The Tribeca Film Festival offers a blissful itinerary if you’re into film and into being around people who are into film. Party a bit. Glimpse a few actors. Actually see a movie. Exchange one-word assessments with random strangers. And party some more.

Of course, the cast of characters, the caliber of conversation, and the amount of alcohol consumed all change depending on the film.

It was a tea-and-crumpets crowd at the one-time screening of “Ladies in Lavender,” about two British sisters, played by Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, who take in a stranger.

Vodka was the drink of choice for all the Russian Literature majors dressed in black at the screening of “The Sisters,” a film that adapts Chekhov’s play “The Three Sisters” to a contemporary university setting. Ebullient cast members in attendance, including Maria Bello and Eric McCormack, lightened things up.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers continue their adoration of the Gyllenhaals. One of the stars of “Great New Wonderful,” Maggie Gyllenhaal brought brother Jake along to its first screening at the festival. Forget the film. Seeing them was great and maybe not so new but certainly wonderful.

***

It’s a familiar story: Artists make a neighborhood desirable, only to find themselves displaced by corporate types who can afford to pay and spend more.

What if the equation were reversed? What if the artists took over the city’s sleekest skyscrapers, relegating the suits to dusty, paint-filled lofts?

It’s not total fantasy. The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s residency program provides studios in downtown office buildings to emerging and mid-career artists.

For the past six months, 14 artists have occupied the eighth floor of the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. It wasn’t a hostile takeover. The artists were there at the invitation of the building’s owner, Silverstein Properties, which donated the space.

So while folks on other floors crunched numbers and drafted contracts, Noriko Ambe shaped towers and mountains out of thousands of pieces of paper, and Troy Richards drafted his vision of a child’s fort. The 250-square-foot studios didn’t come furnished with the typical cubicles and file cabinets. Instead, there were gym lockers at the entrance, for storage, and there was one big slop sink.

What may have been roughing it for other workers in the building seemed just fine to the artists. And it was fine for the several hundred collectors, students, and other artists who visited the studios Friday night as part of a weekend-long public viewing, which marked the end of the completion of the residency.

To ensure that none of the hipsters lost their way, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council had four people greeting guests at the pristine marble lobby. Once upstairs, though, the scene was all artsy: plastic cups for drinks, and a visual feast of painting, sculpture, photography, and drawing.

The artists greeted guests in their studios, which displayed their work over the past six months. Being in a corporate environment hadn’t cramped anyone’s style.

One artist, Jesse Bercowetz, called it “amazing” to have 24/7 access to a studio.

“We’ve been inspired by the gargoyles on the buildings, by the Falun Gong on the street,” he said.

Mr. Bercowetz and collaborator Matt Bua also enjoyed the logistical challenges of the space. The two often work on large-scale sculpture, but in their low-ceilinged space at the Equitable Building, they turned to drawings and models.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for us,” Mr. Bercowetz, a Brooklyn resident, added. “We’re usually in industrial lofts in the ghetto.”

An architect, Olalekan Jeyifous, who produced maps and drawings of New York on lined yellow paper, also enjoyed working in the heart of the Financial District.

“I liked the whole corporate thing. I liked having my card swiped. And I liked having a rapport with the security guards,” Mr. Jeyifous said.

His next stop is Rotterdam, to work on a project for the Rotterdam Architecture Biennale.

The Cultural Council’s residency program started in 1997 on the 91st and 92nd floors of Tower One of the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, an artist, Michael Richards, was killed during the terrorist attacks on the buildings. After September 11, the program moved to the Woolworth Building and Dumbo before finding its current home at the Equitable Building, the council’s president, Tom Healy, said.

The council’s next big event is the Downtown Dinner on May 5. It includes an auction of works by artists such as Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Alexis Rockman, and Sol LeWitt, as well as artists who have participated in the residency program.