Nichole Dement. Gallery 4Culture: Future Memory, 2020. Installation view. Photo: Joe Freeman, March 2020
Pioneer Square boasts one of the largest and most vibrant art communities in the nation, yet the financial reality facing artists and galleries due to the COVID-19 pandemic is heartbreaking.
Heather Dwyer, the art program manager for 4Culture, explained that she knows artists that have been in the area for over 20 years can no longer put food on the table. “It’s been devastating honestly, I’m usually in tears every day,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer explains the many opportunities for artist and gallery grants in this time, but also the enormous hardship that she has seen in the art community because of COVID-19. 4Culture, which has offices and a gallery space in Pioneer Square, is an organization that stems from the Office of Cultural Resources in King County. Its role in the community is to assess need and give grants, but in the current reality, everyone, especially in the art community, is in need.
Since Gov. Jay Inslee announced that the stay at home order would go into effect on March 25, all galleries in Pioneer Square have been closed or by appointment only. As a result, revenue has taken a steep decline as the ability to visit a gallery and buy a piece of art is now severely limited.
Some fear that the financial burdens created by COVID-19 may not be temporary, but rather that they will persist long after social distancing orders ease due to the downfall of the economy, while others are clinging on to a glimmer of hope.
With little warning of the closing, exhibitions were cut short, postponed, and in some cases cancelled all together. This upended many artists lives, including a Seattle-based artist named Nichole DeMent. DeMent’s photographic work had just begun its 3 weeklong exhibition at Gallery 4Culture when the stay at home order forced Gallery 4Culture to cut the show short and close its doors.
DeMent is one of hundreds of artists in the Pioneer Square area that had their show impacted in some way. DeMent, a more established artist, recognizes the negative emotional and financial impact of having her show cut short, but is even more concerned for emerging artists will not be gaining exposure and therefore suffering financially.
“I’m worried this will be the end of many new artist’s careers,” Dement said.
Despite the enormous financial and emotional strain that the art community is experiencing currently, Jordan Howland, the collections manager and gallery curator for Gallery 4Culture, said, “It’s incredible to see the support within the arts community when it comes to artists supporting other artists.”
Howland explained that when it comes to grants, “some people have applied, but then found support in other parts of their lives, and have retracted their application and said, ‘make this money available for others in need.’”
On the other hand, Dwyer explains that because 4Culture’s grants are tax based they are certain that these grants will still be available in the future, despite throwing all the money they have at the art community right now.
Although the sentiments from Howland and Dwyer are heartening, others including Trevor Doak, the director of Gallery 110, have had different experiences when it comes to receiving financial aid. Doak said that he has tried to apply for small business grants, but he has not had much luck.
Because Gallery 110 is a nonprofit organization, Doak commented that the guidelines for the relief funds “were very much, and understandably, interested in helping nonprofits that were helping with dispersed populations, things that people see a tangible need for. Arts organizations were very low on the list.” Doak claimed that he felt very discouraged from applying because of their priorities.
Other efforts to aid artists and galleries in this time include social media promotion as well as a transition into virtual platforms for viewing and purchasing art. A local Pioneer Square design firm, Civilization, has created a platform called By the Hour in an effort to replicate Pioneer Square’s First Thursday Art Walk in a virtual space.
Chris Woodward, the business administrator for Alliance for Pioneer Square, claims that although First Thursday Art Walks used to have a significant role in the revenue stream of an art gallery, “Currently First Thursday is more of a social event” and “art collectors don’t buy art on First Thursday.”
Woodward also described the art community as a system in which artist’s rely heavily on gallery spaces for sales and the ability to do creative work, while galleries could not function without the existence of artists. Art collectors support the relationship between artists and galleries by buying pieces, but as COVID-19 continues to worsen the economy, art collectors will no longer be able to support the arts.
Doak expressed a similar sentiment to Woodward, claiming, “My biggest concern is how Gallery 110 will be in a year. Initially I was concerned that artists would be having a hard time finding it within their own financial resources to pay dues and create art. Some of them might say, in about a year ‘This isn’t really something I can afford to do.’”
Overall, Doak does not foresee the changes that will be occurring within the art community in the next year as positive changes. Although people have been going out of their way to support the arts, Doak fears that these efforts may not be enough to keep the artists and galleries afloat.
Due to the fluid nature of the pandemic, it is very difficult to envision what gallery spaces will look like in the future other than requiring masks, placing hand sanitizer at the door, and limiting capacity. Some galleries in Pioneer Square, like 4Culture, will remain closed until Sept. out of an abundance of caution. Gallery 110, along with many other galleries in the area, will open as soon as phase 2 begins, although Doak said, “If I see anything that concerns me, I will close the doors to the public and do appointments only.”
