real talk

Pour yourself a drink because I’m going to talk about art and money and I’m going to be blunt.

I'm going to be very direct about where things stand: running the gallery costs roughly $15K a year, almost all of it rent. For the first two years, print sales covered about a third of that. Then we hit a four-month stretch this summer with zero sales. As the sole person running this now, I'm carrying the shortfall alone, and I can't justify $12K a year plus 10+ hours a week indefinitely.

The dream was always to fund this entirely through sales because at 50% commission, if I’m covering my expenses through print sales, then that means I’m paying out $15K a year to artists. It would mean I could actually buy work from the artists I show, so even more money to artists. Instead in 2025 most shows were two months long, costing $2,500 to run and sales covered a tiny fraction of that.

I've looked at grants, but so far I haven’t qualified for any that I’ve found. I am currently a sole trader, my budget is too small, I haven’t been open long enough.

Some spaces charge artists to show their work. I won't do that. It's enough that you show up with the work you've made.

So I’m left trying to sell prints and covering the losses myself, fortunately I have a job but here's the bind: I need a full-time job to pay for the gallery, but because of that job, I don't have time to hustle for sales or cultivate collector relationships. I need help.

Here's what I'm proposing

I'm committing to run the gallery through 2026, regardless of what it costs. The lineup is coming together and I'm genuinely excited about what's taking shape. But to continue into 2027, I need sustained community support.

In 2027 I'll underwrite half the gallery's costs, $650/month. Over 2026 I'll be working harder on sales, trying to get them back to where they were and grow them to cover half the annual budget, hopefully that will continue into 2027 and I'll cover any shortfall. I need the community to cover the other half through recurring donations.

The target: $650/month in sustained donations committed by the end of June 2026.

If we don't hit that by June, I'll close in December 2026. I'm setting the June deadline because I need to know whether I'm planning a 2027 program or winding down.

I didn't want to ask for donations, I really wanted to fund the gallery in a way that was paying artists as well as covering costs. And I hope that by the time 2028 comes around I’ll have figured out how to do that. I’m hopeful we’ll eventually get there; if I could sell four prints at $600 out of each show then the gallery would break even, and I’d be paying artists $1200 a month. The catalog subscriptions were an attempt to avoid asking for donations but only four people signed up, which has me nervous about asking for donations. So please: if you want Solas to continue, don't assume someone else will step up.

What I’m looking for, specifically

I'm hoping for 20 people to contribute $20/month on an ongoing basis, into 2027, and 25 people to do the same at $10/month. There’s no contract, you’ll just sign up and you can cancel if you need to. I'm not a registered nonprofit, and I don’t have fiscal sponsorship from one (I’ll be looking into that in 2026), so contributions aren't tax-deductible right now. Everyone who commits to at least $10/month gets a signed silver print I'll make, and 10% off print sales. I'm working on additional perks and recognition but I can’t promise anything at this point, more news to come. The goal is to fund 2027, but obviously I’m hoping that by starting now I’ll offset the losses for 2026 as well.

If we exceed the $650 target, I’ll use the surplus to offer grants and stipends for artists. I’d love to be able to make a quarterly grant of $1000 to support education, materials, gear, whatever you need.

If regular contributions aren't feasible, once off contributions are appreciated, but I don’t think I can count them towards the $650 goal, consider buying a photograph, we have some good ones. I'll also be looking for volunteers to cover gallery shifts and installations in 2026. That frees me up to have a life, and to work on finding additional revenue sources.

Should Solas close?

I believe the community has benefited from Solas being here. I believe it has contributed more than it has taken, and I believe what I’m asking for is a bargain. I have plans, or at least aspirations, to grow Solas beyond what it is now, but I can only do that if I can mitigate the day-to-day costs.

The gallery has always had two core purposes: show real, physical photographic prints, and create opportunities for photographers. In 2025 I loaned the space to two groups of local curators for a pop-up and a launch event, I was excited to give them the space and not ask for anything in return, and I’m hoping to do more of that in 2026. I know that many photographers have benefited from Solas and had a positive experience here, I’ve had artists tell me that it changed how they saw their work, helped them move on and make something new, helped them test an idea. I have some more ideas for ways to support the development of photography and photographers in Seattle; I’m excited about what’s ahead.

But I need to know the community wants this infrastructure to exist.

$650/month. That's what keeps us open.

The 2026 program is taking shape, and I’m really excited about it, I’m confident it’ll match and exceed what you’ve seen in the gallery so far. I hope I can say the same about 2027.