After eight years of running a community-focused nonprofit art gallery, Loiter Galleries is now seeking help from the community it serves.
Vinny Picardi and Monica Fleming, co-founders of Loiter Galleries, found out a few months ago they wouldn’t be receiving crucial state grants they rely on to keep the gallery running. Residents may know Loiter Galleries from their pandemic-era exhibits, where viewers could enjoy rotating displays of art through their windows in a time marked by a need for art and connection.
Others may know someone who has been featured in Loiter Galleries, as the founders pride themselves on opening up their walls to people typically left out of the art scene. Seniors, local students, veterans and budding artists have found opportunity in the Fourth Street independent gallery. It’s the grounding ethos for why the two artists created Loiter Galleries free from the “traditional gallery model” — to lower the barrier of entry for local talent.
“Since we had a lot of experience in that world we decided let’s try to bridge that gap and create a way for average people or emerging artists to get into a gallery without having to jump through these hoops,” Fleming said. “That is the essence of our mission, to give affordable space to people to show their work and create opportunities.”
Artists featured at Loiter (of which there have been many over the years) are free from the typical exorbitant entry fees, portfolio requirements and percentage cuts they have to face at other galleries.
In the past few years they’ve shown artwork from tens of Cal State Long Beach students in need of a graduation requirement, as well as live painting sessions with local artists, comedy nights where new comedians can workshop their material, film screenings from local filmmakers, exhibits that spotlight Black artists and female artists, experimental shows with projection mapping and much more. The gallery leaps into exploratory shows and formats while uplifting voices not usually seen in fine art spaces.
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“We know what that feeling is like when you get your first show and how excited you are when you make your first sale,” Fleming said. “Just to be able to contribute to a person having that experience is — it goes beyond words and it reminds us why we’re here … That’s something to wake up in the morning for and it gives us a sense of purpose.
Along with the opportunity to be part of a show, Picardi and Fleming also help artists with tips on their portfolios and help them become better marketers of their work, all at no cost to the artist.
Providing an affordable space isn’t free though, and Picardi and Fleming still have to pay their staff, rent and insurance. They said they’re grateful the property owner Mosaic has been gracious to them over the years, but they fear a lack of funds will mean slowing down the mission when they’ve “barely tapped the potential,” Picardi said.
They also provide art around the city for vacant properties, working with the Downtown Long Beach Alliance to provide a bit of beauty where there is none. Loiter Galleries is gearing up to host a regional art competition next year as well as complete a mural downtown.
However, in their current state of unknown, they are grappling with the possibility they might have to host less shows this year, meaning less opportunities for local artists.
“We’re in the last week of the fundraiser, but we still need help,” Picardi said. “We’re getting follows but we’re not getting the funds we need. We need a sense of urgency. We hate asking people for money, but we want to keep this thing going.”
Donate to Loiter Galleries’ GoFundMe here until Dec. 25.
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