Community impact 2024
“It was evident that students were drawn in and impacted by integration with the art,” said Becky, Area Coordinator of Baldwin-Jenkins & The Village of Whitworth University. “I like the atmosphere here at the exhibition,” said Rachelle, walking into Baldwin Hall, who helped with gallery visiting arrangements to the student campus.
November 21 was our final exhibition for the year, where 2 hours of exhibition 6me felt so quick. It was something extraordinary for students to see. After a long day of classes, it was worth it. Around sixty students attended, listened, asked questions, and discovered the world of art more while learning valuable life lessons. “Come back next year,” said Rachelle from the Office of Church Engagement, “Let’s have another exhibition for more students to see and enjoy.”
As I look back, I am so grateful that we were able to start reaching our goal for 2024, which is to hold exhibitions for students at universities. This promising beginning opens the opportunity to hold more showings at other campuses, presenting the world of art and what it offers to more students.
This is our fourth year of par6cipa6ng in the Spokane community, and this year, our team served around 2,800 people. The gallery exhibitions introduced, impacted, educated, and encouraged those who attended.
Team training is valuable to us, and we invest our 6me into it yearly. This year, we had two-day training for our team, focusing on the Timeline of Art History. The more 6me we spend studying art, the more I understand how deep and wide it is, and the learning process becomes endless and exciting.
As the Thrive International Center continues to serve Ukrainians and refugees from other countries, it was a pleasure for us to revisit the Center and present art in naive languages to the residents. People of different age groups saw paintings from all over the world, getting closer to art and history right inside the walls of the Center, which gave them a safe place to live.
We are so grateful that we were part of a historical event in Spokane this year. In May, the city celebrated Expo 74’s 50th Anniversary at Riverfront Park, and Mainstory was also there to celebrate it. It was nice to engage with our history and celebrate with our community the great impacts of Spokane fiPy years later.
Carl Tompkins from the Spokane Family Day planning committee invited our gallery again to the annual Family celebration at Franklin Park. This year, many different vendors were present, and about 500 people were in attendance. It is important for our gallery team to support good community events and offer something great as an addition to the program.
September was our busiest season because we participated in the Spokane Interstate Fair and had over 100 hours of exhibi6on 6me. Thousands of people visit the fair every year, and hundreds stop by the gallery booth to see the paintings themselves. Interestingly, the highlight painting for this year’s fair was “Jesus in the Desert” by Ivan Kramskoi, a Russian painter of the 19th century. Some of the comments from gallery visitors were, “This is close to me; I can relate to it.”
The Mainstory gallery team is honored to have been a part of these opportunities in 2024 and looks forward to the new year. We also have exciting plans for 2025 to offer more exhibition events to our local universities. Thank you for your support and for sharing with others about the work we do in our community.
Let’s serve our city together. Would you consider supporting us in 2025? Contact us for more information, partnerships, or donations. We appreciate your consideration.
Report completed by the Gallery Director, Vladimir Kronin
(509) 992-4844
kronin.vladimir@gmail.com
mainstorygallery.art