This morning, I heard a sad rumor from a Blogtown tipster that Newspace Center for Photography was closing. When I called up the photography studio and exhibition space, the closure was confirmed, and the staffer I spoke with joked that I might as well just repurpose the last piece I wrote when a local arts space closed due to a lack of funding.
I wrote that piece two weeks age when Action/Adventure Theatre announced the closure of its theater space.
Newspace has officially announced its closure in a Facebook post:
It is with great sadness that we share with you the news that the Newspace Center for Photography has been permanently closed, effective Friday, July 7th.
The board of directors is hosting an open meeting on Monday, July 10th, at 7pm at Newspace if you would like to find out more about why this has happened and to ask questions.
We also hope this meeting will be a chance for the Newspace community to connect with each other since more than anything, Newspace has been about the passion of its volunteers, members, artists, staff, and instructors who are still a vibrant photographic community.
Thank you, and we hope to see you there.
Shit’s bleak, you guys. I don’t have anything clever to say about this—Newspace was one of my favorite places to see photography in town, and I was looking forward to revisiting its delightful photo-chemical-tinged gallery—so I’ll just repeat something I’ve been saying a lot lately: Art costs money. Someone has to pay for it. I’m not a rich patron, but if I were in a position to be one, I’d think long and hard about what type of city I want to live in, and I’d really think about whether I’m okay living in a city with a bunch of moneyed tech startups and no art.
I’ve been saying this for a decade now, and I’m starting to wonder if there’s any point anymore, but if you want more of those cheap spaces that are on the edges of declining industrial spaces, you’re not going to find them 10, 20, or even 60 blocks from the Willamette. 82 blocks away though… that’s another story.
Portland is going to have to get over it’s fear and distain of East Portland, as well as come to terms with the inequities between Portland and T.O.P.* in public policy, resources, and (yes I’m looking at you Portland Mercury) media and cultural neglect. We got warehouses and Craftsman houses that can become 4+ rentals galore out here. Good dive bars too. Just stop trembling in fear of SR 213, it’s not any scarier than Alberta/Missippippi/Division, circa 2003.
*The Other Portland
It’s not closing. It’s closed. And they’re not offering refunds to people who paid for expensive classes. It’s sad to see them go. It’s sad to see them go in such a shitty way.
I agree. The arts cost money. I was a donor to Newspace for nearly a decade. The question I keep asking over and over and over again to their board is why didn’t they ask for help!!? All they had to do was send out an e-mail to their newsletter list…”hey folks, we’re in trouble, please donate!!” I would have donated more. Lots of people in the photo community would have donated more and stepped up. They acted like everything was just fine and then *BAM* locked the door and closed up. I’m not saying things aren’t tough, but this was a very poor way to handle this situation.
Basically my point on this one is that I know it is easy to blame something like this on apathy on the part of the community. However, the truth in this situation is that the leadership at Newspace royally screwed up. Period. This is on them and it needs to be investigated and called out.