Before there was a Hallberg Center for the Arts...

After our organization formed in 2012, with a membership between 15 and 20 artists, we knew we needed to do something to show off the talent of our artists. We saw that the Spirit and Praise Penticostal Church was for sale. We spoke to Pastor Mike and showed some interest. We knew we would need to raise quite a bit of money before we could even think about buying the building. We asked Pastor Mike if we could use their building one evening a month for an art show. He agreed.

 

While on the surface, this seemed like a great idea, but it would require a lot of work on our part(not unlike many of our current projects).This was a project that would require ALL of our members to work together, and they did, even if it wasn’t their artwork on display. And all the members invited everyone they knew.

For every show, we would need to come into the church in the afternoon, move all the seating into the pastor’s office, along with anything hanging on the walls. Once the hall was cleared, we would have toturn it into an art gallery. Our artists brought in all their easels (because there were no center walls).

 

By 6pm, we would be ready to open the doors to the public. The visitors came in, gazed at the amazing artwork, talked with our artists, and were introduced to the talent that was being uncovered in our communities. At 9pm, the doors would close,and we would now have to turn it back into a church.

 

At first, we would all show up the next day, but getting tired of making it a two-day event, we soon began to do itafter the exhibit closed that evening. We would have to take down all the artwork and remove any nails that were used to hang artwork from the walls. We would carefully rehang anything the church had hanging in its exact spots. We would vacuum the entire building then bring out and place all the seating. We worked together to make sure the place was better than when we arrived that afternoon. The teamwork that the small membership showed is one of the reasons we are where we are today as an arts organization.