Local visual arts organizers weigh in on how their organizations have been affected by the pandemic and are adapting
When thinking about the industries that have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, restaurants and retail often dominate the conversation, but cultural organizations have taken a significant bruising as well. In normal times, many arts organizations rely on a blend of public funding and revenue from live events and performances – both of which have been significantly reduced this year. Much of the power of visual and performing arts comes from in-person experiences, and in the absence of large opening receptions, art fairs and other events, local museums and galleries have found themselves scrambling like everyone else to shift their operations in order to find ways to continue to serve artists and the community.
The Lexington Art League, which organizes several large-scale events during typical years, including the popular Woodland Art Fair, is among the local organizations that has had a large portion of its revenue slashed by by the pandemic.
“For us specifically, because we can’t have in-person events, it has cut down on our revenue,” said Lori Houlihan, executive director of Lexington Art League. “Openings, art fairs, weddings and rentals – they can’t happen. The biggest concern for us is managing to sustain ourselves until we can get funding back from Woodland Art Fair, which is our biggest revenue source each year.”
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The gallery at the Lexington Art League is currently hosting an LAL Member’s Show, on display through Jan. 16. Photo furnished
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The gallery at the Lexington Art League is currently hosting an LAL Member’s Show, on display through Jan. 16. Photo furnished
In addition to lack of in-person events, another dire impact on visual arts has been a loss of grant funding.
“As a nonprofit, we mainly rely on grants to support our programming,” explained Liz Glass, gallery director at Institute 193, a small downtown gallery. “Grants have become quite competitive as of late, due to obvious reasons.”
As a result, the small downtown gallery, which works with artists, writers and musicians to document the cultural landscape of the modern South, has stepped up its grant-writing game, Glass said.
“We always try to be aware of new opportunities to apply for local and national government grants,” she said. “The emergency stimulus payments have been a major help in keeping the lights on.”
And while the lights may still be on, the pandemic has forced some arts organizations to reduce staff.. Funding cuts led the Lexington Art League to lay off two full-time employees, and Houlihan went to part time for six weeks during the spring while navigating the process of applying for
Paycheck Protection Program loans and finding grants.
“It was extraordinary chaos,” she recalled. “There was not a lot of ‘this is the next right step.’ I found that in those six weeks, because a lot of that time was spent coming to understand the loans and grants, that the work became very different, and no one really knew what we were doing. It was a lot of spinning, coming up with new safety plans – and then those plans being smashed as things just kept getting worse.”
Institute 193, alternately, was forced to permanently close the doors of a satellite location in New York City that formerly served as a “wonderful bridge between Lexington and major art markets in NYC,” Glass said. “Unfortunately, as a result of the pandemic, we had to shutter this location not too long ago,” she said. “We are so sad to see it go, but we are now able to free up money used to run that space for some exciting developments for our gallery in town.”
Naturally, these cuts and lack of event opportunities have trickled down to have a profound effect on individual artists as well. Artist Brian Turner who, with his wife, Sara, owns and operates the popular local design studio and print shop Cricket Press, said that a significant portion of his family’s annual income typically comes from art fairs, markets and festivals.
“In good years, that can be upward of one-quarter to one-third of our annual income,” he explained. “But even if you take that out of the equation, there’s still a significant amount of our design and poster/print work that is directly used to promote public events ... events where large groups of people come together for a purpose, whether it’s a concert, a street fair, a food festival or some public fundraising event. Those aren’t happening for the most part, so that’s another big hit we’ve taken.”
Like many folks, the Turners have found themselves shifting to adapt to current the environment.
“We have been getting by solely on new design and illustration projects, existing design clients and making new work to sell online,” he said.
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The exhibition ”This is America” is on display at the UK Art Museum through Feb. 13. While admission to the museum is free, pre-registration is currently required, to limit the capacity inside the gallery space. Photo by Alan Rideout
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The exhibition ”This is America” is on display at the UK Art Museum through Feb. 13. While admission to the museum is free, pre-registration is currently required, to limit the capacity inside the gallery space. Photo by Alan Rideout
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The exhibition ”This is America” is on display at the UK Art Museum through Feb. 13. While admission to the museum is free, pre-registration is currently required, to limit the capacity inside the gallery space. Photo by Alan Rideout
Throughout this challenging year, arts organizations have looked for new ways to connect with the public, to present art and artists and to remain accessible and relevant despite the inability to invite in large crowds. For the University of Kentucky Art Museum, one shift included scaling back on traveling exhibits.
