What are pop-up galleries and why do they matter?

My 1,600-word piece on pop-up galleries appears in the summer issue of Artscapes, the magazine of the Wyoming Arts Council. Council staff calls on me occasionally to do some free-lance work for the mag. I worked at the WAC for 25 years so I have some sense of what it takes to put out a statewide publication on a consistent basis. A print publication has appeared in many forms in the WAC's 52-year history. Artscapes is the most recent iteration and the slickest one. In fact, it is what they call in publishing a "slick," featuring a cover in coated stock and lots of color inside, like the fashion and lifestyle mags that still survive in the grocery store check-out aisle.

Pop-up businesses have been around for awhile. A clothing boutique takes over a busy downtown storefront during a summer festival. A toy store takes over a vacated mall space for Christmas. They set up, exist for a few days or a few weeks, and then disappear. It cuts down on the heavy overhead costs of a physical site. This is a real bonus in this day of failing brick-and-mortar stores. A pop-up can generate some visual excitement in a formerly empty space. And it can take advantage of increased traffic brought in by a festival or holiday.

Cheyenne is investing in a pop-up gallery trial run in its downtown. Instead of writing a whole new paragraph, here's a short explanation from my story:

May's exhibit at the Fill the Space Gallery is the first outing in a pop-up pilot program, a collaboration among local artists, the Downtown Development Association, the Cheyenne Artwalk, and Arts Cheyenne. The five-month program will feature a different theme and different artists each month. Steve Knox and his partners hope that this effort not only promotes artists but brings some after-hours life to downtown. Get more info on upcoming pop-ups on the Cheyenne Artwalk and DDA Facebook pages. 

The article goes on to profile the pop-up project at Cheyenne's Blue Door Arts and the Pop-up Artwalk scheduled each September in Laramie.

Read the rest in the print magazine or on the WAC web site.

Next Cheyenne Artwalk is set for Thursday, Aug. 8, 5-8 p.m.