Creative Placemaking Project

OMG Main_Credit Averell Mondie Artist_Wayve Alexander II

Orange Mound Gallery

Memphis, Tennessee

In 2016, Orange Mound Gallery (OMG) transformed a vacant liquor store located in a strip mall into a resident-driven gallery that showcases the work of community members and African American artists.

The Orange Mound neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee, has a rich history as one of the first communities in the country for African American to establish and settle a community through homeownership in the late nineteenth century. In appreciation of that history, creative community members wanted to create a space for arts produced by and reflective of the African American experience. The idea evolved organically: residents, artists, and individuals with longtime ties to the community identified an abandoned liquor store as the right space, negotiated with the owner, and assisted in space activation. ArtUp, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing creative entrepreneurship, equity, and community engagement through the arts, supported the residents in their effort.

Linda Steele, CEO and Founder of ArtUp, describes the importance of the space as follows: “That particular storefront was a liquor store for many years, attracting loitering and crime. Today, the structure is an art gallery that provides a platform for under-resourced artists and artists of color to show and sell their work. Artists work side by side with residents who help promote the shows and are paid a living wage to work as gallery attendants.”

The Orange Mound Arts Council (OMAC) manages OMG. OMAC is a diverse group of alumni of the ArtUp Fellowship program living and/or working in Orange Mound.

Impacts

Improved safety. OMG has continued to improve the safety and community involvement in improvements related to the shopping center.
Inspired reactivation of other vacant spaces. After the founding of OMG, the property owner rented out space next door in the shopping center to another arts group. The owner also partnered with the community to create a mural on the wall of the strip mall facing a well-traveled street. “All of these arts-based strategies helped to create an arts corridor of sorts in the community,” says Steele.

Lessons Learned

Secure funding from the start. Securing funding for the project and program partners before beginning the work was critical to ensure timely and successful completion of the project.
Pay artists and residents. Ms. Steele advocates: “Always, always pay artists and community residents. If you don’t have the money to pay them, don’t start the project. It will not work and it won’t be equitable.” ArtUp raised money to train artists and residents in running a business to ensure operational sustainability of the gallery. This includes ensuring the residents who run the gallery are paid a living wage.
Consistent communication with community is critical. Community-engaged design activities and frequent communication clarified expectations and residents’ needs to ensure the project reflected their desires for the neighborhood.

Property Type: Commercial Structure
Project Type/ New Use: Art – Small Scale (e.g. painting; performance; visual)
Project Purpose: Improve safety; Provide gallery space for Black artists
Duration: Permanent

Initial Cost: $50,000-$100,000
Funding Source: Philanthropic

Organization Type: Nonprofit - Arts and Culture
Implementation Partners: Philanthropy; Private sector
City: Memphis
State: Tennessee
Community Type: Urban

Project Website: Orange Mound Gallery >
Organization Website: We Art Up >
Social: Facebook >

Project Photos

Last updated: October 2021 – Do you have additional information about this project? Please use the share your placemaking project form » to share that information.

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