The Golden Belt campus is one of the most heavily marketed spaces in downtown Durham, with special emphasis on the art there. It has a commercial gallery, 35 artists' studios and a guest exhibition area, so I set off last Tuesday to spend the afternoon there. On my list were the first American showing of photographs by Lori Vrba at LabourLove Gallery, Carole Baker's installation and a visit with some of the artists in the studios. I arrived at noon and my day was one of quiet frustration.

The gallery was not open, Baker's installation had not one written word of explanation and only three of the dozens of artists were there. By the way, everything is open on Third Fridays; the studios are also open on third Saturdays, first Wednesdays during the day and second Saturdays. Now, who is going to remember that? This is an art center? There is something wrong with this picture.

Golden Belt is a fabulous idea which is slowly taking shape. Scientific Properties is the managing entity and at this writing the retail tenants are The Cotton Room -- a catering company that specializes in events in the third floor space of Building 2 -- Bikram Yoga of Durham and LabourLove Gallery. A music venue is scheduled for sometime this year. While commercial rentals are slow the studio spaces are full. It is not unusual for renovated buildings and city streets to rely on artists, who are not afraid of iffy neighborhoods and lonely parking lots, to turn things around.

Baker's installation, "The Confessional" is in Room 100 of Building 3, the artists' studios building. Room 100 is a two-room central space and is supervised by Scientific Properties. Here Baker built a rectangular space within the big room, lined it with mirrors and wrote on one wall, "LET THE ONE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE." In a small adjoining room is a chair with a bowl of water on the floor and a pitcher of water at its side. There is no written explanation of the piece or anything about the artist. There is only Baker's card with a Web site address and, when I called, she said she was thinking of writing something about the passage she used and adding it to the installation.

From there I moved down the hall looking for open studios and artists to engage. I found Caroline Trippe, who does paintings, drawings and illustrates books; she was closing up to go home for lunch. Rachel Bass, a jeweler, was there and said things were slow; she was waiting for a restaurant which had been promised. I then found Christine Amory Long, a painter and restorer who shares her space with three other artists. Long was gracious and told me about her studio mates, Judy Keene, an abstract artist; Patricia Reed Pittman, a painter; and Gerry Siver, who does faux wall finishes and old master copies.

I asked her about her restoration work. "I'm not trained in restoration so I would not work on a painting valued at more than $10,000, but I can repair a worn canvas, work on water damage and clean old paintings. I only work on oil paintings on canvas," Long said. She does not advertise as a restorer, but has a notebook filled with before and after pictures and comments from satisfied customers.

Both Trippe and Bass said they were looking forward to a restaurant in the complex. Our conversation centered on which comes first, the people or the activities. Can a restaurant operate on potential customers four days a month? Should artists keep their studios open on a regular basis or wait until the crowds come to stay open? Most of these men and women have day jobs and work on their art at odd hours.

Questions abound. Can LabourLove keep irregular hours and expect a stream of visitors? I left a note for John Pelphrey, the gallery director, and he sent a message that he had been touring the new N.C. Museum of Art and, "since Tuesday morning was very slow, took the opportunity to see the new building." To their credit Pelphrey and his wife are small entrepreneurs, with a young child. They love art and are doing everything they know how, from art exhibitions to art lessons to T-shirts to art fairs to stay afloat. They cannot afford extra help. I understand this, but if a business is a business, it must be open regular hours.

Some of the answers are obvious. A restaurant cannot open without some guarantee of a steady group of customers; art lovers are not going to come more than once if the gallery is closed and most of the studios are locked tight.

Golden Belt is an outstanding example of turning an old factory into a beautiful modern building. It has earned a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) award and a three-hour visit from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was traveling throughout the country publicizing the Obama administration's New Markets Tax Credits, a government subsidy that helped Golden Belt move forward. According to Monica Chen of The Herald-Sun, "The campus cost $27 million to renovate and was financed in part by a $12 million loan from the Self-Help Credit Union that was sweetened by NMTC" (Feb. 2, 2010).

Right now, it is the artists who can keep Golden Belt vigorous and alive. They have to ask themselves if they are willing to fill the gap until there are more tenants. If so, it will indeed be an art destination.

Blue Greenberg's column appears each week in Entertainment and More. She can be reached at blueg@bellsouth.net or by writing her in c/o The Herald-Sun, P.O. Box 2092, Durham, NC 27702.