Creating Synergy...

Here's an article about Allegory Gallery that appeared in the most recent issue of the Ligonier Echo.  It describes Jessica Wiesel's new art show and how we paired it with the writing of Amy Yanity.  It also describes some of the things that we do to promote synergy in the local cultural community and some of the philosophies of the store.

When we opened the space, we thought about what kind of place we wanted to have and what we wanted to sell.  The problem we had was that the "thing" that we wanted to impart wasn't necessarily tangible.  We wanted to capture "creativity" and give it to others to make their own.  But how?  Answering the "how" is how we came up with our business structure.  It was a multi-faceted approach – it's part bead store, part art gallery, and part educational resource.

It hasn't been easy.  Sometimes I think it would just be better to abandon some of the concepts and focus on one thing only.  Then I think about how all the parts co-exist... they are cogs and gears that work together to move us forward, little by little.  Eliminate one mission and the principle core becomes destabilized... things start to teeter.  The more things we can do to strengthen our ability to set down roots and hopefully inspire others, all the better.

When applied to a bigger picture, we act in the same way.  We want to create cultural synergy and continue to promote the arts.