After over a year of closed doors and no access to the art… the UICA, or Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts is re-opening! A “soft” opening is being held tomorrow with an official opening coming in the fall.
It’s an exciting time at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts as they re-open on Thursday.
“We have been closed for a year and a half during the pandemic. And during that time, we moved locations. So, we moved from 2 Fulton to 17 Pearl, which most will recognize in Grand Rapids as the old Art Museum.”
Miranda Krajniak, is the Executive Director for the UICA. She says they will re-open their doors in their new home-allowing a very comfortable approach to viewing art.
“You have to nourish the spirit, as well as the mind and the body. So, we are so excited to have people in our space. You can come in and look around, you can drink a cup of coffee, and have a very natural approach to art viewing and art making.“
Miranda says one of the biggest changes is that they’ve gone back to free admission, which they had for 36 years, but the Fulton location she says had high overhead and they had no choice but to start charging. UICA joined forces with the Kendal College of Art & Design or KCAD, back in 2013. This new location now supports students, the arts and the community.
“We’re very rare. We don’t have a collection. So you always know the art we are showing reflects the times that we are living in.”
The new digs have a combined bookstore from KCAD and the UICA gift shop- so you can purchase arts supplies, books and art work from local artists.
The soft re-opening also coincides with the UICA’s 44th anniversary. It starts at noon on Thursday, and runs until 7pm.
