The Fort Gallery has gone “mobile” as an artist-run centre, and its first pop-up exhibit opens on Friday, June 16.
Due to a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances and financial stress, the gallery can no longer be found in Fort Langley on the corner of Francis Avenue on Glover Road.
Alysha Creighton, board chair, said she joined the art gallery in 2019 when it went through the final transition of being a co-op to receiving charitable status and run by volunteering artists.
Grants carried the non-profit through the pandemic, but last year it found itself competing with a professional world it didn’t quite fit into.
“Unfortunately we found ourselves in between granting streams where we’re a bit too professional now for the community streams that we applied to, but not professional enough [for others],” Creighton explained.
Additionally, many organizations received relief funding during the pandemic which increased budgets and the grant applications became much more competitive, she added.
When the board learned the gallery didn’t receive two more grants, they held an emergency fundraiser to carry it forward while they decided next steps.
“We spent a day exploring possibilities and [found] that space is our biggest cost.”
Creighton said foot traffic in the previous space was not where most of the gallery’s visitors came from, especially after the pandemic.
Without the burden of year-round rent, the gallery is better able to direct resources into specific pop-up events.
The opening night of Fort Gallery’s first pop-up event is on Friday, June 16 at 7 p.m. at Swallowfield Farm. MLA Megan Dykeman will be in attendance.
Featuring B.C.-based and Indigenous artist Dion Smith-Dokkie’s latest work, the exhibit will be displayed on June 17, 18, and 24 from noon to 5 p.m., and June 19 to 23 by emailing fortgallery@hotmail.com.
An all ages workshop is being held with Smith-Dokkie on Sunday, June 18 at 2 p.m. People can register through eventbrite.ca.
Events are free and open to the public. The farm is located at 7296 Telegraph Trail.
Smith-Dokkie is a painter and visual artist living on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territories. He experiments in mixed-media and textile-based practices, as well as 3D-modelling and scanner art.
“I think part of this move to being a pop-up space is to be fiscally responsible and sustainable … and by scaling back the number of events, we are trying to build up in a way that will allow us to be around long term,” Creighton said.
To stay up-to-date on Fort Gallery exhibits, people can visit fortgallery.ca.
Fort Gallery was founded in 2006 originally as an artist co-op to provide space for local experimental and non-commercial artists.
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