. When the group did move, at the close of 2005, it was into quarters larger still. Today the Grotto occupies an entire floor of an office building at Second and Bryant streets, near South Park, with workspaces for 32 authors, journalists, fiction writers, filmmakers, poets, critics and other "narrative artists." The original hypothesis--that community is conducive to productivity--has proven abundantly true. In the past twelve years a steady stream of books, articles, feature films, television series, short stories, poems and essays have had their genesis here.

For more, read "Do Writers Need Community?" by Po Bronson.

What's it like to work at the Grotto?

Everyone at the Grotto has their own office, with a few exceptions--for instance, two of us alternate the use of an office, since both are mothers of young children and unable to make a full-time commitment to regular work hours. One of us has an office and a half: a space overlooking Bryant Street and a tiny, windowless utility room (a closet, really) that he retreats to when he needs to block out all distractions.

But the bottom line is that everyone gets to choose their level of interaction, which usually varies from day to day. We respect isolation and focus, but we also offer each other a degree of sociability when it's time to emerge. Lunches are usually a communal occasion, and visiting writers, editors, filmmakers or other luminaries are often invited to join us. We have a small but growing library. Some Grottoites use the conference room to hold writing seminars and classes. Our walls are an exhibition space for local artists. Every couple of months or so, we find an excuse to throw a party.

On a day-to-day basis, we're about as loosely organized as possible. Everyone has a chore that they're responsible for carrying out, such as doing the recycling or updating this website. Some of us also contribute to committees formed for various purposes, such as planning events or maintaining the library. Financial matters are managed for maximum simplicity, since none of us are bookkeepers (or want to become one). Rent is collected once a year in the form of four post-dated checks, one for each upcoming quarter.

How does one join the Grotto?

Despite our conviviality and communal nature, the Grotto is not a clique. Most of us didn't know each other before we came to work here. Nor is it a movement, or a school of thought, or an ideological cadre. It's a very eclectic group, and our strongest commonality is simply our desire to have something in common.

When vacancies arise (which is rare), how do we find new Grottoites? Well, there's no set procedure--no application forms, no waiting list. The lack of a formalized process isn't meant to seem elitist, but to help us meet the challenges posed by each particular vacancy. Sometimes it makes sense to add a poet to the mix, sometimes a financial reporter, sometimes someone whose work lies somewhere in-between. When we do have an office to fill, we try to reach an internal consensus. Then we extend an invitation.

If the Grotto intrigues you, we suggest you join our mailing list and attend some of our public events. Often, we get to know people when they temporarily sublet one of our offices (we encourage subletting, as an empty office detracts from our overall sense of energy). But we also heartily encourage you to start a Grotto of your own. Ethan Watters, one of our founders, describes how to do so here.