When the pandemic hit us two years ago, everything changed. Whether you’re an arts supporter or an artist yourself, you most likely relied on your creativity (or that of others) to entertain, educate, and inspire through this time of massive change. Some of us sprang into action, hosting and watching livestreams of our favorite musicians. Museums and performance venues that were able to, shifted their art engagement opportunities to an online forum. At the same time, others took the opportunity to step back, slow down, and breathe. The pandemic breathed life into new collaborations too, such as the subject of this post: The Arts Industry.

The Arts Industry is art gallery run by Maria Porada and Peter Albano, two artists from relatively disparate art scenes within the larger community. Porada is a printmaker, art handler and curator with a background in art history who’s worked at The Wadsworth and Real Art Ways, and Albano is a carpenter by day whose artistic practice centers around printmaking, painting, sculpture, and a recent passion for quilting. The pair has been running the gallery out of the Per Diem Printing space in West Hartford since May 2021, where Albano also has a studio. Even though the gallery has been open for only 9 months, they’ve already hosted five shows; a variety including both duo and group shows. Because they come from different scenes but coexist in similar circles, they had been noticing a disconnect between emerging artists and more established ones. Bridging this gap became one of their largest motivators for forming The Arts Industry - melding these groups together, creating a more approachable scene for all. Why choose “The Arts Industry” as a name? They wanted to be a little on-the-nose, as they present art in an industrial space. Yet it goes deeper than that; it describes their position of “having one foot in the high art realm and one foot in the DIY underground scene.”

“We are grateful to show your work here” vs. “Be grateful to show your work here”

— The Arts Industry

According to Porada and Albano, a crucial part of creating accessibility is shifting the narrative. Let’s face it – artists have many obstacles to overcome if they want to show in a gallery. These include but are not limited to: establishing and maintaining relationships with curators and gallery owners, booking a space, and paying for artistic and logistical expenses. The Arts Industry’s number one goal is to show work on behalf of the artists, and not the gallery itself, making it a major distinction between other spaces in the area and giving it a unique advantage. They benefitted from this shift as early as their first show last year, when it brought together audiences from all walks of life, especially those who may not regularly visit galleries. This first show had a lot of draw while still being informal. The small space invites visitors to truly receive the art. “It’s nice to see people actually engage with the work on the walls” as opposed to the art embellishing social events, said Albano.

When asked about their reasoning behind establishing a brick-and-mortar venue over curating pop-up events wherever they could find space, they explained that even though there’s certainly an allure for audiences not knowing when or where the next show will be, they described already having the printing space available as “the path of least resistance.” Don’t mistake this for settling; The Arts Industry has proven themselves to be extremely resourceful, essentially creating the space and curating shows out of their own pocket. They invested in renovating the space just enough to make it comfortable for visitors, without compromising its industrial roots. They noted how much of a learning curve this experience has been – how much they’ve learned from one another, fellow artists, and the community. Every experience presents a new challenge (a.k.a. opportunity to learn), such as needing to adapt to different lighting situations as they transitioned from a hybrid indoor/outdoor space to indoors as the weather got colder. They invited installation artist and art handler David Borawski to help hang one of their shows, and other collaborations with local artists have helped them grow.

And now we return to our first point – the impact of the pandemic. The practice of artmaking can be very solitary at times, and these shows have created a community for artists and audiences alike. According to Porada, part of the events’ success can be attributed to the pandemic. “The pandemic has humanized people,” regardless of status and career; we feel more energized than ever to show up and gather with arts as a focal point. Albano mentioned how we’ve all been sharing the digital space (rather than the preferred physical space) the past couple of years. Now that things are opening up again, “experiencing talent in-person is refreshing.”

Each show is presented for one night only, as previously stated. Doing shows for just one night gives life to the space and has a similar appeal to pop-up shows, but having their own space is more in line with their vision. The most recent show garnered enough attention to attract a significant amount of appointment-only viewing, but the nature of the space prohibits them from doing more than one show at a time. For this reason, they’re incorporating venue research into their long-term vision.

The Arts Industry’s ideal space is open to the public, and they’ve already started talking to landlords in the Hartford area, and seeking sponsorships from other organizations. Since they are paying out of pocket for now, their goal is to get local businesses involved; for example, partnering with a restaurant to cater an event to maximize promotion for all parties involved. They both have pretty deep roots in the local arts community, but they’re always scrolling the feeds for new artists to present and collaborate with. They say the more artists involved leads to higher caliber work, which results in more publicity. With more shows comes more variety too – they’re aiming to put on smaller shows (solo, duo exhibits) as well as juried shows. Be on the lookout on Instagram (@theartsindustry) for upcoming shows…you only get one chance every few months!

- Dan Deutsch, GHAC Marketing & Communications Manager

(photography: The Arts Industry)