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Updated: December 8, 2025

Creative studio with a co-working element opens in Portland’s Arts District

A person is next to a mixing board. Photo / Courtesy Equal Measure Arts Sam Monaco, who owns commercial recording business Monaco Studios and nonprofit Equal Measure Arts, started [the square] as a multipurpose creative studio.
By Laurie Schreiber

A multipurpose creative studio opened last month in an 1,800-square-foot lease at 34 Preble St. in Portland’s arts district.

Called [the square], the studio is designed to be akin to a co-working or maker-space model, but specifically built for musicians and creative professionals.

The studio is a project of Sam Monaco, a Portland native and audio professional who started commercial recording business Monaco Studios in 2020 in Falmouth.

Late last year, Monaco started the nonprofit Equal Measure Arts to make professional studio recording accessible to students and under-resourced musicians in southern Maine, broadening its reach through a partnership with the Maine College of Art & Design, also in the arts district.

Months-long effort

The idea for [the square] project emerged after Equal Measure Arts began exploring opportunities to expand its educational offerings and learned that Prism Analog, a studio at 34 Preble St., was preparing to close. 

The exterior of a brick buildng, looking up.
Photo / Courtesy Equal Measure Arts
The multipurpose creative studio opened last month in an 1,800-square-foot lease at 34 Preble St. in Portland’s arts district.

To preserve the location as a resource for Portland’s creative community, Monaco led a months-long effort to save the space and develop a community-centered vision for its future.

“Demand for affordable recording sessions and educational programming in audio engineering and music production has grown far beyond the capacity of our existing resources,” Monaco said. “We wanted to meet students and emerging artists where many of them already are — downtown — and ensure that transportation barriers don’t interfere with access to the tools of a professional studio.”

The studio retains Prism Analog’s original recording and production capabilities, but is designed to function as a multipurpose creative hub, offering services in audio engineering, podcast production, photography, videography and immersive multimedia installations in collaboration with PORTL&, an arts and education startup that does “immersive installations” and is headquartered at [the square].

A room has musical instruments.
Photo / Courtesy Equal Measure Arts
Demand for affordable recording sessions and educational programming in audio

It’s expected that the location will allow Equal Measure Arts to deepen collaborations with the Maine Academy of Modern Music and the Maine College of Art & Design, and to develop programs with Portland High School, Boys & Girls Club, Portland Public Library, Portland Conservatory of Music and Portland Media Center. 

In keeping with the model established at Monaco Studios, 10% of all commercial studio income at [the square] will go to the nonprofit’s financial aid fund, which subsidizes recording time and instruction for under-resourced artists and aspiring producers and engineers.

Prism Analog, a nonprofit led by Nick Johnson, had leased the location since 2019, Monaco told Mainebiz.

Console search

In addition to the lease transfer, Monaco said he and Johnson negotiated a transitional period “where he is generously sharing much of his studio’s remaining gear and infrastructure with us to help us get started.”

Johnson is retaining the Prism Analog brand, he added.

A room has musical instruments.
Photo / Courtesy Equal Measure Arts
The idea for [the square] emerged after Equal Measure Arts began exploring opportunities to expand its educational offerings.

[the square] took over the space Nov. 1. To get it up and running, the most important item needed was a console, also called a mixing board.

“I’d been scouring Facebook marketplace, and luckily a good deal on a 32-channel Allen & Heath board popped up right when we needed it,” he said.

Expanded programing

Monaco Studios and Equal Measure Arts will both operate at [the square], along with Monaco Studios’ original location in Falmouth. 

Equal Measure Arts at [the square] “was the whole reason we went to explore 34 Preble in the first place, because we had been trying to develop partnerships with organizations like Portland High School and the Boys & Girls Club, but transportation was an issue,” Monaco said.

The offerings include analog gear, which is great for teaching first-time studio musicians, because it’s more of a “plug-and-play” set-up than digital, he said.

“It’s also our goal to expand our programming beyond recording music: we’ve invested in a screen and projector to host film screenings, we’re partnered with our friends PORTL& to explore immersive installations at [the square] and we’re planning to offer a membership model where we provide equipment and setups for other mediums like podcasting, photo and video shoots, and even spatial audio/video production.”

A room has musical instruments.
Photo / Courtesy Equal Measure Arts
The downtown location is convenient to students and emerging artists where many of them already are.

The meaning behind the brackets around [the square]?

“I grew up in the ‘90s and have a deep-seated love for ASCII art,” said Monaco. “How could I not make a square around the square?”

Fundraiser

Flatbread Co., at 70 Commercial St. in Portland, will host a fundraiser on Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 5-9 p.m., for Equal Measure Arts programming at [the square]. Activities will include performances by two EMA-supported musicians and a silent auction.

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