Linda Danforth was in Ségou, a dusty port city on the Niger River in Mali, last summer when inspiration hit.

She toured a cooperative of poor women who pooled their resources and shared textile equipment and supplies. By working together, she said, they were empowered economically.

“I looked at them,” she said, “and I knew we could bring that to Tacoma.”

About year later, the Tacoma Art Place opened Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, using a ribbon made of purple dyed fabric purchased in Africa. The co-op on 1116 S. 11th St. on Tacoma’s Hilltop will host an open house from 10 a.m-3 p.m.

Members of the Tacoma Art Place will pay $48 a year to join. There are supplies (all donated or purchased by volunteers), a dark room, a kiln, other machines and plenty of space to work.

And to tell the story of the co-op and perhaps provide inspiration, the walls are decorated with art from Africa, including Malian masks and Zimbabwean paintings.

Danforth, the district director for Rep. Adam Smith, said she has long been interested in the idea of microfinance operations and cooperatives in the developing world. She paid her own way to Honduras and Mali and believes the programs can work in any country, regardless of its prosperity.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Why are you thinking about people internationally? We have our own problems in the United States,’ ” she said. “And I thought this is one way to do something locally that’s similar. They’re doing something great in a really poor county, and we should be doing the same type of thing here.”

She said the co-op might eventually include retail space where local artists could sell their work.

Amy McBride, an arts administrator in the city’s community and economic development department, sees Tacoma Art Place’s opening as a positive event for the community.

“This is a really great method to allow people who don’t have access to the arts to get it,” she said. “Maybe they don’t have the community or equipment or space, but now they can. And it’ll be one of the threads that makes our community stronger.”

Drew Ebersole of the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association said the neighborhood is experiencing a revival in its arts culture as part of its larger improvement.

He pointed to the return of the Music & Murals festival at People’s Park in September after a three-year hiatus. The celebration drew about 1,000 people, and Ebersole sees it as a bellwether of greater things to come.

“The revitalization of this area is contingent of a broad spectrum of artists and businesses,” he said. “This is precisely the kind of endeavor we’re proud to be a part of.”