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The Community of Gallery X consists of three types of supporters: Members, Volunteers and Patrons. Members are the only group in Gallery X's community who vote. Gallery X Membership meetings are held at 7pm on the second Wednesday of every month at 169 William St. Active members are expected to attend and all members are welcome, as are any persons interested in putting forth proposals or interested in membership. Numerous outside volunteers and patrons contribute, support, and maintain Gallery X's growth. What makes Gallery X unique as an arts organization is two fold: first, Gallery X owns and maintains its own facility, a facility that is capable of initiating such aggressive arts programming. Second, Gallery X incorporates and facilitates outside arts and cultural organizations beyond its very own. In other words, because of the existence of Gallery X, other area arts and cultural groups have a common ground to exhibit and perform. Because Gallery X is an organization that supports other arts and cultural groups, these individuals and organizations thus have an arts and cultural center to work within, develop within, and create within. Gallery X is also unique because of the diversity of artists represented. Gallery X has a Board of Directors and an Outside Advisory Board. The Board of Directors consists of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Development. Elections are yearly and board members cannot hold a position for more than two years in a row. The outside advisory board includes representatives from the New Bedford National Historical Park Service, WHALE (Waterfront Historic Area League), the New Bedford Art Museum, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, the City of New Bedford, the New Bedford Advocacy Resource Center, a business owner and a lawyer. Members of both boards serve Gallery X voluntarily. The following highlights notable exhibits and events from recent years that exemplify Gallery X's diversified programming and vital mission. During the month of March Gallery X hosts the High School Select exhibit. This annual exhibit showcases the work of seniors from regional high schools that have included Bishop Stang, Dartmouth, MAI, Fairhaven, Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, New Bedford, Old Rochester Regional, Wareham and Westport. This exciting exhibit has original student artwork filling all of the wall space in the upstairs gallery. The high school art instructors simultaneously display their work below in the Frederick Douglass Gallery. The exhibit draws well over 500 people from the public and an impressive video production has documented the event. Gallery X also has a longstanding tradition of collaborating with the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Gallery X has proudly hosted the Senior BFA Exhibitions of most of the departments within UMass College of Visual and Performing Arts. In May of 2002, the Senior Design, Photography, and Fine Arts (Painting, Printmaking, and Sculpture) Exhibitions were at Gallery X. Besides high school and university students, many inner city elementary school children have had the enriching experience of collaborating with Gallery X. Since Gallery X's very first year, children's art exhibits and art classes have occurred at Gallery X. In 2002, for example, students participating in the Underground Railroad After School Program (U GRASP) had an exhibit of artwork that depicted creative imagery based on the Underground Railroad and the African American experience. Gallery X has also featured the work of students participating in the A.R.T. (Achieving Respect Together) Program, a project in collaboration with the United Front Child Development Program, now known as NorthStar Learning Centers, Inc. This is a continued collaboration that allows Gallery X to teach the visual arts aspect of this most important after school arts program. In June of 2002, Gallery X collaborated with the New Bedford Art Museum by having a multi cultural exhibit entitled Weaving and Building A Story of Two Americas: Mayan and North East American Indian After School Ail Program Exhibit. The children's artwork in this exhibit was inspired by Native American iconography and imagery. In fall of 2002, through a United Way grant written by the Bullard St. Neighborhood Association, Gallery X artists collaborated and improved the school environment at the Hayden McFadden elementary grade school in the North End of New Bedford, by painting a mural outside the school; a school where the majority of students' families fall into a low income bracket. By using student drawings of sea creatures and fish, Gallery X painted a very large scaled mural (roughly 200ft long by 8ft high) facing the school playground. In addition to the exhibition of student works Gallery X has also provides a democratic opportunity for creative individuals in the New Bedford community to exhibit and/or perform their particular form of art. Members at Gallery X are the individuals who curate and coordinate such exhibits. However, not all exhibits are exclusive to members of the organization; exhibits are open to local artists. There are invitational exhibits, combined member & local artist exhibits and even themed exhibits that increase awareness about social issues (i.e. the environment and politics). For example, in July of 2001, Gallery X hosted Recyclable Art: An Environmental Exhibition. All artwork in the exhibit was made either with recyclable materials or had an environmental theme. Fulfilling its mission of community outreach, Gallery X had exhibits in collaboration with S.A.I.L (Supporting Adults for Inclusive Living). This exhibit, most recently hosted in August of 2001, features the artwork of developmentally delayed adults. Such an exhibit improves the quality of life and boosts the self esteem for creative individuals who are developmentally delayed. Gallery X again challenged the public in June, 2003, to seriously consider important social & societal issues by hosting an exhibit featuring artwork by prisoners, Insiders' Art: The Context Collection by Artists in Prison. This exhibit was a "context collection of images and words by over 