New Effort Underway to Promote Art Galleries

For nearly two decades, local art galleries and museums opened their doors free of charge on the third Thursday of each month, from February to December. But Newport Gallery Night became a casualty of the pandemic in 2021. An effort led by a new gallery owner in Newport has gained some traction, and it might be enough to regenerate the monthly gallery strolls.

Curtis Speer, owner of Cusp Gallery, has put together the Newport Artists Collective, with a dozen or so art galleries joining so far. Their goal, according to Speer, is to move Newport toward becoming a genuine art colony. The city’s reputation for performing arts, whether it’s the Jazz and Folk festivals, Newport Classical or Newport Contemporary Ballet (formerly Island Moving Co.) extends nationwide. The collective hopes to achieve similar distinction for the visual arts.

“It makes sense for Newport and particularly for local business,” Speer said. “The state has incentivized artists to move to Rhode Island. Making art galleries vital and energized will help them, artists and other businesses by generating patron traffic.”

Susan Matthews, co-owner of Overlap, a gallery that opened this year, said she is pleased that local galleries and artists are interested in working together and raising public awareness of art in the city.

“We’re all a little different from one another, but the more we know about each other, the better able we are to educate people about the art we have here,” Matthews said. “There isn’t a lot for us to lose by starting this conversation. I think it would be great for the city if we could have a gallery tour with a shuttle bus to take people from one location to another.”

As collective members lay the groundwork for the organization, Speer has arranged for once-aweek “pop-up” shows in the library of the Brenton Hotel. Each Thursday, from 5 to 7 p.m., the hotel hosts a show featuring art from one of the collective’s member galleries. They’ve dubbed it the Salon Artist Series, and it kicked off with art from Cusp on Oct. 26, followed last week by work from Jessica Hagen, owner of Jessica Hagen Fine Art.

On Nov. 9, Sandy Nesbitt, of Blink Gallery, will show work. Future shows will feature artists from Overlap, Out of the Box, Beach Studios, Cory Silken Photography, Gallery Sitka and others.

“It’s a nice, relaxed atmosphere, and we’ve seen gallery owners, artists and hotel guests show up,” Speer said. “We see events like this as part of our mission. The whole idea is to have the art community work together to promote the city as an art destination.”

Brenton Hotel general manager Andy Ross said hosting the series seemed natural for them. “We’ve been holding monthly shows with local artists in the winter, so expanding that, makes sense to us,” he said. “Our guests have enjoyed it, our staff has enjoyed it, and it has encouraged more local people to stop in, which is very important to us. We want to be community focused.”

Once he opened his gallery last spring, Speer began wondering if the city had a gallery stroll similar to communities on Cape Cod, where he came from. He began talking to local business owners, especially in the Broadway area. He also checked in with several hotels in the city. Before he set off on his recruitment, Speer checked the status of Gallery Night, which was coordinated by volunteers from the Newport Gallery Organization. He found that both were dormant, and once he began recruiting, he realized that he could attract more gallery owners with new branding.

“The idea of a collective is that everyone works together and collaborates,” he said. “I have tried to show folks that they will benefit from the buy-in. This isn’t just me trying to promote my business. There’s a value in this for everyone.

“My experience with local business owners since I opened has been great. They are happy to have an art gallery on Broadway. I stay open late on Fridays, and we have been attracting 60 or so visitors most weeks. Part of my pitch is that a collective art community approach will help everyone.”

It has taken spring, summer and early fall for Speer to contact the more than 20 galleries in the city to propose forming the collective and reviving gallery night. “Some have been hesitant,” he said, “but we have 12 that are committed, and we hope eventually everyone will join in. The rising tide raises all boats.

“I know there are folks who are asking around, ‘Who is this guy? He just got here.’ But I’m finding that people are open to new ideas, and others are simply seeing me as someone who wants to help get things going.”

As the group prepares to restart monthly gallery strolls next spring, they are creating a map and a new website. One of the members, designer Eileen Pollina, who owns a shop on Bowen’s Wharf, is creating the map, and Tamar Russell Brown, owner of Gallery Sitka, is designing the website.

“There’s no reason why Newport should not be an art destination,” Speer said. “The city has everything from classic marine art to contemporary art. There’s a lot of young energy here in the city, including in the arts community.”

“He’s willing to do the work, so I think we should support his efforts,” Russell Brown said.

After retiring this year from 22 years of teaching journalism at the University of Rhode Island, John Pantalone, the founding editor of Newport This Week, is happy to be writing for the paper again.