On warm Friday nights in the 1980’s a group would gather in the Fort Point neighborhood for a game of kickball that would last all night until sunrise. The group would talk, laugh and light off fireworks for the duration of the night because there was nobody around to say they couldn’t.

The group all shared something in common, a love for creating art.

“The only people here were artists,” said Don Eyles, longtime member of the Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC). “There was a lack of amenities and a great deal of freedom.”

Eyles remembers having to walk from Fort Point to South Station to find the nearest place he could pick up a newspaper.

The FPAC was formed in 1980 with the purpose of preserving affordable living spaces for artists. Forty-five years later, while the neighborhood has changed significantly, groups of artists still live together in buildings owned by FPAC.

“[FPAC] is an organization that started as a nonprofit in 1980 by a small group of artists that moved into the Boston Wharf historic buildings when the economy was at a downturn in Boston,” said FPAC President Christine Vaillancourt.

Vaillancourt said the community has expanded to include artists from Greater Boston and beyond and has opened its doors to performing arts.

“Originally, FPAC was just to support Fort Point artists and make sure they had a place to stay,” said Vaillancourt.

In recent years, FPAC has introduced galleries where members can have their work put on display and purchased. The community now also hosts a number of music and arts based events throughout the year.

“There is something for everyone,” said Vaillancourt. “An event to see and hear and be part of.”

Vaillancourt said FPAC’s galleries are unique because they are less restrictive than most others.

“Certain galleries have their same stable of artists every year,” she said. “We have some brand new artists in their 20s up to people in their 80s. We try to make sure that everybody gets to be exhibited somewhere.”

Four different exhibitions are shown at each of FPAC’s two owned galleries each year. To celebrate forty-five years, an exhibition featuring members’ artwork is currently on display through October at FPAC’s owned art space inside of the Envoy Hotel on Sleeper Street.

While FPAC has evolved, so has the neighborhood housing these artists.

“This all used to be parking lots,” said Vaillancourt, who added that artists have differing opinions of the development of Fort Point.

“Non-artists outnumber artists now,” said Eyles. “The sense of the neighborhood has always been arts oriented.”

Vaillancourt and Eyles agree that Fort Point artists have made their voices heard regarding changes to the neighborhood. Eyles said the desire to maintain an arts oriented feel has been relayed to developers.

“Artists always seem to be activists,” said Vaillancourt, who said FPAC members have been pushing for a performing arts center in the neighborhood. “When the artist community speaks up, I think people listen.”

Vaillancourt said that over time, development has pushed hundreds of artists out of the Fort Point area, but credits FPAC for preserving living spaces for many artists.

As the community celebrates forty-five years, Vaillancourt is looking forward to the future of FPAC.

“I’m blown away by hitting forty-five years,” she said. “There can be tough times. I give credit to those people along the way. I think now we are in a really good stable period.”