This article has been edited since it first appeared in print.
Gallery5 co-founder Amanda Robinson
“Don’t you dare go back there,” family and friends counseled Amanda Robinson on returning to nonprofit community arts space Gallery5. She chuckles as she recounts their warning, concerned for her health and well-being due to overworking. After a decade away, she’s returned to the feisty, offbeat and off Broad Street arts center in Jackson Ward. She and a dedicated cohort founded the organization in 2005 at 200 W. Marshall St., naming it after Steamer Co. No. 5. Since 1849, it has been a site for a fire and police station, although the present historic landmarked building dates from 1883.
Robinson, a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, thought she was headed for a career teaching art therapy in New Mexico. Back then, forming a space for visual and performing arts wasn’t part of her plan. She regarded galleries, as “either extremely corporate, conservative and/or stuffy,” according to a 2008 Richmond magazine article recognizing her as a Pollak Prize winner for her contributions in art.
Gallery5 defies that description.
Her affection for Richmond and intimate connection to the space made for a natural, if unexpected, return. Some of her relatives viewed the place as a Robinson family curse, though the building’s history is intertwined with her own. Her great-grandfather, grandfather and assorted uncles were firefighters and chiefs based there. In 1970, her father, Realtor Tom Robinson, saved the building from demolition. After, he sought to maintain and repurpose the former station house.
“I was practically born there,” Robinson says. “My sister’s nursery was upstairs where the office space was.” Robinson adds with wry amusement, and perhaps a prefiguration of her later career, “There were many fire truck birthday cakes.”
Robinson began organizing artistic gatherings in the space, which led to performances, exhibits and community events. The vision was for a creative catalyst. The repertoire included the Party Liberation Front’s Carnival of 5 Fires, along with burlesque, original music and daring presentations in the former upstairs gallery such as “Disrobed,” which featured living painted nudes. That space regularly hosted local and international artists. Some clashes occurred with city ordinances but were resolved through negotiations.
No matter their earnestness, however, DIY efforts like Gallery5 can fail. Robinson and the small staff kept at the never- ending pursuit of both providing a space for the arts and shaking the giving tree to keep the lights on.
“I was 22 when we started,” Robinson says, “and at that stage of life, you are willing to take the most risk, in part because you don’t know what you don’t know. I had the energy and motivation, but I was business clueless. Things slipped through the cracks. In those days, I didn’t know how to delegate.”
Meanwhile, other interests arose. Robinson began baking in Gallery5’s kitchen. “As a fun hobby,” she says. Word got around about her confectionery skills. She began receiving requests for special events. This precipitated what she describes as a “slow, steady resignation.”
In 2012, after marrying Gallery5 curator and artist Bizhan Khodabandeh, the mother and mortgage holder founded Sweet Fix custom cakes and desserts. She debuted a brick-and-mortar space at 9 W. 10th St. in Manchester a few years later. Following came Virago Alley, a pop-up and online herbal and supplements apothecary based out of the shop.
Meanwhile, at Galley5, Prabir Mehta, a tenured local musician long associated with the space, stepped into the leadership position. In 2018, property rehabilitator Bruce Vanderbilt purchased the building and commenced the necessary but often frustrating process of renewal. Vanderbilt describes the structural challenges as “triangle-shaped building, square-building codes.”
Gallery5 features rotating art exhibitions.
The work involved replacing the rotting roof structure and repairing the second floor, part of which was held together merely by its tongue-and-groove fittings. The HVAC and electrical systems were upgraded. The steep stair in the back was taken out, and, enclosed by a wall, a contemporary one was installed.
Today, the second floor houses The Loft, a wedding, event and photography venue managed by Stephen and Jennie Carbone. The division between spaces provides a revenue source for the building while alleviating the expense of upstairs programming for Gallery5.
A portion of the lower level is devoted to art presentations, which is partially how Robinson reconnected with Gallery5, originally returning as a volunteer exhibit coordinator. “I missed being around artists and creatives,” she says. Her comeback was coincidental to Mehta’s stepping down following 16 years with the gallery and guiding the organization through COVID-19. Vanderbilt, concerned about the gallery, deferred rent during its pandemic-induced shutdown, then abated the majority. “It was quite a hit,” he says, “and the gallery still hasn’t fully recovered, but they’re going to get there.”
Gallery5 has expanded the board and overhauled operational protocols while improving the exhibition space and maintaining programs of jazz, contemporary orchestral and original music from both Richmond artists and beyond. Additional programming includes poetry presentations, high school showcases and open mic nights.
One big change Robinson and Gallery5 want to undertake pending fundraising is returning the stage to its original place at the building’s front. Robinson says the current COVID-19-related location is awkward for audiences and performers alike. The shift will increase seating capacity, improve the aesthetic environment and allow for the return of popular national acts.
Board member Jameson Babb attended events during Robinson’s first tour of duty. A Williamsburg resident, he encountered fire dancers in the middle of the street and recalls thinking, “I’m in the big city now.” The music also attracted him, and he’s since become involved with band promotion and booking. He notes Robinson’s presence, with her institutional knowledge, is important. “She’s able to keep all the plates spinning,” he says.
And she has learned how to delegate.
“I may have energy and motivation now,” Robinson says, “but it comes from a different place — and a lot more caffeine.”
