Drawing on creativity

Great work is rarely accomplished alone.

This is a central thesis for Maybe It’s Fate – a member-owned cooperative providing a community center and cultural hub in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood. Co-founded by alumna, artist and educator Rebecca Norton and her husband and former UofL entrepreneur-in-residence, Charly Miller, the co-op offers a third space (that is, a social environment away from home or work) for artists and creators, including scientists and innovators, to facilitate collaboration across personal and professional projects. 

“Art instigates ideas, provokes ideas. We really wanted to create a space that engages conversation using art as a starting point,” Norton said. “Art builds culture. We’re really interested in building and sustaining a creative subculture.”

Opened in 2024, the renovated three-story building features a gallery floor for member-organized exhibitions and gatherings, a library, a craft room and a crowning attic great room for live music and more. In addition to offering space for coworking, collaboration and project execution, members run both public and non-public events throughout the year, including everything from curated gallery shows and yoga retreats to sewing groups and legal-help hours. Maybe It’s Fate is also a new host of Laser Talks, bringing artists, humanists, technologists and scientists together for brief presentations and networking. 

Norton and Miller’s idea to create Maybe It’s Fate arose after experiencing the pandemic. Their desire to build community around ideas, mixed with their connections to Louisville’s art and entrepreneurial communities, ultimately drew them deeper into the local scene. During the pandemic, Norton submerged herself back into the art community by finding a studio space at ARTPORTAL in Louisville’s Portland neighborhood and becoming a curator for its gallery. She began connecting with Louisville’s musicians, small-business owners, writers and visual  artists. With Maybe It’s Fate, Norton and Miller are expanding that outreach.

“Art builds culture. We’re really interested in building and sustaining a creative subculture.” REBECCA NORTON

“We started building out a model around the for-profit cooperative. All these members could come in and actually own – not only the operation, but the property,” Miller said. “We modeled out what it would look like to get a lease-to-own agreement, renovate a space and build up a long-term office so these members can own it, knowing that we can avoid the landlord rug pull once the co-op creates a lot of property value.”

Maybe It’s Fate lets people meet organically, pull their ideas together and share a place to bring those ideas to life – all in one hub. The building has almost no doors, keeping the rooms open and the intention for collaboration flowing.

“You’ll find the phrase ‘Maybe it’s fate’ comes up in conversation,” Norton said. “This is the place where people happen to meet and spontaneously run into each other … you make that connection, and so there’s that idea of serendipity … ‘It must be fate’ that we met.”

Reflecting on her time as a Cardinal, Norton, a studio art instructor at the Kentucky College of Art + Design, recognizes that connection and collaboration have been major elements in her professional career after learning the importance of building community through art as a bachelor of fine arts student at UofL’s Hite Institute of Art + Design.

“I had participated in several collective shows and was a commoner in these art-scene spaces,” Norton said. “The idea of the community, the arts, bringing diverse people together and just making stuff is always part of what I’ve been inspired to do. I don’t think I would have been connected to that had I not been a student of UofL.”