The community art center downtown has re-opened with the intention of hosting art exhibitions, as well as running art programming and art studios.
The ArtX art exchange on 3rd Street and Elm Street hosted its grand re-opening on Oct. 8. The board of directors unveiled a newly renovated 3,000-square-foot gallery exhibition space as part of the campus that stretches down the block to include four art studios and a programming classroom.
The art hub of the East Village was conceived about 15 years ago, but is just now entering its stride.
“What has happened is the city has finally agreed to bring these series of buildings up to state code,” said Interim ArtX Director Jay Hong. “An entire renovation project has been undertaken and it was just completed in early October, so what you’re seeing [at the ArtX center] is really the culmination of years and years of work.”
The City of Long Beach has collaborated with ArtX to do the interior remodel of the campus, and some time next year will turn over the building ownership to ArtX to run as a 501(c)3, non-profit organization.
“We’ve only been operating for two weeks, so this is all brand new to us too. So, hopefully the community comes and talks to us and get the word out,” Hong said. “We’re also looking for a lot of volunteers, this is a non-profit we have no employees. We need volunteers to be gallery hosts when we are open, we need volunteers to help maintain the building — this is a lot of work — we need volunteers for marketing and media.”
Board members like Hong all volunteer their time to the community center. Artists that sell work through the exhibit showings get to keep the money from the sale. ArtX recommends that artists donate a portion of their profits back to the gallery, which Hongs says most artists are happy to do.
“What we’re trying to do as we raise money, is that we don’t want to use all that money to staff and pay people,” Hong said. “We want to use the majority of the money that we generate to go back into the programming and to the exhibits, because our vision is that’s what an art community center does, it puts the money back into the community.”
ArtX is able to manage its finances through the help of donors and membership costs. Individual membership is $50, students and seniors 55+ can get membership for $40, family’s can get one for $75 and art classes can join for $100. Exhibits are free, but members get to go to private openings where they see the art first, enjoy food and wine and meet the artists.
“There’s just so many different ways we have to earn money to keep this thing running,” Hong said. “It’s a lot of work and it takes a lot of money to run a big building like this.”
The objective for ArtX in owning the whole block is to become a multi-dimensional art community center that offers gallery space, programming and artist studio space.
“If you mix the three together, the sum total of those three is bigger than the three individual parts,” Hong said.
People who are taking classes can go next door to bounce ideas off of artists that make a living with their work. When artists are finished with a piece, they can take can take it next door to the gallery to exhibit – and hopefully, sell – it.
The mission of the art exchange is to be a catalyst for East Village, and Long Beach, to learn, create and exchange ideas, as well as be a gallery that rotates exhibits containing different types of art from Long Beach and the surrounding communities.
“So, when you think about art and you think about creation that’s one element of being successful, the other part of the equation is that you have to tie the community in,” Wong said. “The community has to see that art, they have to embrace that art, they have to learn from that art and ultimately if they love the art they buy the art.”
ArtX has risen from the ashes solely on the backs of community member who are passionate about the creation and expansion of local art, and it’s going to take even more community involvement to really make this phoenix fly.