The rebranding was first announced on Sept. 7 during a private event attended by representatives from the City of Fayetteville, Experience Fayetteville, TheatreSquared, the University of Arkansas Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Photo: Chuck Turley, Go Point Shoot Photography / Via Facebook
The Fayetteville Underground art gallery is now called Art Ventures.
Officials last week unveiled the new name and branding elements during the First Thursday festivities on the square.
Along with the new name and branding, the gallery is also working on creating a new website to better showcase its artists and events.
Sharon Killian, board president of the Fayetteville Art Alliance, which oversees the gallery, said the new name “recalls the gallery’s current tagline, ‘Come Venture Underground,’ which has served as an invitation for the community to experience art and for artists to experiment and explore.”
The gallery has gone through several changes since first opening nearly a decade ago in the basement at 1 E. Center Street on the east side of the downtown square.
After losing its lease in 2011, the gallery received a $55,000 award from the Fayetteville A&P Commission to help the artists’ move into a new home at 101 W. Mountain St. on the southwest corner of the square. The group was then awarded over $100,000 from the commission through 2015 to help keep the gallery in operation.
In December a censorship controversy resulted in more than 20 artists leaving the Fayetteville Underground en masse to form a new group called Fenix Fayetteville.
“As the board looks forward to 2018, we welcome community feedback on the direction of the organization and how it can more effectively serve Northwest Arkansas and art for everyone,” Killian said.
