In the heart of Railroad Square, there’s a place created for artistic expression called The Plant.
Per its mission statement, The Plant’s goal is to “encourage community members to self-direct their creative dreams and ideas in a space of facilitation.”
The Plant is a place that embraces diversity and welcomes people from all walks of life. It refers to itself as a DIY (Do It Yourself) Community because it takes a hands-on, grassroots approach, to encourage individuals to take initiative in creating and shaping the community they want to see.
It fosters an environment where individuals not only feel welcome but are also empowered. This empowerment implies that everyone has the agency and capability to contribute to the community, whether through organizing events, conducting research or supporting the creative expressions of others.
Natalia Vargas Cotto is a student at Tallahassee Community College who found out about The Plant through an Instagram post. She says that The Plant builds a community aspect where there isn’t much of that.
“The Plant is very open to students of color, students who are queer, and it’s a place to learn. It’s one of those places you can go to meet people. It’s creating a free third space for college students but also for people not in college,” Vargas said.
Before becoming the owner and manager of The Plant, Paul Rutkovsky was an art professor at FSU who once owned an art studio on Railroad Square called The Art Alleys. Rutkovsky is a highly skilled artist with a background in contemporary art and painting.
Rutkovsky developed ongoing activities for The Plant while he still had the studio. Due to his salary at the time, Rutvolsky couldn’t afford The Art Alleys so he rented it out to bands to help pay the mortgage for the first 10 years.
“As it developed [The Plant] it opened up-through my motivation and wanting to be more involved with the community. It wasn’t necessarily my training in the arts or my degrees, it was about creating and I became more curious about what was outside of that which is community,” Rutkovsky said.
Later on this year there will be some renovations to combine his community work with Square Mug.
According to Sweetwater Organic Coffee, Square Mug Cafe is a family owned coffee shop that serves “organic coffee and lunch, beer and wine, and homemade popsicles.”
They officially closed their building in December 2023 due to affordability and fear of eviction.
The owner made a Facebook announcement, “Square Mug is moving to The Plant! We will finally be in a safe and affordable space that will allow us to focus on community outreach without fear of eviction…”
Rutkovsky said he is excited to be working with Square Mug.
“I’m excited to work with Donna [the owner of Square Mug] because there’s a real kinship between us… My belief is we’ll be open to the community and help with food and clothing as best we can. Plus this is a creative environment and anyone and everyone is able to come in and explore.”
Rutkovsky notes that “it’s a real struggle” to keep community spaces open. He hopes that with Square Mug she’ll be able to make an income so spaces like this can remain open.
“We’re a nonprofit, we became 501c3 not too long ago so hopefully we’ll be able to open up to the grants that we didn’t qualify for.”
The Plant is open for free community events but it also allows for organizations to rent out the space.
“You would have to reserve the time and day on our linktree and pay a $50 deposit that you get back if you keep the space intact,” said Z, the social media manager and digital marketer for The Plant.
With a $100 payment and $50 deposit fee that you get back, organizations will be allowed to host clothes/food drives, host meetings, and even connect through music.
There are many ways for students in the area to get involved with The Plant by using their linktree to sign up as a volunteer.
“The linktree isn’t just a place to sign up as a volunteer or to rent the space but you can use it to find out about events we’ll be hosting. And if that’s too confusing there’s someone on Reddit who anonymously updates about events in Tallahassee including The Plant,” Z said.