About The Gala
We believe that Salt Lake City needs more space for artists to work, connect, and grow. The Gala is a space where emerging and established artists can gather, work, and support each other’s art careers. Our team is passionate about facilitating this process, building a community and creating art ourselves.
Our Motivation
The Gala is a communal arts makerspace, fine art gallery, arts event space, and retail storefront for local artwork. We have individual studios for long-term resident artists, a communal makerspace for monthly members, a fine art gallery with rotating work, space for hosting art shows and events. Addressing the city's need for more art studios and exhibition spaces, The Gala provides artists with access to the space, tools, and network needed to further their careers and deepen their artistic practice.
Being a community-focused space means that the efforts of our team are focused on providing better tools & resources, events, and a strong community feel.
What is The Gala?
Roni is one third of the team behind The Gala and the space’s artistic visionary.
As a young artist in high school I noticed a major skill gap between students who had space to create and those who didn’t. I had my own art studio at home where I was allowed to experiment with materials, work large, and stay up as late as I wanted! Other students were limited to what they could create at their kitchen table without making a huge mess. Similarly, moms would express at my art shows how I reminded them of themselves at my age, but now they had kids and nowhere to create. Tragic! I began dreaming up what I used to refer to as “the art gym” where artists could have a membership and create in a space just for them. I experienced a reality similar to those students and moms once I left art school in 2020. I missed the structure, community, education, space, and growth that I had during my studio classes at Utah State University.
The Gala has been on my mind for 10 years now, and it’s coming to life at a time that I need it as badly as the rest of the community. Many people can’t afford living situations with enough room for studio space, don’t dabble with new materials, and most importantly don’t have a professional community of artists to think and talk things through with. I want to teach the language of constructive criticism, networking, pricing, and exploring as an artist.
Roni’s Vision
The Gala supports a diverse array of artists such as installation artists, ceramicists, painters, jewelers & silversmiths, photographers, sculptors, textile, fashion, & fiber artists, and mixed media artists. The Gala’s community includes artists of varying levels of experience and career stages. Artist portfolio applications are required not to filter by ability level but to demonstrate a serious commitment to artistic pursuits. The makerspace is stocked with tools and basic supplies for core mediums (painting, drawing, sculpture) and will be added to as artists’ needs evolve.
What types of artists does The Gala support?
Community Facilitation
A lot of effort behind The Gala is put towards creating a space and community that fosters artistic growth. Art rarely happens in a vacuum. In addition to monthly art shows, The Gala puts on events like figure drawing and community critique, and welcomes member artists to host workshops to teach their mediums and techniques to others. Our team also hosts artist dinners and social studio days, and we’re working towards offering other community days and retreats to create a close, inspired community for artists who seek it.
Meet Our Team
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Roni
Roni is the artistic vision behind The Gala. She brings her experience as a lifelong artist, member of arts councils, and a gallery and exhibition curator. At The Gala, she works directly with artists on anything related to their work and success. Roni heads curating our community of working artists, facilitating critiques, portfolio review, and overall operations of the studio and gallery. Roni is a working multimedia artist, having studied painting, drawing, and sculpture. Roni has held multiple exhibitions of her work in Missouri and Utah and is a professional tattoo artist.
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Issak
Issak is a lifelong maker who manages the logistics behind The Gala. His focus is on making the space as functional, beautiful, and smooth-running as possible. His background in mechanical engineering and experience in woodworking, metalworking, and design provides practical expertise for the space’s management and tools. Issak manages accounting, daily operations, events coordination, and administrative tasks while working on his own art.
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Madeline
Madeline is our community organizer, managing operations and leading events organization, outreach, and community involvement. She brings experience from early-stage start-ups and understands the challenges of new ventures. Her knack for bringing people together and building communities that will be essential in allowing The Gala to fulfill its potential. Madeline is currently studying psychology in a PhD program with a focus on applying that knowledge to community building through art and play.