Art District Gallery back home in Kitchener
It was watercolour artist Nancy Peng who alerted me to the latest chapter in an ongoing story: “Please share the news that The Art District Gallery is moving home to Kitchener.”
“We look forward,” the note went on, “to being a close neighbour to Commons Studio downtown … We are located just across the street from The Record.”
The Commons Studio, where I work part-time, moved to 256 King St. E. about a year ago. Having the gallery back in the neighbourhood is a welcome development indeed.
The new address is 185 King E. The opening reception happens Friday, Feb. 2, from 5 to 9 p.m.
The new operating hours are Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Exhibitions will continue to rotate every six weeks.
The Art District Gallery was a Waterloo project when I first heard about it. It came to fruition as an artist-led co-operative in downtown Kitchener — way downtown, in a Market District storefront that had long stood empty.
That was in the spring of 2015. The group was an animating presence in the city until late summer the following year, when the artists suddenly received word that they had 60 days to find a new home.
After a period of uncertainty, during which the group’s very existence appeared in jeopardy, they found new digs up in St. Jacobs.
There was some reluctance at first. The new place was cute but tiny — a “hobbit hole,” as District Gallery chair Jax Rula described it when I spoke with her this week. But they soon found a larger facility with an owner who was in the process of selling.
According to Rula, a fibre artist who specializes in art dolls, this turned out to be a very happy arrangement: The landlord was “wonderful.” The group flourished, especially in sales.
As always, however, the deal was understood to be temporary, in part because of the business model that had been operative from the outset.
The Art District Gallery was, and remains, a true co-operative: It was formed by a group of visual arts professionals seeking clean, safe and suitable space to exhibit and sell their work.
Members do all the work. In addition to staffing the gallery, there is an active committee structure covering fields such as marketing, membership, scheduling, curation, installation and special events.
A monthly fee and an artistfriendly 20 per cent commission on sales are the main sources of revenue. As a result, the collective has always relied on temporary renting arrangements at far below market rates.
After operating this way for two and a half years, it became apparent that this business model is simply not sustainable.
Repeated moves and renovations take a toll, especially in terms of the effort that is required. Fluctuating locations make it difficult to build and maintain a reliable customer base. And especially now that the challenges of construction are behind us downtown, uptown and up in St. Jacobs as well, desirable space is increasingly difficult to find, and at steadily rising prices.
Another part of what makes this a good news story is that this time the move is permanent. The terms of membership have been adjusted to allow the co-op to sign a proper lease that guarantees tenancy for two years with an option to renew.
The current membership stands at 15 participating artists. Anyone interested in joining the group is invited to submit an application.
For those who aren’t ready to make the full commitment, the gallery now offers guest exhibition space to select artists — the key criterion for both full and guest membership being a good fit with the group as a whole.
www.artdistrictgallery.org