Art, Connection and Community: A Nonprofit Member Highlight with Galveston Arts Center

Meet Dennis Nance, Curator of Galveston Arts Center, and learn how this Chamber nonprofit member is making contemporary art accessible, elevating artists across the region and creating space for expression, connection and belonging.

For more than 40 years, Galveston Arts Center (GAC) has connected artists and audiences through contemporary exhibitions, educational programs and community experiences. Located in the historic 1878 First National Bank Building on the Strand, GAC welcomes visitors to explore its galleries free of charge while extending the impact of the arts throughout Galveston County. In this Nonprofit Member Highlight, Dennis Nance, Curator of Galveston Arts Center, shares more about the organization’s role in the region’s arts and cultural community, its work to make art accessible and welcoming, and why engagement with the LGBTQ+ and Allied community matters. He also offers a preview of The Fruit Jar, an upcoming immersive exhibition exploring Southeast Texas’s LGBTQIA+ history.

Drone video footage of Historic Downtown Galveston, The Strand, and Galveston Arts Center by Anne Marie D’Arcy: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QEHlBYVet9Y&si=CwwzpyjhreitzJ0H

Please introduce yourself, share your role with the Galveston Arts Center, and tell us a little about your professional background.

My name is Dennis Nance, and I have served as the Curator for Galveston Arts Center (GAC) for ten years. I’ve had the privilege of working with contemporary artists based throughout Texas and the Gulf Coast to bring their work to GAC as part of our robust annual rotation of exhibitions. My background in studio art, foreign language, and culture led me to the non-profit arts sector over twenty years ago, following experiences teaching English in Japan and working in Cultural Affairs for the Consulate-General of Japan at Houston.

Visitors to GAC during Galveston ArtWalk. Photo by Kristen Williams.

For readers who may not be familiar with the Galveston Arts Center, how would you describe the organization and its mission? GAC is a non-profit visual arts organization located in the historic 1878 First National Bank Building on the Strand. We host twelve exhibitions annually in our three galleries, as well as offer educational programs including workshops, camps, and classes in our studio classroom. We serve our community through outreach to sites and organizations throughout Galveston County. Exhibitions are free to visit, and we encourage you to stop by on your next visit to Galveston. Our exhibition openings coincide with Galveston ArtWalk, a community-wide evening of gallery openings and events founded and organized by GAC which take place on the second Saturday of every month.

What makes the Galveston Arts Center an important part of Galveston’s arts and cultural community as well as the region?

I believe that art spaces like GAC add to the quality of life for communities and are an essential part of a city’s infrastructure. For over forty years GAC has served artists throughout the region by offering opportunities to share their work with new audiences. We employ local artists to lead workshops and classes at GAC, as well as through outreach programs like our Art For All program that serves seven health and human service organizations on the island. ArtWalk is one of our longest running programs that coordinates with local galleries, businesses, and restaurants to invite visitors and locals out for an arts-centric evening while in turn stimulating the local economy.

Tell us about the exhibitions, programs, educational opportunities, and community experiences the Galveston Arts Center offers. Our exhibitions are my primary focus in my work for GAC, so I’ll share more about those. I’ve been honored to work with more artists than I can count in my career and present over 100 exhibitions at GAC during my tenure with the organization. My goal with planning our exhibition schedule is to be timely in the topics the artists bring to our space through their work, as well as considerate of where they are in their own career trajectory. As a non-profit space, less focus is placed on the artwork as a commercial product and more as a place to experiment with ideas, processes, and ultimately expression. I also understand that visitors play an important role in how the work can be experienced. A visit to GAC is less about a transaction and your curiosity is the most valuable currency. I strive to inspire empathy, spark inspiration, and provoke discourse through our exhibitions.

Installation in progress. Unloading work by Kingsley Onyeiwu. Photo by Kristen Williams.

Who does the Galveston Arts Center serve, and how do you work to make art accessible and welcoming to the broader community?

We strive to be a place for everyone and eliminate the barriers for entry individuals may encounter when seeking out engaging with the arts. Something I find unique in Galveston is the importance of balancing efforts to draw in off-island visitors while simultaneously actively engaging local residents. Our location on the Strand offers us direct exposure to a large audience, many of whom might not seek out a contemporary art space on a vacation, but our doors are open and we are free to drop in.

Adult sewing class - Photo by Kristen Williams

What role can the arts play in creating connection, encouraging dialogue, and strengthening a sense of belonging? Personally, the arts have always provided me space to openly be myself, as well as opportunities to learn from other artists lived experiences. Spaces like ours offer a platform that is deeply connected to freedom of expression, providing artists a space to express ideas, identities, emotions, and perspectives. This extends beyond language as a way to express contemporary culture, ask difficult questions, and explore new ideas. Perhaps most importantly for me, the arts can provide opportunities to experience joy, beauty, and community.

Are there any current or upcoming exhibitions, programs, or events that you would especially like the Chamber community to know about?

