Arts CoCA, On the Ropes Again
posted by on January 26 at 12:08 PM
The perennially troubled Center on Contemporary Art is moving out of 410 Dexter Ave North on Sunday and temporarily taking up residence at Shilshole Bay Beach Club, in Ballard, which is not an exhibition space.
Why else? Lack of money. The alternative art space already owes its landlord a chunk—reportedly, $36,000—and can’t afford to continue to rack up debt, said Mike Sweney, a member of the board of trustees. (I haven’t yet heard back from Joe Roberts, the board president and owner of a company that owns the Shilshole Bay Beach Club.)
For a while now (see The Stranger’s 2000 story Death: The Next Step for CoCA?), the rap on CoCA has been that its best years are behind it. In February 2004, it moved into the large space in the South Lake Union neighborhood as a way to recharge. But that didn’t work.
“We moved into South Lake Union expecting an arts renaissance — the Wright Space and Winston Wachter across the street, ConWorks and 911 around the corner, and commercial galleries considering a move to SLU — it was starting to look like the new frontier for the arts,” Sweney wrote in an email. “Alas, things didn’t work out that way. Except for openings, traffic has been non-existent, leading to a precipitous drop in membership. Several key board members have recently left and we have been hesitant to fill those voids until we figure out our next step. We need to find a space and neighborhood that can fully support our mission.”
CoCA emits little jolts of energy, but for years it has seemed like a great love affair that’s over but hasn’t yet been ended. It seems sad to advocate for the death of something so weak, so I won’t.
The current show, Judith Kindler: Consuming Youth, will be up at the South Lake Union space today through Sunday, noon to 5. It will be at least partially installed at the Ballard location, Sweney says.
You gotta pay those bills, guys! Not just to the landlord but to the curators and artists as well. Some intrepid arts reporter should go through their exhibition history, contact all participants, determine if they got paid, then add up all these folks are owed. The number would be staggering, I assure you.
I just heard from my friends at CoCA and feel the need to apologize and set the record straight.
My comments were not intended as a reflection upon the recent board or staff of CoCA, it was based upon what I had heard from people involved in the organization ten years ago when it was on Cedar Street. There had been a pattern of the organization not paying its bills, the staff leaving after not being paid for months, guest curators not receiving their fees, and evictions from temporary venues. A new group would take over the CoCA name and non-profit status, set up shop in a new space and the same thing would happen again within a few years. But this was no one's fault -- it is just how small arts organizations have gotten by in recent years.
Because I have not really followed what has gone on behind the scenes since the move to Dexter, my statements seem, in retrospect, out of line. I don't want them to taint those individuals who have put so much time and effort into CoCA these last few years.
I understand the situation they are in. Ten years ago I was the publication manager of Reflex, a not-for-profit visual art magazine that got money from the NEA, etc. We ultimately found ourselves unable to pay our bills and even our own salaries. There were a few dedicated board members, but the rest soon went AWOL before finally voting to close the organization down. Reflex was created during a time of greater government largess and could never quite make the transition to a donor-based revenue system. CoCA once had the distinction of being the only organization (save the Henry) that showed contemporary work from outside the region. Now every museum in town does so. It has been hard, in spite of CoCA's storied past, to carve out its place in today's Seattle.
In an attempt to salvage my reputation, I went back and checked a few of the ancient and anecdotal sources for my original and ill-considered comment I made above. It appears that those who complained to me were ultimately paid their fees or settled amicably with the organization. The rest seems to have been second-hand gossip and rumors traded at opening night parties nearly ten years ago.
Again, my apologies to any CoCA people whose reputaion I may have impugned. I wish you all the best on your capital campaign.
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