by Erin Steele

A turtle named Timmy, his large body fashioned out of bronze and limestone, sits perched atop a pedestal, one of many meticulously crafted pieces on display in the Artists' Coalition of Austin's (ACA's) gallery. You could say his stone face almost looks happy there, residing within the walls of the cozy brick structure, and he's not the only one; the gallery, a staple of the arts-friendly downtown atmosphere, has served as both a home and a classroom to local artists for half a decade.

But Timmy shouldn't get too comfortable. After all, he's part of the Texas Society of Sculptors showcase, the last exhibit that will ever take place at ACA's current location. The organization is vacating the increasingly high rent space it occupies in the Guadalupe Arts Center and setting up residence in The Bread Factory at 107 Tillery Street.

The relocation is largely due to financial reasons; when ACA moved from its original Baylor Street space into its current location five years ago, the initial contract with the building owner set the gallery rent at $1, plus the office, print room and darkroom at regular square foot price. But when the contract expired early this year, the rent skyrocketed to $2,500 -- a figure that would inevitably escalate -- and ACA realized they were not financially prepared to pay for the space.

In response, ACA began plans to move into its own space -- in essence, become its own boss. An artist-led group, the Coalition realized that it would be advantageous to unite with an organization that had a stronger background in the more practical side of the art business, such as grant writing. In addition, ACA recently began to notice its membership drop dramatically and saw the integration as a way to more effectively reach out to the artistic community, as well as the community at large.

The Coalition contacted nearly 15 arts groups before encountering its perfect match in Opening Closed Doors, an organization whose objective is providing opportunities to artists, as well as addressing social issues that impact the lives of women and girls. Founded by Austin artist and ACA member Benné Rockett in 1998, Opening Closed Doors has hosted educationally focused exhibitions on topics ranging from anorexia nervosa to domestic violence. The organization has worked in conjunction with agencies such as the Lone Star Girl Scout Council, Hospice Austin, Project Spotlight and the Dove Springs Recreation Center, as well as collaborating with ACA in Spring 2001 on Post Generation X, a teen outreach show. The melding of ACA and Opening Closed Doors has resulted in IDEA, an alliance that will strive to incorporate the strengths of both organizations.

"We pursued the idea that other arts organizations might want to share the gallery space, but the financial situation just scared them off," ACA Vice President Jan Roset, who helped found the organization in October of 1992, said. "But then I jokingly said to a friend of Benné's, 'We and Benné should work together.' And then I said it to him again. And I kept saying it. And finally it worked.

"I said, 'Hey, we've got to do something, we just can't go on.' The Coalition's future looked rather bleak. We had enough funds to go through the end of the year, but that would have been it. Hence the idea of merging with Benné. And once she got over the initial shock, I think she was very excited about it. We're all very excited about it. The new organization really is going to be the best of both worlds."

Of course, the worlds of ACA and Opening Closed Doors are slightly different, at least when it comes to scope; ACA mostly focuses on Austin and the occasional statewide show; in fact, its motto is "Empowering Local Artists." But Opening Closed Doors works on a more national and international level.

The mission of IDEA is to combine the local, national and international, allowing doors to be opened among artists, disciplines and organizations. IDEA is maintaining many of ACA's main draws, including the black-and-white darkroom and the Life Drawing and Printmaking workshops. One change it is planning to implement, however, is in ACA's current membership policy, which affords members and volunteers the opportunity to show their work in the organization's exhibitions.

"Current ACA members maintain their membership status. However, all the shows are curated. There are no special privileges given to members who volunteer or volunteers period, whether they're members or not," Rockett said. "The reason we're doing that is we have three staffs, so we don't need as many volunteers. Also, when you're looking at professional development, it's more advantageous to say you participated in a curated show. And members have opportunities to submit proposals for exhibitions or special projects, just like they did through Opening Closed Doors. And organizations themselves can also become members. So in a way, we've become an association for individual artists as well as organizations."

Although specific membership fees have not yet been set, Rockett said the new policy will be beneficial to smaller organizations who often times find themselves financially incapable of covering membership costs. Instead of one set dollar amount for each organization, IDEA will base membership fees on the number of members in an organization. If a group has 30 members, the fee is lower; if it has 200 members, it's higher. In addition, the member organizations will be able to submit proposals for exhibitions, which IDEA can write into its grant proposals as events that it would like to sponsor for the year.

Another benefit of the new organization is an additional classroom, something ACA tried to establish in the past but was unable to finance. Roset said she is pleased that IDEA is retaining many of ACA's most popular properties while also establishing its own unique identity.

