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CoreLife Eatery and Recess Coffee may not seem like typical places to hold an important meeting, but for ArtRage fundraisers Mary Kuhn and Robert Sarason, meeting there is business as usual. For the past several years, they’ve met with over 80 potential donors all over the Syracuse area to fundraise for ArtRage Gallery.

“Whether you’re talking about women’s issues, gay (and) lesbian issues, immigrant issues or new American issues, there’s always a need for expressions of issues related to social justice using art,” said Kuhn, former board president of ArtRage. “No place else has things like that. So that’s why this (renovation) is important.”

With the long-awaited renovations, ArtRage hopes to better achieve its goals of using art to make change. Though the gallery has been part of the Hawley-Green neighborhood in northeast Syracuse since its inception, the renovations have strengthened it, attracting more visitors to experience the space.

This fall, ArtRage is unveiling the results of a three-year renovation process. After closing in July to finalize renovations, it reopened to the public on Sept. 7. The updates include roof repairs, new insulated windows, a remodeled vestibule entrance area, an ADA-compliant bathroom and a brand new LED sign front-and-center on the building, Kuhn said.

The renovations are the latest big change for ArtRage, which aims to exhibit “ArtRageous” art that “arouses and encourages passion, noncompliance,” according to its mission statement. It hosts events from film screenings to book readings for local Syracuse residents and students.

The organization renovated the interior of the building before ArtRage’s opening in 2008, but some of the construction was delayed, Kuhn said. Thirteen years later, ArtRage started a capital campaign to fundraise $600-650,000 for ArtRage renovations, and this year, those renovations came to fruition.

“It was a big decision because it’s very scary,” Kuhn said. “But we decided that it was really important, and particularly important in this political environment, to have a gallery that spoke to issues of social justice and having a space for people of like minds to come out.”

In the current fractured political environment, ArtRage’s events and exhibits hope to create dialogue and hold space for conversation, Kuhn said.

Longtime gallery volunteer Tom Carlin said Syracuse is a liberal city within a conservative county, and in this political environment, ArtRage succeeds by connecting the city with artists that people may not normally see in the city. By featuring artists from a variety of cultural backgrounds, ArtRage fills an empty niche in the Syracuse activist community, Carlin said.

In the early 1970s, the Hawley-Green neighborhood was struggling, but since then, various initiatives have rejuvenated the area. Carlin lived in Hawley-Green years ago and started getting involved with the local community when he moved in.

Though the area has seen periods of prosperity and decline, since ArtRage’s founding, the museum has been a key component of the neighborhood’s revitalization, Carlin said.

“Businesses there like Hairanoia and Laci’s … provide a commercial foundation for the neighborhood, whereas I think ArtRage … provide(s) a cultural footing for the neighborhood,” Carlin said.

Kimberley McCoy, a former volunteer with ArtRage, graduated from Syracuse University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in art history and now works as the community engagement organizer for ArtRage. During her time at SU, she became involved with local activist groups like the Syracuse Peace Council and Syracuse Cultural Workers, eventually leading her to ArtRage.

“Art and activism have gone hand in hand for a very long time. I think the visual arts are very important to grassroots movements,” McCoy said. “I’m happy to be involved with that on a local level.”

Before the renovation, ArtRage looked tired, Carlin said. There was a lack of community support and its appearance was deteriorating.

Like most not-for-profits, ArtRage is forced to function on a shoestring budget, he said. To Carlin, however, running on a shoestring budget for as long as ArtRage has is a sign of success.

“So many places like this don’t survive, right?” Carlin said. “Because let’s face it, these kinds of places don’t survive if they don’t have the support from the community.”

The recent renovations are not the final iteration of ArtRage. The organization is in the process of adding a sliding glass door, replacing their gas furnace with an electric heat pump and adding roof-top solar panels. Creating a sustainable space is a primary goal, Kuhn said.

To McCoy, some of ArtRage’s most impactful events are those where people can take the displayed art exhibits and connect them to other forms of art.

“People would be surprised to discover that there’s an arts organization on Hawley Ave. We don’t have the foot traffic of a downtown organization,” McCoy said. “We do hope that … people recognize it as an institution in the community that is not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated one fundraiser as Robert Harrison and one former volunteer as Kimberly McCoy. Their names are Robert Sarason and Kimberley McCoy, respectively. In addition, the article said ArtRage Gallery was installing an electric heater, but it is replacing their gas furnace with an electric heat pump. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

Published on September 10, 2024 at 1:20 am