100 prisoners, on the theme of life in prison." Proceeds benefit Books Through Bars, a nonprofit organization that educates prisoners to stop the cycle of crime and violence. A Book Drive was also conducted and for that AHA! Night a representative from Changing Lives Through Literature spoke on the societal benefits of their prisoner writing program, a program supported by Sheriff Hodgson. Some ongoing annual exhibits that have been hosted at Gallery X since first incorporated in 1990 are: A Public Hanging, the very first Gallery X exhibit (open both to local artists and Gallery X members), The Gallery X Art Raffle (an annual exhibit and fundraising event), and The Gallery X Mas Show. A brief list of other recurring exhibits include: New Works, an open to local artists exhibit; Through The X Lens; A Masters Invitational, an exhibit where Gallery X members invite "master" artists; and The Figure X Posed, which feature work from figure drawing sessions held in the Frederick Douglass Gallery. Cultural events such as theater, dance, poetry and film also take place at Gallery X. Some examples of original theater over the last couple of years are the productions of Des, The heArt Dealer, Research, Real Life , N.C.'s Big Night and Executive Dance, four original plays by UMass Dartmouth students, and a comedy benefit, HA! HA! for AHA! Des was a one man performance by a Northern Irish Theater Production Company called "Double Jointed Productions." The play was based on the life of civil rights activist Father Desmond Wilson. In March of 2001, Gallery X also hosted the off Broadway debut of The heArt Dealer. In June of 2001, the theater and performing arts cooperative Culture Park held a reading of Research, a play based on the story of Zora Neale Hurston, the renowned female, African American folklorist and anthropologist. Throughout 2003, Gallery X has been host to "Real Life," a monthly theatrical sitcom organized by Brick by Brick's executive director and Gallery X member Tracy Furtado. N.C.'s Big Night and Executive Dance were directed by Emerson College graduate student Liz Rapoza for June 2002's AHA! Night. N.C.'s Big Night featured 17 children from an after school program funded by the Fairhaven Cultural Council. UMass Dartmouth theater students performed four original plays during AHA! Night in May 2003. For the past two years Gallery X has hosted HAHA for AHA! a fundraiser for AHA! featuring original comedy skits and plays by local authors and performers. In June of 2001, the first New Bedford Film Festival debuted at Gallery X followed by a performance of progressive hip-hop by Busted Fro, a group that promotes a message of non violence and abstinence from drugs. In August 2002, UMass Dartmouth students presented five experimental films in a compilation series entitled The Eye, The Mind, and Motion during that month's AHA! Night; also shown that AHA! Night was the Gallery X Retrospective Video. Other film programming include a Skateboard Movie Marathon in fall of 2003, and in collaboration with the New Bedford Art Museum's skateboard culture exhibit From the Ground Up: Art of the Skateboard Culture. And Celebrate Our Struggle: A Film Series on the Black Experience in America now occurs at Gallery X on the forth Saturday of every month with a mission of education leading to greater tolerance and understanding. Several modem dance companies, swing and salsa dance, and even a Youth Ballet Group have performed at Gallery X. In August of 2001, during an AHA! Night program, Gallery X hosted the White Flag Dance Company based in Boston, MA. The Current Dance Company of Westport, MA have brought their unique form of modem dance to Gallery X. and they also taught a modern dance workshop as part of AHA!'s "Artists and Artisans" workshop series at Gallery X in November 2002. In July of 2002, also as part of AHA! programming, the Dance Vision Festival out of Falmouth, MA performed a healing dance ritual performance and workshop at Gallery X . For the June and August 2003 AHA! Nights, Gallery X hosted the Providence, RI dance troupe, Modem Populous. A July 2001 AHA! Night featured a Swing and Salsa workshop by Liz Rapoza. And for December's 2002 AHA! Night, excerpts of the Nutcracker Suite were performed by the New Bedford Youth Ballet. After 9/11, Gallery X members donated their talents by creating portraiture and commemorative pins during that September's AHA! Artists and Artisans Night, in addition to the scheduled workshops. Gallery X raised over $1,500 for victim assistance groups. On the poetry front, several area poets and professors from UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College have read and continue to read at Gallery X. Celebrating National Poetry month, from 2002 to 2004, Gallery X hosts the Bartelby the Scrivener Poetry Group for its April AHA! programming. On a separate grand occasion that same month, Gallery X presented the nationally renowned African American poet and former poet laureate emeritus of New Bedford, MA, Everett Hoagland presenting his most recent works, as well as a book signing in collaboration with Baker Books. Another programming event currently occurring monthly at Gallery X is La Soul Renaissance, an open mic event with a hip hop flair encouraging poetry and the spoken word with a message of peace and non violence. This event is very often accompanied by live jazz music, hip hop, and/or acoustic guitar. Numerous workshops and art classes often take place at Gallery X. Through the SouthCoast Learning Network, sculpture and mold making classes have taken place at Gallery X. Weekly Figure Drawing classes have been scheduled in the Frederick Douglass Gallery. Now an annual tradition in its third year, Gallery X also hosts Drum Building Workshops. In June 2002, Gallery X offered an 8 week free children's theater class taught by Liz Rapoza, in conjunction with the Mass Cultural Council and Emerson College. Gallery X has offered free workshops as part of AHA! Night programming such as: Japanese calligraphy, scrimshaw, jewelry featuring wearable "found object" art, holiday ornaments, mask making, book binding, modem dance, healing dance, and rug braiding & rug hooking.
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