Local arts group to triple in size with new space: ‘We have to go for it at this point’

Harvester Arts has been a successful passion project for a decade now, but the arts organization is about to take a significant step forward to become something more.

“We’re 10, and we have to figure out how to turn this into a viable, long-lasting, sustainable entity that can serve the community,” said co-founder and executive director Kristin Beal.

That’s why the group is tripling its size with a move to the former Candela event space at the Lux on the northwest corner of First and Market.

“We’ve really been growing the last couple of years due to partnerships,” Beal said.

That includes collaborations with the Wichita Art Museum , the Wichita Foundation , Exploration Place and the Mid-America All-Indian Museum , and Beal said that’s resulted in a lot of artist-led exhibitions, programs and events along with a more noticeable presence for Harvester Arts in the community.

“There’s just more demand. More people know about us and know we’re here.”

At the Lux, Wichita State University’s ShiftSpace gallery will sublease space from Harvester Arts, which Beal said is exciting.

“We’re also going to begin hosting . . . the Wichita Sketch Club ,” she said.

The club has been meeting for almost a decade and includes people of all ages who want to meet weekly and share their love of drawing.

“It’s grown into just a really beautiful group,” Beal said.

Because the new space is so much larger than the existing one at 215 N. Washington, Harvester Arts will be able to host more programs within the dance and performing arts community.

“We’ll have a lot more room to do that,” Beal said.

She said it’s a flexible space with movable walls.

The organization is keeping its space on Washington, too, where it has been since 2015.

“We hope to keep that space and turn it into all studios,” Beal said.

Currently, there are five studio spaces on the second floor that rent for $100 a month.

“We provide affordable studio space,” Beal said.

She said the group will have to examine the rental price when it converts the space exclusively to studios.

“A lot depends.”

Harvester Arts got its start at Bluebird Arthouse in Delano before the store closed. Then it operated a pop-up site.

During the pandemic when people couldn’t meet, Beal said, “We took that opportunity to kind of overhaul our programming model to make sure we were meeting the needs of the local arts community.”

She said a group of delegates dug into what the arts community wanted.

“We found they want artist-led programs and events and exhibitions,” Beal said. “We started turning Harvester into a platform for that.”

There’s now a 12-person programming committee that is getting ready to post applications for its gallery calendar.

“They’ll be programming the gallery,” Beal said. “Artists are kind of the engine of it.”

There will be what she calls a soft launch of the space on the First Friday in September and a grand opening on Final Friday that month.

For now, part-time employees continue to operate Harvester Arts, but Beal said that needs to change into something more sustainable “that can be here for years to come.”

She said a lot of nonprofits like this are started by people who perhaps have spouses who work and can provide living wages and health insurance.

Her goal is to get Harvester Arts to a point where it can provide those wages and benefits without diminishing services to artists.

“That’s really hard. It costs money.”

Beal said she believes it can happen and that now is the moment to try.

“We now have to take a really big step forward to be able to set ourselves up to be able to do that,” she said.

“We have to go for it at this point.”