UICA, R.I.P.

UICA closed down in March 2023. Established as a small artists’ organization in 1977, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts had become the largest multidisciplinary contemporary arts center in Michigan. It had a unique focus on nurturing writers, filmmakers, performers, and visual artists and presenting their latest work. An article about UICA’s fortieth anniversary in 2017 says it was one of only eleven visual-art institutions in the United States that didn’t house a permanent collection. Now its former headquarters at Fulton Street and Division Avenue in downtown Grand Rapids stand empty; its innovative programs in film, music, and the visual arts are ended.

Thirty years have passed since I joined UICA’s Board of Directors in 1993. Joyce was already on the Board, and she had a sculpture studio at UICA’s Race Street Gallery. A year later I became the Board President.

Ribbon cutting for UICA building at 41 Sheldon Blvd, June 24, 1998

Artistic rendering of UICA building at 41 Sheldon

Then, together with Executive Director Marjorie Kuipers and Past President Julie Christianson Stivers, I launched and steered the creation of UICA’s first permanent home at 41 Sheldon Boulevard (now Sheldon Avenue). Supported by honorary capital campaign co-chairs Kate Pew Wolters and Hank Meijer, and working with architects Lorri Sipes and Michael Poris, we turned an abandoned automotive garage and showroom into a vibrant center for contemporary art. Our completely renovated building opened in 1998. I tell about this transformational project in my book Art in Public (“The UICA Story,” pp. 190-203).

UICA headquarters at Fulton and Division, opened in 2011

When UICA moved to new headquarters at Fulton Street and Division Avenue in 2011, 41 Sheldon became the home of ArtPrize, which runs an annual art competition. More recently it has housed Compass College of Film and Media. And, just a few weeks ago, Calvin University announced that it was taking over Compass College. So, the building our small nonprofit arts organization renovated in the 1990s has become part of the school where I taught philosophy at the time.

I find this history both ironic and bittersweet. Ironic, because UICA’s programs and operations in the 1990s emphasized collective participation and democratic decision-making. Yet its Sheldon building became the hub for ArtPrize, a privately funded competition whose populist understanding of artistic merit undermined democratic deliberation. (My 2011 interview about Art in Public with Jeff Smith at the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy touches on these topics.) UICA  also provided a free-standing oasis for creative spirits who found West Michigan’s conservative culture oppressive and alienating—41 Sheldon both fostered and expressed their creativity. But now the building belongs to the university that, for many of UICA’s members, epitomized this stultifying culture. And ten years before its demise, UICA had already lost its independence, having become a unit within the Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University in 2013.

I understand, of course, that nonprofit organizations need to evolve, and buildings can serve different uses. In fact, that’s what happened when UICA turned the rundown building at 41 Sheldon into a lively arts center. I also recognize how the nurturing artistic home and inspiring community center that UICA provided for 46 years has helped change the culture of West Michigan, making it more cosmopolitan and inclusive.

But that’s why I find UICA’s history bittersweet. Right when forces of authoritarian populism and exclusionary retrenchment are gathering strength in West Michigan and beyond, the democratic and inclusive arts organization I helped build in the 1990s has left the scene. Even if other organizations step into the breech—as I fervently hope they do—there will never be another UICA.

Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash

This casts a somber light on the reflections about “Critical Hope” in my previous blog post. The passion for a life-giving society, which UICA so imaginatively embodied, is hard to keep alive. Yet, in the end, it’s worth our flawed and fragile efforts.

Rest in peace, UICA. Your challenging and creative programs transformed many lives. May our collective memory of you continue to nurture and inspire.