ForYourArt opens its first public space--and seeks proposals for it

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It’s never been easy to pigeonhole ForYourArt, which has variously functioned as an arts website, a gallery and museum guide publisher, a cultural marketing firm and an event producer. But that task is about to get even harder, as the small but influential L.A. firm founded by Bettina Korek six years ago is opening its first public space at 6020 Wilshire Blvd.

The idea is a highly flexible, hybrid space devoted to arts programming in the broadest sense--’anything from talks to installations to publication launches to performances,’ said Korek, 33. One thing not to expect: traditional six-week-long, gallery-style exhibitions.“It’s really about temporary projects, which last 0 to 7 days,” she said. Also not in the works: any plans to scale back the company’s Web or Twitter presence.

The new space, an 1,850-square-foot storefront across the street from LACMA, will open March 24 with an event pegged to a museum screening of Christian Marclay’s blockbuster video “The Clock.” While Korek declined to give specifics, she described the opening event as ‘a 24-hour show that reflects the way we want to encourage participation in museums.’

At the same time, Korek sees the Wilshire space as serving the needs of local artists, curators, writers and other creative types who could use a venue for their projects. To that end, ForYourArt has issued a call for proposals from “artists, curators, writers, organizations—the guidelines are going to be really open.” (Applications are now online at foryourart.com, with selections made on a rolling basis.)

In some “modest” cases, Korek says ForYourArt will supply funding as well as the venue. For more ambitious projects, it might choose instead help to develop the partnerships needed to get the idea off the ground.

Korek says her model in this regard was the new crop of technology incubators or accelerators, like Launchpad L.A., Science Inc., Amplify L.A. and Muckerlab. ‘They all operate in different ways, from providing office space to mentoring. But they share this experimental spirit, this spirit of helping to incubate activities, that we can bring to the arts.”

--Jori Finkel
www.twitter.com/jorifinkel

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