“We have relied on our permanent collection more, reducing expenses for exhibitions that usually require shipping costs, artist travel, hotels, mailings,” museum director Stuart Horodner explained. “We have consolidated our printing, relied more on social media and tried to stay nimble.”
For Institute 193, one answer was to use its location on a prominent downtown corridor, North Limestone Street, creatively.
“Despite being closed, we still found ways to present our exhibitions to the public by displaying exhibition text on our street-facing window, so passersby could read about the work and look in to see it displayed,” Glass said.
At the Lexington Art League, maintaining a small but steady stream of activity inside its location, the historic Loudoun House in Castlewood Park, is imperative.
“People are using the space,” Houlihan said, adding that small groups and individuals have recently brought activity to the house by hosting belly dancing classes or delivering winter jackets to a coat drive hosted by the local nonprofit Believing in Forever, which is now housed at the Loudoun House under director Devine Carama, a current resident artist at the space. And exhibits are still being hung, with visitors coming to view the art on display on their own time, in the absence of the usual crowded gallery receptions. All of this activity ultimately helps support the organization and the artists it represents.
“The galleries are part of what’s happening at the house but not the only thing that’s happening at the house,” Houlihan said. “But when people are in the house, they are seeing the work.”
All of these local spaces have reopened in recent months, with safety protocols in place. All require masks and social distancing, and the UK Art Museum requires appointments, to provide plenty of space for visitors to be safe and comfortable. All three have reported seeing success with these protocols.
“Since we reopened the museum in late summer, we have obviously had a significant fall off in visitors,” Horodner said of the UK Art Museum. “But we have put safety protocols in place, have hourly sign-ups with limited capacity of viewers, and people are coming. We are thrilled to see people looking at art, and they seem so satisfied to look at real art, not on a screen.”
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With large windows facing North Limestone Street, the small downtown gallery Institute 193 has worked on ways to increase engagement and the visual appeal of its exhibits to passersby on the street. Photo furnished
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With large windows facing North Limestone Street, the small downtown gallery Institute 193 has worked on ways to increase engagement and the visual appeal of its exhibits to passersby on the street. Photo furnished
“Obviously not as many people are coming in, so we try to make everything as accessible as possible through our website and social media presence,” Glass added. “But it is nice to see how excited people get when they realize they can stop by and look at art even with our emergency measures in place.
“I think having a small gallery space works to our advantage because we never get a mad rush of people at one time,” she added, “so people can almost always come into the gallery when they wish.”
Houlihan reports having seen a flow of visitors at Lexington Art League that is relatively comparable to usual years – and even an increased sense of engagement, to a certain extent.
“Our gallery hours have been the same, if not more active – people are trickling through in a steady stream, and they are really looking at the art and interacting with it in a different way than at the big openings,” she said. “Not all the people who came to the openings are coming through now, but those who are coming in are having a positive experience and are really here to see the art.”
As 2021 begins, uncertainty remains. But these professionals are working on ways to continue supporting artists, bringing art to the community and raising funds to continue operating safely.
Institute 193 is increasing video production work surrounding its artists and exhibitions, with a current major focus on finding new ways of funding audio/visual work, as well as online shopping endeavors.
The Lexington Art League has plans to expand outside its home at the Loudoun House as well. “Getting the LAL Shop online and adding more items is in the plans,” said Houlihan. Small satellite gallery shows, collaborations with galleries in other counties and more home-based community art projects like its current 1,000 Dragons project are on the horizon.
When asked how the community can support local artists and arts organizations, all three local museum and gallery reps are in agreement: become a member, purchase from gallery shops and buy art that’s made right here in our community.
Turner, as an artist, agreed.
“I’ve always been keenly aware of the positive effects of keeping things local,” he said. “Cricket Press has always existed by and large on the support we have received locally and regionally. Taking stock of those artists and creative businesses close to you, and being mindful of trying to support them and their work as much as you can, will have the biggest impact. Not only are you supporting the creatives that help make your own community unique, you hope to cause a ripple effect, [helping enable] those people do the same by supporting local businesses that are important to them.”
“When we finally are able to gather again, we’re going to need our arts organizations,” Houlihan added. “We can’t wait to invite everyone back.”