Mission & History
Mission
Available Potential Enterprises, Ltd. supports contemporary artists working in all disciplines, by preserving and supporting the spaces in which they create, perform and exhibit their work.
Anti-Racism and Accountability Work
A.P.E. began in 1977 as an open space, with an intent to be made by what was made in it, by the people and their curiosities and imaginations who made themselves available. A.P.E. was for those who could see it and could find it. It was a space run by primarily white artists, with an intent to be accessible and open to all (if they knew about it and could find it). The space and endeavor was financially supported by its founder, Gordon Thorne, a quiet, private man who believed that spaces for the imagination must be created, protected, and shared, and who had a vision for an attempt at a different economy and valuation system from the status quo.
With the loss of its founding director, Gordon Thorne, in 2018, A.P.E. is in a process of transition, reflecting and reorganizing with an eye toward the organization’s future. In this process, there is a continued commitment to A.P.E.'s founding principles, including holding and providing space for imagination, innovation, and inquiry, remaining open to what might occur within its walls, and leaving time for artists to be in their process without the pressure for producing an art-commodity.
Simultaneously, we at A.P.E. are reckoning with the ways that A.P.E. has failed to make its resources adequately accessible to artists from diverse backgrounds, and the ways that the culture of the organization has mirrored and perpetuated white supremacy culture by hiring primarily white staff, by showing the work of primarily white artists, lacking transparency in its decision-making structure, and not prioritizing outreach to artists and audiences beyond our immediate networks. A.P.E. is reckoning with its history of exclusion, and is in the process of implementing outreach strategies, recognizing the barriers that marginalized artists face, and our institutional responsibilities in helping to mitigate those barriers. With our new co-inhabited space at 33 Hawley St (with Northampton Open Media and the Northampton Center for the Arts), we understand that we must ensure that this space, along with the gallery space at 126 Main St., are spaces in which artists of all races, genders, abilities, class backgrounds, religious affiliations, and ages must feel safe, welcome, and vehemently encouraged to fill with the expansiveness of their questions, creative expressions, identities, and experiences.
To this end, A.P.E. commits to the following statements:
- A.P.E. will be responsive and adaptive to the evolving challenges of the present, and to artists' changing and evolving needs—including/especially those artists who are positioned at the margins of mainstream access to resources due to the interlocking oppressive systems of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and ableism.
- We commit to standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and with the resistance of Black people in the U.S. to long-standing violence and structural oppression.
- A.P.E. commits to solidarity with indigenous peoples and to learning more about native people, specifically the cultures of Nipmuc and Pocumtuc people, whose land we are situated on.
- A.P.E. re-commits to its founding principle of openness in the forms of organizational transparency, listening, and engaging in active feedback processes with artists and local communities.
- A.P.E. commits to being artist-run and artist-centered.
- A.P.E. commits to being a dedicated home to multiple perspectives, widening webs, interconnections, and expanded access for BIPOC artists.
- Alongside concrete action, learning, and change, A.P.E. commits to being a space that values the unknown and the ineffable.
- A.P.E. commits to leaving time for the fallow.
As an artist-run space with no distinct board of directors, we rely on you, the community, to help hold us accountable to the above statements. We welcome your feedback, and are so very grateful for your ongoing engagement and support.
Sincerely,
Available Potential Enterprises (A.P.E.)
-Anne Woodhull, Executive Director
-Lisa Thompson, Associate Director
-Meredith Bove, Program Coordinator, APE@Hawley
-Jen Polins, Program Assistant, APE@Hawley
-Kathy Couch, Technical Director
History
A.P.E.'s original space in 1977
A.P.E. is a not for profit, 501 C-3, founded in 1977 by and for artists, whose programs in dance, theater, visual arts, spoken word, multimedia, movement and arts education have helped to define and create the city's artistic character for more than three decades. A.P.E. also serves as an "umbrella," or fiscal agent, for a number of resident and affiliated artists and art groups.
