2022: Our Year In Review
2022 was a monumental year for us, full of major milestones and new, exciting endeavors. As we take a look back on this past year to reflect, we feel grateful, honored, and inspired by the wonderful people we worked with and the experiences we had.
In 2022, we celebrated Stay Gallery’s 10th Anniversary, exhibited the works of over 80 local and emerging artists, and served over 2,500 children, families, and community members through free and low-cost arts programming. Throughout the year, we generated over $58,000 in revenue for working artists and arts leaders through contracted projects, fiscal sponsorships, and artwork & consignment sales.
We also partnered with Downey Foundation for Educational Opportunities (DFEO) to provide free visual arts enrichment classes at 15 Downey Unified (DUSD) school sites, as part of the ACCESS After School Program. This partnership allowed us to welcome nine art teachers to our team as part-time employees, who collectively taught over 1,460 art classes to 600+ TK – 8th grade students.
This past year would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of our community. We would like to extend a special thank you to DFEO, the City of Downey, California Arts Council, LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, and our event sponsors, community partners, and monthly donors for their ongoing support and generous contributions.
Continue reading for significant highlights and events from 2022!
Stay Gallery’s 10th Anniversary
In October, we celebrated Stay Gallery’s 10th Anniversary with the opening reception of CYCLES, a group exhibition featuring new and recent works by 25 local and emerging artists. The evening featured a vegan food truck by Garduno’s Taco King, hand-picked craft beer by Alchemy Craft of BLVD MRKT, IPA’s by Voodoo Ranger, and a live music performance by Furcast. During the celebration, we were presented with a certificate and $10,000 grant award from LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn for our ten years of service to the community.
Art Exhibitions
Throughout the year, we organized five admission-free art exhibitions, collectively featuring the work of over 80 local and emerging artists:
The Resilience Archive – A group exhibition co-curated by multidisciplinary artist Yeu Q Nguyen, made possible by a grant award from Eastside Arts Initiative and The Puffin Foundation.
The Experimental Phase – A solo pop-up exhibition featuring the work of local artist and Downey native Jazzmine “Rhyeseyes” Caron.
The Local Group Show IV – The fourth installation of our annual community group exhibition, featuring the work of 52 artists from LA county.
A Black Light Affair – A solo pop-up exhibition featuring a collection of black light paintings by local artist Angel Acordagoitia.
CYCLES – A group exhibition featuring new and recent works by 25 local and emerging artists in celebration of our 10th Anniversary.
Art Workshops & Events
Throughout the year, we hosted 32 art workshops and events at the gallery, welcoming over 1,700 participants and attendees. We continued our monthly family paint day workshops, invited local artists to share mediums that they are passionate about (like this zine-making workshop and this self care workshop), and partnered with local creatives to produce engaging events for the community (like this comedy show and this community art market).
Community Events
We distributed free art supplies and provided free art workshops and experiences to over 850 families and children at community events. This included:
Installing a pop-up art gallery and distributing free art supplies and informational flyers at The Downey Street Faire.
Hosting a one-day public art installation at Porto’s Bakery in collaboration with artist Yeu Q Nguyen’s Weaving Hope SELA project.
Providing a free watercolor workshop to DUSD students at the DFEO Wellness Expo in collaboration with local watercolor artist, Polaris Castillo.
Hosting a free watercolor workshop with Polaris and pop-up art exhibition featuring LGBTQ2S+ artists at the Downey Pride Family Picnic.
Providing a free watercolor and mask making workshop with Polaris at the 9th Annual Downey Dia de los Muertos Art Festival.
California Arts Council Grant
We became a 2022 Cycle A Grantee for the Arts & Cultural Organizations General Operating Relief Grant from California Arts Council (CAC) in the amount of $22,800.
Our organization was featured as part of a larger announcement from CAC, with grant awards for its Cycle A programming totaling more than $31 million across more than 1,100 grants supporting nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state. The dollar amount already marks the largest annual investment in CAC’s 46-year history.
This grant award has allowed us to continue administrative operations that were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
DFEO Partnership
In August of this year, we partnered with DFEO to provide free visual arts enrichment classes at 15 DUSD school sites, as part of their ACCESS After School Program. This partnership allowed us to employ nine art teachers who collectively taught over 1,460 after school art classes. To celebrate the completion of our first semester, we organized a series of student art exhibitions – hosted at both the gallery and the Downey Theatre over the span of three separate days – that featured the work of 602 TK – 8th grade students.
Additionally, we had the opportunity to pilot a free, after school graffiti art program for over 100 students at Doty, Griffiths, Stauffer, and Sussman middle schools. A big thank you to local muralist and founder of SELA Art Center, Tetris, for partnering with us to lead the instruction on these workshops.
