Space One Eleven

About

Artist founded and artist run, Space One Eleven is a visual art non-profit whose mission is to provide exhibition and teaching opportunities to Birmingham, Alabama artists and their regional, national and international colleagues.

Story

Space One Eleven (SOE) is a visual arts organization founded in Birmingham, Alabama in 1986. SOE's mission is to provide professional opportunities for artists, create a forum for public understanding of contemporary art, and offer arts education to area youth.

Key to the philosophic foundation of SOE is the belief that art is where you find it, whether from a Birmingham artist, a nationally recognized artist or a creative youth in a local Birmingham neighborhood. Art is informed by place, time, and experience. Run by artists, formed by place, and celebrating cutting-edge art that stretches the imagination, SOE incorporates these principles into all of our programs as we deal with art, community and public discourse.

SOE's Guiding principles:

Build community by promoting Birmingham-based artists and educating the community in the role of artists and art in the public sphere.

Advocate for the payment of professional fees for services to artists.

Assure control by artists over the presentation of their work, while promoting a broad public understanding of the arts of our community and common culture.

Establish and maintain a creative environment that provides equitable opportunities for interaction among artists, children, their families and the citizens of Birmingham and Alabama.

Create a focal point for broad-based community involvement in the creation and understanding of the arts, involving many additional area art and social organizations from diverse cultural, ethnic, economic and artistic backgrounds.

It is our belief that strong cross-cultural, community-based arts programs such as these create a forum for exchange between regional artists and the general public. They also knit together the fabric of a community by elevating public discourse.