A City Park arts nonprofit dedicated to elevating the careers of emerging artists is now at risk of closing its gallery space.
Leon Gallery transitioned into a nonprofit in 2019, but the setbacks of COVID-19 and the early struggles of a young nonprofit have led the organization to ask for community support to stay afloat.
Eric Dallimore, president of Leon Gallery, says the organization was most recently approved to be an SCFD Tier 3 organization. That means the gallery will need to wait until grant funds are awarded in October -- time that Dallimore said they do not have.
"We're not a loaded organization with overhead fees. Seventy percent of all of our sales go directly to the artists from art shows," Dallimore said.
The gallery's executive director Eric Nord even took the step of forgoing his own pay the last couple of months. Now, the pressure is on to save Leon.
The #LongLiveLeon campaign kicked off Sunday, Jan. 21, with the goals of raising $5,000 by Jan. 31 and an additional $15,000 by March 31.
"That $20,000 with the other avenues streams will allow us to make sure our rent is paid until the Fall and we can keep our space open," Dallimore said. "When people support us they are also directly supporting the artists themselves."
The gallery has raised almost $9,000 in its first 24 hours, an unexpected turnout for Dallimore.
"It has really blown my mind that we've had this much kindness from our community," he said.
Opening its doors over 13 years ago, the DIY space has helped elevate the early careers of artists like Jasmine Abena Colgan, Drew Austin and Diego Rodriguez-Warner, who went on to host a solo exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver after hosting three exhibitions at Leon.
Losing Leon could mean losing a local community resource for artists who have otherwise never hosted a solo exhibition in hopes of landing gigs with other major art institutions in the state, Nord said.
"We see ourselves as giving artists their first leg up, to get them noticed," Nord said, "and open up these other opportunities for them that then take them to the next stage in their development."
