More than just a gallery space showcasing Upper Valley artists, the Alliance for the Visual Arts Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, N.H., is a vibrant hub offering programming for local residents — and a community space for artists.
Last year, AVA implemented a new program dedicated to supporting artists early in their careers. Called the Young Artists Meetup, the group meets the third Wednesday of each month and is free for its members.
Despite the name, engagement coordinator Claire Geno said the group isn’t limited to artists of a certain age. Instead, she said the program is intended for “artists who are emerging in their career,” and currently includes college-aged members as well as artists in their 40s and 50s.
“At that point in your career, you tend to need more support [and] more resources,” Geno said, adding that the group would “love to add new members.”
The meetups involve time for members — who are painters, photographers, sculptors, metalsmiths, fiber artists and more — to “share opportunities” about upcoming shows and applications as well as to share and receive feedback on work during “critique time,” according to painter and YAM member Sarah Maxell Crosby ’04.
Maxell Crosby said the idea for the group came from a discussion between AVA board members and local artists, including herself, who had been invited to share how AVA could support them in their early careers.
“It was such a great discussion that it sort of birthed this group,” Maxell Crosby said.
Nicholas Cain, a painter who has organized YAM meetings since its start, said he wants to make sure members receive the guidance they need to succeed in whatever form is helpful to them — whether that is “exposure to resources,” feedback on work or finding ways to sell their art.
“We share our successes; we share our shows,” he said. “I’m hoping that through that dialogue, we can [get] more of that proactive support needed to succeed as a visual artist.”
Maxell Crosby highlighted that YAM meetings tend to be lively.
“I think they’re scheduled to go on for like two hours, but the last one I was at went longer because we were having such a great time,” she said.
Maxell Crosby has found support at YAM for navigating her career pivot to art. Before becoming a professional artist two years ago, she spent 15 years as a writer and strategist for web projects.
“In 2024, I got laid off [from] my tech job along with [roughly 100,000] people in tech that year, and decided to make a change,” she said.
Her art, which she sells on her website, includes painting — a “lifelong hobby” — and printmaking. Maxell Crosby also teaches drawing and painting classes, including a free class for senior citizens, at AVA.
Cain, who has been making art since kindergarten, said encouragement from parents and teachers to pursue his passion inspired him to organize YAM.
“I feel like I’ve been embraced and encouraged by a lot of other supporters, and this is my opportunity to give back,” Cain said.
Outside of YAM, he said he’s been working on “a long, ongoing exhibition” of both new and old work at the Mon Vert Cafe in Woodstock, Vt.
The show is called “ASBA” — short for “Art should be affordable” — and the concept underlies the way the works are being sold.
“The concept [is] that price shouldn't be a barrier between the viewer and the work — so it’s a pay what you can premise for certain works,” Cain said.
Fifteen percent of sales from the exhibition will be used to fund a YAM scholarship. Members can pull from the fund for “help with booth rentals, application fees, submission costs” and other expenses, according to Cain.
Cain also highlighted a recent successful project the group organized. This summer, YAM members put together a month-long joint exhibition called “Primary Sources” at the Enfield Shaker Museum, whose opening was celebrated with a free reception featuring food and live music.
Cain said the reception was one of the “most well attended” he has seen for a group show, and that he hopes YAM can do similar collaborations and events in the future.
“We just brought the art — but organizing that, hanging it, working with a team that was very, very organized and quite talented in the logistics behind getting 30 artists' work into one area was really cool,” Cain said.
