The Moment

As one of Long Island’s oldest, continuously running, nonprofit art spaces, Gallery North has a reputation for high-quality arts programming and community events, including its diverse, exciting exhibitions, its educational classes, its Wet Paint Festival, and its annual Outdoor Art Show and Music Festival which attracts thousands of visitors each year.

Gallery North remained strong throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by transforming its traditional approach to programs and events to meet the needs of the moment. Gallery North is now flourishing. Exhibition programs, community events, and educational classes have all increased since 2020, as has the number of visitors and students. It has become a significant venue for the region’s creative community, an exciting place for students of all ages to learn, and a well-respected cultural hub for the community. And, through its increased outreach and collaboration with many cultural organizations, including Stony Brook University, Gallery North now plays a unique and important role in supporting – and fostering a living dialogue among – artists from every field and area of culture in the continuing effort to create an art for our time.

The Challenge

The challenge of the pandemic helped the organization succeed in remarkable ways. Now, Gallery North aims to build on our success by addressing the challenge of its current physical space and recognizing the beauty and potential strength of its campus.

The Board of Trustees and staff at Gallery North recently adopted new goals for the future, thinking strategically about expanding the gallery’s capacity, extending the reach and impact of its programming, engaging larger audiences, and offering space for the exploration, exposure, and experimentation of a new generation of artists. Each goal is a crucial part of Gallery North’s larger objective: to meet the challenge set by the legacy of Terence Netter’s art and life, as well as his passion for the arts, by establishing and constructing the Terence Netter Creative Center.

The Inspiration

Terence Netter was an artist, a teacher, a philosopher, a Trustee of Gallery North, and a long-time resident of Setauket. He was also a visionary and a champion of the arts throughout his life. Inspired by his art and life, the mission of Gallery North’s new capital project, Terence Netter Creative Center, will be to place the creation and sharing of art in the heart of the community.

The Plan

The Terence Netter Creative Center capital project will make several exciting and significant updates to our physical campus.

It will add a NEW exhibition space to our campus, replacing the current Creative Annex located at 82 N Country Road.

It will not replace the Gallery building or the Studio.

The Terence Netter Creative Center will include a second, more-expansive exhibition space available to regional artists to propose their own pop-up exhibitions, offering space for the exploration and experimentation of a new generation of artists; a new, outdoor performance area allowing Gallery North to host live music, films, and art performances, with plentiful outdoor seating; a welcoming, new coffee shop for the community, serving as a daily destination and inviting community members to engage in Gallery North’s diverse programming; and a community art library with a significant collection of art books available to the public for learning, and featuring a striking example of Terence Netter’s artwork.

The Terence Netter Creative Center will strengthen the campus, expand the gallery’s cultural offerings, and enhance the community’s quality of life with a vital, new open space. Building on Terence Netter’s legacy, it will ensure that a new generation of artists has the resources it needs to, in Netter’s words, “create their own vision of art.”

The Next Step

A Campaign Planning Study

After careful consideration, the Board of Trustees and staff recently decided that now is the time to test the feasibility of the Terence Netter Creative Center project by conducting a Campaign Planning Study. The study would be a crucial, preparatory step to realize our vision of this potential $4 million capital project.

This study is not a solicitation for funds. It is a research study, intended to crowdsource helpful information about Gallery North and the needs of its community. It will gather insights on our strategic goals, while also providing input on ways philanthropy can be a catalyst for our vision. 

And, to spearhead our Campaign Planning Study and assess our readiness for a capital campaign of this kind, we have engaged CCS Fundraising, a professional fundraising firm. The study will include a combination of interviews with board, staff, gallery members, community members, artists, and friends to determine the level of support, and appetite, for the proposed plan.

Your Participation

Gallery North is now reaching out to our audience to ask for participation in this Campaign Planning Study. The insights, experiences, and thoughts of our audience are essential to this crucial planning phase. One of the primary objectives of the study is to reach out to friends, seek their counsel, and ensure that Gallery North is well positioned for this next phase in its history.

We are so grateful for your consideration of our request.

Thank you!