A.P.E. was conceived of as a workspace for artists. Its "shape" was largely determined by the creative needs of the Northampton community, tempered by the strong commitment of its directors to the understanding that space, time, and protection from economic pressure are critical for the realization of new and original work. A.P.E. has always insisted that the work of creating is valuable in and of itself, separate from any economic return.
A.P.E. receives funding from box office receipts, sales of artwork, individual donors, corporate, local, state and national sources, as well as many in-kind contributions.
From 1977 through 2006, A.P.E. occupied the top floor of Thornes Market, a five story renovated department store in the heart of downtown Northampton, Massachusetts.
The A.P.E./Thornes 'marriage' was a successful working model. It not only covered all its debt, capital improvements, operating costs, distributed cash to the partners, and provided them personal work and office space, but also contributed 20% of its leasable space rent free to the community through A.P.E.
The model ultimately failed however, when the partners were unable to build into the mission of the business a way to pass its success down to the next generation of owners. Unable to make a convincing case for the valuable role that space for creative exploration played in the health and success of the whole building, in the end, they only passed down the building's success as a business, and in this classic economic model, A.P.E. was “worthless."
When A.P.E. was an integral part of Thornes Market it managed, programmed and maintained 10,000 square feet of space loosely divided into performance, exhibition, studio and teaching areas.
When Thornes Market was sold in 2006, the A.P.E. spaces were converted to office use and an important performance, exhibition, and creative work space was lost to the community. In 2007 Gordon Thorne, one of the original owners of Thornes, and the founding director of A.P.E., used proceeds from the sale of Thornes to purchase another building at 126 Main street. In 2008, after extensive renovations, A.P.E. moved its office into this new location.
A.P.E. was conceived of as a workspace for artists. Its "shape" was largely determined by the creative needs of the Northampton community, tempered by the strong commitment of its directors to the understanding that space, time, and protection from economic pressure are critical for the realization of new and original work. A.P.E. has always insisted that the work of creating is valuable in and of itself, separate from any economic return.
A.P.E. receives funding from box office receipts, sales of artwork, individual donors, corporate, local, state and national sources, as well as many in-kind contributions.
From 1977 through 2006, A.P.E. occupied the top floor of Thornes Market, a five story renovated department store in the heart of downtown Northampton, Massachusetts.
The A.P.E./Thornes 'marriage' was a successful working model. It not only covered all its debt, capital improvements, operating costs, distributed cash to the partners, and provided them personal work and office space, but also contributed 20% of its leasable space rent free to the community through A.P.E.
The model ultimately failed however, when the partners were unable to build into the mission of the business a way to pass its success down to the next generation of owners. Unable to make a convincing case for the valuable role that space for creative exploration played in the health and success of the whole building, in the end, they only passed down the building's success as a business, and in this classic economic model, A.P.E. was “worthless."
When A.P.E. was an integral part of Thornes Market it managed, programmed and maintained 10,000 square feet of space loosely divided into performance, exhibition, studio and teaching areas.
When Thornes Market was sold in 2006, the A.P.E. spaces were converted to office use and an important performance, exhibition, and creative work space was lost to the community. In 2007 Gordon Thorne, one of the original owners of Thornes, and the founding director of A.P.E., used proceeds from the sale of Thornes to purchase another building at 126 Main street. In 2008, after extensive renovations, A.P.E. moved its office into this new location.
Gordon Thorne addresses the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires annual meeting with a talk on the concept of a "Community Arts Trust". Gordon describes his evolution as an artist, developer, and executive director of a non-profit as it relates to shaping and maintaining healthy and diverse communities. He believes that arts spaces should be a part of the commons in perpetuity and performing arts spaces be made accessible and affordable to artists in the community.
Gordon Thorne, "Community Arts Trust". Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires annual meeting, February 2009 by Schumacher Center for a New Economics
https://archive.org/details/GordonThornecommunityArtsTrustFebruary2009_3
Gordon Thorne, "Community Arts Trust". Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires annual meeting, February 2009 by Schumacher Center for a New Economics
https://archive.org/details/GordonThornecommunityArtsTrustFebruary2009_3