"I'm stepping back. I've been with ACA for 10 years, so I'm happy to see that a new group is coming in to work with us," Roset said. "The idea that I'm getting is that through the new organization, the focus will be local artists and expanding those artists into the nationwide and maybe even international realm. They'll have more interplay with the rest of the world as opposed to just Austin. So we're going broader to introduce artists to new ideas and have them mix with artists. It's going to be a new group, one that's very exciting and dynamic, and people seem ready to take that step -- move to a different city with their art and have more exposure to the nation."

By keeping programs like the Coalition's professional development workshop, IDEA promises to help artists develop not only nationally and internationally but also personally, giving them insight into the practicalities of the art trade they may not have received in a university atmosphere.

"A lot of people don't know about the art world, especially the art students who come out of UT," Roset said. "I graduated from there, and they don't really teach you anything about the art world; you don't necessarily know how to write a good resume, you don't know how to hang a show, you don't know how to promote yourself. There are things you need to know if you're developing yourself as a professional artist. Very few universities touch on that at all, or anything related."

Rachel Koper, the gallery director for Gallery Lombardi, said ACA not only provided her with an artist family but also allowed her to learn and try new things.

"As a volunteer, I worked with the COA (Coalition of Austin) Cultural Contracts and with many local teachers and classes," Koper said. "I organized exhibits and really learned the ropes, both commercially and with granted funds and non-profit status. The ACA gave me the support and venue to experiment with my artistic skills on a professional level. ACA provides real world experience for artists, which is hard to come by."

Rockett said ACA proved beneficial to her in those ways as well, teaching her how to market herself and enabling her to understand her works in relationship to a specific space. She said Opening Closed Doors is based upon many models, one of those being ACA.

"My affiliation with ACA led to me becoming the art director of Gallery Lombardi for four years. So I was completely immersed in that, and that opened up opportunities to engage with other galleries in town," Rockett said. "That's how ACA was beneficial to me, and that's the kind of benefit we want to provide the artists who participate in IDEA. Whether they take full advantage of that, we don't have any control over. But if those opportunities are put into place and that is the focus, it's not just come, show your art and get stuck here. It's come, show your art and network, you know, move beyond. That means you're going to have to find a home, and we're going to help you find one."

IDEA has found its new home at 107 Tillery Street, in what used to be a Mrs. Baird's Bread Factory. The members are excited about the new space, although Roset says there is one major difference.

"It's not in the downtown area, which was a good thing for this space. They always say location, location, location. But we're just going to have to make sure people come to the new location. We're going to have to make a draw there," Roset said. "The parking won't be a problem, which I see as a plus; it's really difficult around here, especially with some of the programs we've been doing. People doing Life Drawing and using the darkroom have to run out and feed the meters, so that will be solved. And the new area is great. The Blue Theatre and other theater groups are there. So I think it will be like a little Mecca."

Rockett believes that the vibrant neighborhood in which the new building is situated will enable artists to really reach out to the community, to make both their public and private dreams come true.

"There are lots of churches, elementary and middle schools, several recreation centers and all kinds of interesting businesses we're hoping we can work with," Rockett said. "We can say, 'Okay, you've got these other organizations that are doing things for you. What's missing? What would you really like to see?'

"So the idea is, 'What's your dream and how can we make it come true? Is it a private dream or a public dream?' Public, in that I mean is it a community dream? Do you want to create an event that highlights your community? Do you want to get funding to go out and photograph and interview someone for a year who has just found out they have cancer and are going to have to go through chemotherapy? So whatever your dream is -- whether it's your private dream that you want to put in a public venue, or a broader dream that impacts the community -- we want to help people do that."

Both Roset and Rockett have plenty of experience in not only helping artists develop professionally but also impacting people's lives through programs such as Scarecrows: Confronting Anorexia Nervosa and Wish House, an exhibit that dealt with homelessness. Opening Closed Doors' next exhibits are Wounded Boys, Courageous Men (featuring photographs and statements made by the men who were part of a class action suit against the Christian Brothers in Canada) and Resilient Souls (a presentation documenting the lives of girls through early womanhood) in August.

IDEA is creating a prospectus for its first three shows, the first of which will be held in October and deal with mixed media. Both ACA and Opening Closed Doors hope IDEA continues to positively impact the community in the same way the separate organizations have. Koper said she has no doubt the new organization will do just that.

"One of the most talented and giving art directors in Austin is Benné Rockett. I have been attending her exhibits and programs for years and look forward to many more. I was thrilled to hear of the merger."

[Erin Steele is a senior majoring in English at the University of Texas at Austin. She has worked for the past three years as a film critic, entertainment editor and designer in the dank, dark basement otherwise known as The Daily Texan.]