BankART1929 is a non-profit arts organization based in Yokohama, aiming to revitalize the city while repurposing historical buildings and warehouses for cultural and artistic activities. It is the leading project of the "Creative City Projects" promoted by the City of Yokohama. In March 2004, BankART Studio NYK began its operations in former bank buildings of the Bashamichi area (the former Daiichi Bank and the former Fuji Bank). In 2005, the former Fuji Bank transferred its tenancy to the Tokyo University of the Arts, and BankART relocated to BankART Studio NYK, a former Japan Mail Shipping Line warehouse. In 2008, after a full-scale renovation, BankART1929 continued its activities centered around the NYK facility. As an expansion initiative into the city center, BankART has attracted many creatives to Yokohama by constructing and managing large-scale shared studios, repurposing warehouses of Shinkō Pier, and reclaiming buildings slated for redevelopment in the Honmachi and Kitanaka districts. In 2018, when the BankART Studio NYK headquarters building underwent demolition, BankART's operations dispersed to the Minatomirai and Bashamichi districts at four coordinating facilities, and by the end of the fiscal year 2020, the Takashimacho R16 studio on the site of the decommissioned Toyoko Line became unusable after a structural survey, and BankART Temporary (the former Daiichi Bank) closed its program for one year in the fiscal year 2020, as initially contracted. Since the fiscal year 2021, our operations will be based out of BankART KAIKO in the Bashamichi district (old city district) and BankART Station in the Shin-Takashima district (aka Minatomirai 21 district) for the next four years to continue advocating projects within the city.
