EASTHAMPTON — Filing through the main hallway of CitySpace, community members stopped to read the stories of One Cottage Street tenants that line the walls, detailing their relationships to the former mill building where they run their art studios. Trickling into the inky surroundings of the Blue Room, they stood wall-to-wall as the artists shared their fears of displacement as they face rent hikes that continue to draw nearer.

“We’ve been talking a lot about a hypothetical case of our tenants having to leave,” Margaret Larson, a Cottage Street tenant, said to those gathered. “And for us, it’s real, because we are leaving Cottage Street.”

Tensions have risen between a majority of the roughly 100 tenants, most of whom are artists, and their landlords at Riverside Industries, which owns the building, since late April when a blanket increase setting all rates for building space at $15 per square foot was announced. Currently, rents in the building range from $5 to $15 per square foot. For many longtime tenants, some of whom have worked out of the space for over 40 years, this increase is jarring and presents the threat of displacement.

Riverside Industries, a nonprofit focused on empowering individuals with disabilities, initiated the rent increases as part of a “strategic planning” process, through which they hope to expand their programs and be better stewards of the building.

The 174,000-square-foot former factory space was awarded to Riverside for $1 in the late 1970s, giving it a space to conduct its programs but also saddling the nonprofit with the burden of maintaining an enormous, aging property. Some of the main challenges the building currently faces are the need for a new boiler and fire suppression system, which can no longer adequately serve the building.

Riverside managers hope that increased rental income will help them cover the costs associated with the aging building and the expansion of their programming.

After several failed attempts by the newly formed Cottage Street Tenants Association to call a meeting with Riverside’s board of directors, the tenants came to the City Council seeking help. The council unanimously passed a resolution supporting affordable artist work spaces in the city, but cannot enforce any direct sway on Riverside’s decisions.

The community meeting called on Thursday night was an effort to galvanize the community and keep a focus on the potential exodus of Easthampton’s artists as the Aug. 1 deadline for their decisions to stay or leave quickly approaches. The event featured speeches by a number of tenants, including a poem by Janet Aalfs capturing the tumultuous feelings of the moment, and by Ami Bennitt of Art Stays Here — a Boston-based nonprofit coalition of creatives and advocates that strives to maintain arts communities and encourage affordable artist work spaces.

“We believe that there is a holistic solution to be reached here, one that helps Riverside, the artists, and the city of Easthampton,” Bennitt told the crowd, adding that the organization is grateful for the City Council’s resolution, and urged city officials to “please continue helping, as no progress has been made yet.”

“The most important thing we need is time,” she said. “We have found collaborative solutions for thousands of artists, musicians and creatives. I find it impossible to believe that a solution doesn’t exist here too.”

Many of the artists in attendance expressed that it was the unique community within the walls of One Cottage Street that inspired them to run their small businesses out of the space. This included not only the camaraderie among the artists and other tenants, but the relationship between all of the tenants and Riverside’s clients.

Heather McLean, who used to run Dragonfly Stained Glass Studio out of One Cottage Street before moving to Eastworks, recounted her time helping the late Denise Herzog, a beloved figure in the Easthampton arts community, run an arts program for the clients at Riverside.

“Clients were so engaged and so happy and many became so talented,” she said. “That program expanded and while I was supervised there I saw it expand and enable several clients that today make their living selling art.”

Janna Ugone, who has run her custom lighting business out of One Cottage Street for 37 years and whose rent is set to double, emphasized that the tenants see the need for an uptick in rents, but are alarmed by the extent of the increase.

“We as tenants do not have a problem with Riverside raising our rent,” she said to the crowd. “We are only asking that they parse it out in a more reasonable manner.”

Members of the broader community also shared the common stake they believe all of Easthampton has in the fate of the Cottage Street artists.

“Plain and simple, if it wasn’t for the artists, Easthampton would not be where it is today,” said Elizabeth Appelquist, one of the owners of Cider House Media. “We want them to stay. We want to stay in this beautiful, hidden gem for years to come. We want our children to be surrounded by this beautiful creativity and exposed to it.”

Pasqualina Azzarello, arts and cultural program director for the city of Easthampton, emphasized that artist displacement in the region and beyond is a “pattern” that needs to be addressed.

“This situation has exposed a lot of what has been vulnerable for actually a very long time,” she said. “There is more to come, and I want to take this very seriously.”

Bennitt said Art Stays Here is working on ways to advance the artists’ cause, including establishing the Cottage Street Tenants Association as a nonprofit. Ultimately though, she noted that artist displacement is a broad issue, and major change often takes decades to go into effect.

“We need some statewide solutions,” she said.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.