I’m very excited to share an upcoming exhibition by Houston-based artists Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin that will open 10th. Nick and Jake’s exhibition, The Fruit Jar, will be an immersive installation exploring Southeast Texas’s LGBTQIA+ history. It is the third exhibition in the artists’ ongoing initiative inspired by Town Meeting 1, the formative 1979 gathering of 4,000 queer community members at the Astro Arena.

The installation will be anchored by a monumental stencil depicting the façade of a building located two blocks away from GAC at 2214 Mechanic that was a gay bar named the Fruit Jar in 1978. The façade serves both as a monument to the unsung spaces that nurtured the queer community and a frame/screen through which to view an evolving collection of LGBTQIA+ narratives written in chalk, layered atop one another in an ever-changing canvas of queer collective history.

Save the date for the opening, Saturday, October 14, 6-9PM with a brief artist introduction at 6:30PM. A symposium will also take place on Saturday, October 24th at GAC. More details will be available via GAC’s website, as well as Nick and Jake’s non-profit, Rendevous Center for Art (https://www.rendezvouscenterforart.org/), as they become available.

Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin, "I Remember This One Time", 2026, Chalk and acrylic Paint, Dimensions Variable, Photo by Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin. Opening October 14 at GAC: https://www.galvestonartscenter.org/nickandjake	Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin, "The Fruit Jar", 2026, Installation Rendering. Opening October 14 at GAC: https://www.galvestonartscenter.org/nickandjake	Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin (headshot). Photo by Janice Rubin.

What led the Galveston Arts Center to become a member of the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce?

Our wonderful board member MJ Ippolito Alvarado invited me to a 3rd Thursday Chamber breakfast in 2024. MJ was part of forming a Galveston chapter for the organization GLSEN, a national organization that champions LGBTQ+ issues in K-12 education.

At the time I was also working with artist and drag queen Tammie Brown on an exhibition of her handmade RagQueenz dolls for GAC. I was impressed by how many different businesses and organizations attended the breakfast and wanted to be sure everyone knew Tammie was coming to the island!  After exploring the Chamber’s member list, I realized it serves as a great resource to find businesses I want to support and be aligned with. As a non-profit, funds are always slim, but the membership was accessible and a great opportunity for GAC to access and align with like-minded individuals.

Why is engagement with the LGBTQ+ and Allied community important to the Galveston Arts Center? I personally appreciate knowing of the many businesses and organizations that are part of the community. I want GAC to be known as a safe and welcoming space for the LGBTQ+ community and hope your members will join us and visit as well. Arts spaces have important intersections with LGBTQ+ experiences, and we want to ensure those relationships and connections thrive. What has the organization valued most about its membership and connection to the Chamber community? We deeply appreciate the dedication and commitment of the Chamber staff and the opportunities for connections they facilitate. We have loved marching with the Chamber the past two years with Third Coast PrideFest (https://www.instagram.com/3rdcoastpf/)  and look forward to doing it again this October!

Visitors to GAC during Galveston ArtWalk. Photo by Kristen Williams.

How can Chamber members engage with and support the Galveston Arts Center—whether by attending an exhibition, participating in a program, becoming a member, volunteering, or contributing?

As a non-profit organization, everything we do is made possible with the support of our members, donations from individuals and businesses, sponsorships, and grant support. As a smaller organization, any donation amount goes a long way and helps us to continue to offer free exhibitions and affordable educational opportunities.

We welcome support from businesses interested in in-kind donations or sponsorships. Regardless of financial means, everyone is welcome to drop in for a visit or join us for an upcoming ArtWalk.

To find out more ways to support, visit:
http://www.galvestonartscenter.org/donate

Opening reception for Preetika Rajgariah at GAC. Photo by Kristen Williams.

What would you like Chamber members to experience or take away when they visit the Galveston Arts Center? I hope a visit to GAC leaves members inspired and feeling like they’ve experienced something new. I would love for them to feel closer to working artists or be given a reason to try their hand at creating something. The Greater Houston Area is home to a thriving arts and culture community GAC is happy to be part of. We hope you will visit GAC and encourage you to venture out to other arts spaces in the region. Looking ahead, what are you most excited about for the future of the Galveston Arts Center? On the immediate horizon I’m happy to see the end of hurricane season! But in all seriousness, I’m most excited about the lineup of artists we are planning to bring to GAC in the coming year.

Where can readers learn more about the Galveston Arts Center, explore upcoming exhibitions and events, and connect with the organization?

Visit our website: http://www.galvestonartscenter.org

Follow us on Instagram or Facebook: @galvestonartscenter, fb.com/galvestonartscenter
Check out our YouTube page for recorded artist talks: @GalvestonArtsCenter

Or contact Dennis to discuss potential collaborations at dennis@galvestonartscenter.org

The Chamber is proud to count Galveston Arts Center among our nonprofit members. Through its exhibitions, educational programs and community outreach, GAC demonstrates how the arts can open doors to discovery, preserve and elevate important stories, and create meaningful opportunities for connection and belonging.

We encourage Chamber members and community supporters to experience GAC for themselves—visit an exhibition, attend ArtWalk, participate in a program or support the organization’s work. By showing up for nonprofit members like Galveston Arts Center, we help strengthen the organizations that enrich our region and ensure welcoming cultural spaces continue to thrive.