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Community Impact A v ital part of BASEMENT’s mission is to showcase artists whose <br />v oices are underrepresented in traditional art v enues. These include <br />artists who hav e been ov erlooked or denied access because of race, <br />gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. As an organization we <br />prioritize and uplift the work and v oices of BIPOC artists as well as <br />artists whose work is experimental and outside the realms of retail. <br />The artists in our first and only show to date, "Breathing W ithout a <br />Body," represented such v oices, and because of their inclusion a <br />div erse group of community members from the Triangle area <br />attended our ev ents. <br />"Breathing W ithout A Body" generated an enthusiastic response <br />from artists and our community. Ev eryone on our email list (currently <br />200+ subscribers) is inv ited to our ev ents. Ov er 50 people, including <br />artists and guests from throughout the Triangle, attended our <br />opening in Nov ember 2019. About half that number attended the <br />closing reception and artists’ panel discussion in January 2020. <br />Throughout the run of the exhibition, we also had open v iewing days <br />on weekends. W e anticipate an equal or greater lev el of engagement <br />in our future shows. <br />In addition to our impact on the local community of artists and art <br />enthusiasts, we hope to promote our region’s art to a wider audience. <br />This has already begun to happen as in February 2020, the founders <br />of LABspace, a well-known gallery in Hudson Valley, NY, v isited <br />"Breathing W ithout a Body," and inv ited BASEMENT artist-curators to <br />participate in their gallery’s show, "Space Case," featuring artist-run <br />spaces in the Southeast. This type of exchange was central to the <br />founding of BASEMENT as we wish to support artists who hav e <br />chosen to build careers in the South despite the historical trend of <br />artists mov ing to Northern cities to pursue art careers. W e feel these <br />relationships are integral to supporting the underrecognized artists <br />building practices within our region. <br />Our digital residencies (launched in July 2020) offer artists a unique <br />opportunity to share the research and processes that driv e their <br />artmaking, giv ing v irtual v iewers from around the world insights into <br />their practices beyond what is apparent from v iewing their physical <br />works. The benefits are symbiotic; as inv ited artists’ and <br />BASEMENT’s online communities interact with each other, new <br />connections are formed. <br />BASEMENT has no commercial interests and ev en though its <br />curators are professional artists, we do not exhibit our own work in <br />this space. Our goal is to bring exciting, thought-prov oking art to <br />Chapel Hill, and spur critical dialogue amongst artists, curators, and <br />broad audiences with the hope that ev eryone inv olv ed—curators, <br />artists, audiences—will gain insight into the strong work being <br />created by artists of our region, and that this momentum will spill <br />ov er beyond the borders of the South. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: AD7B27F2-795B-4B6F-90F1-521AA8752A69