Getting to Know Us
Coastal Arts League – Half Moon Bay - 2023
A Public Art Gallery
Contributing to the Local Economy, Cultural Community, and a Healthy Lifestyle
501(c)(3) means a nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the IRS as being tax-exempt by virtue of its charitable programs. We are proud of our programs for artists as well as our community service as a public art gallery.
“The arts enhance our lives, our economy, our civic assets and even give voice to our common triumphs and tragedies.” Dave Pine, San Mateo County Supervisor
Our Programs:
A Public Art Gallery is a community asset that benefits the local tourism environment. Visitors find original artwork at accessible prices in a welcoming well-lighted Main Street gallery where folks gather and exchange ideas. We are open to the public every Thursday through Monday and admission is always free.
The Coastal Arts League is a cooperative, a member-driven grassroots nonprofit, with a vision to be the Public Art Gallery in Half Moon Bay. Incorporated in 1980, our nonprofit has served the Coastside community for more than forty years. We’ve been in our current Main St. location since 1995. In 2017, we began to formally follow a business plan to create a resilient organization that builds upon the past, participates actively in the present, and sets future goals. Our organization was able to weather the pandemic shutdowns of 2020-2021, while many art galleries closed their doors. In 5 years, we have grown from a small local art group to a regionally recognized cooperative exhibition space.
Communications to attract exceptional California artists from across the Bay Area has required sustained effort and outreach. Subscribers to online bulletins have surpassed 1200 readers, many looking for places to show their work. Our website receives 200-300 hits per week, and a shopping cart for juried shows can help us to achieve sales, even when people are reluctant to visit the gallery in person.
The Artist Collective that manages the gallery has expanded to twenty members and three sales assistants. The Collective provides a venue for local artists to show and sell original artworks that celebrate the beauty of the Coastside. This is the third year of a Guest Artist program that rotates a new artist into the Collective Gallery every 13 weeks.
The Exhibition Gallery facilitates a full schedule of shows including four juried shows that attract California artists from across the Bay Area. The artists represent varied culture groups, practicing art forms from painting and photography to fiber arts, ceramics, glass, and jewelry.
Art in all its forms nurtures a positive attitude and contributes to our mental health. It’s an uplifting spiritual influence in our lives at any age. It can be a source of comfort, resilience, wisdom, and the means for self-expression and connection. More than half of our members are seniors to whom creative activities are essential.
Working Artists Gain Survival Skills
Local artists are self-employed community workers. Artists need spaces to create and teach and spaces to exhibit. At the Coastal Arts League, the members of the Artist Collective share the responsibility for managing the gallery, gaining work experience and public relations skills along the way. Those who volunteer as Gallery Hosts represent all the artists in the Collective and the Exhibition galleries. Individual artists, art clubs, and groups collaborate for month-long gallery exhibitions that provide valuable experience in the business side of art.
Volunteers have personal growth opportunities that include learning technical job skills, gallery management, grant writing, juried exhibition development, sales, and administration. Website building, digital communication skills and social media promotion are always in demand.
In 2020, we were very thankful for the support of the City of Half Moon Bay. The funds helped us to provide (1) free art classes for adults, (2) benefit gallery shows for high school students and ALAS photographers, and (3) greater outreach through print, email, and social media. Instead of increasing fees to cover gallery expenses, we decreased juried show fees and space rents so that a greater number of artists could participate.
During 2020 and 2021, when so many were isolated by class closures, we saw a need to reach out to young children and families at home. We launched two webpages to provide homework help and activities that the whole family could enjoy. We received messages from parents in far flung places who found our website helpful.
The pandemic isolation made for accommodations that changed us in unexpected ways. The Exhibition program continued, with doors open for ventilation, and fewer guests attending, bundled up against the damp air. As attendance has rebounded, our events have continued to include an outdoor space to talk and listen to live music.
A Public Art Gallery
Contributing to the Local Economy, Cultural Community, and a Healthy Lifestyle
501(c)(3) means a nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the IRS as being tax-exempt by virtue of its charitable programs. We are proud of our programs for artists as well as our community service as a public art gallery.
“The arts enhance our lives, our economy, our civic assets and even give voice to our common triumphs and tragedies.” Dave Pine, San Mateo County Supervisor
Our Programs:
A Public Art Gallery is a community asset that benefits the local tourism environment. Visitors find original artwork at accessible prices in a welcoming well-lighted Main Street gallery where folks gather and exchange ideas. We are open to the public every Thursday through Monday and admission is always free.
The Coastal Arts League is a cooperative, a member-driven grassroots nonprofit, with a vision to be the Public Art Gallery in Half Moon Bay. Incorporated in 1980, our nonprofit has served the Coastside community for more than forty years. We’ve been in our current Main St. location since 1995. In 2017, we began to formally follow a business plan to create a resilient organization that builds upon the past, participates actively in the present, and sets future goals. Our organization was able to weather the pandemic shutdowns of 2020-2021, while many art galleries closed their doors. In 5 years, we have grown from a small local art group to a regionally recognized cooperative exhibition space.
Communications to attract exceptional California artists from across the Bay Area has required sustained effort and outreach. Subscribers to online bulletins have surpassed 1200 readers, many looking for places to show their work. Our website receives 200-300 hits per week, and a shopping cart for juried shows can help us to achieve sales, even when people are reluctant to visit the gallery in person.
The Artist Collective that manages the gallery has expanded to twenty members and three sales assistants. The Collective provides a venue for local artists to show and sell original artworks that celebrate the beauty of the Coastside. This is the third year of a Guest Artist program that rotates a new artist into the Collective Gallery every 13 weeks.
The Exhibition Gallery facilitates a full schedule of shows including four juried shows that attract California artists from across the Bay Area. The artists represent varied culture groups, practicing art forms from painting and photography to fiber arts, ceramics, glass, and jewelry.
Art in all its forms nurtures a positive attitude and contributes to our mental health. It’s an uplifting spiritual influence in our lives at any age. It can be a source of comfort, resilience, wisdom, and the means for self-expression and connection. More than half of our members are seniors to whom creative activities are essential.
Working Artists Gain Survival Skills
Local artists are self-employed community workers. Artists need spaces to create and teach and spaces to exhibit. At the Coastal Arts League, the members of the Artist Collective share the responsibility for managing the gallery, gaining work experience and public relations skills along the way. Those who volunteer as Gallery Hosts represent all the artists in the Collective and the Exhibition galleries. Individual artists, art clubs, and groups collaborate for month-long gallery exhibitions that provide valuable experience in the business side of art.
Volunteers have personal growth opportunities that include learning technical job skills, gallery management, grant writing, juried exhibition development, sales, and administration. Website building, digital communication skills and social media promotion are always in demand.
In 2020, we were very thankful for the support of the City of Half Moon Bay. The funds helped us to provide (1) free art classes for adults, (2) benefit gallery shows for high school students and ALAS photographers, and (3) greater outreach through print, email, and social media. Instead of increasing fees to cover gallery expenses, we decreased juried show fees and space rents so that a greater number of artists could participate.
During 2020 and 2021, when so many were isolated by class closures, we saw a need to reach out to young children and families at home. We launched two webpages to provide homework help and activities that the whole family could enjoy. We received messages from parents in far flung places who found our website helpful.
The pandemic isolation made for accommodations that changed us in unexpected ways. The Exhibition program continued, with doors open for ventilation, and fewer guests attending, bundled up against the damp air. As attendance has rebounded, our events have continued to include an outdoor space to talk and listen to live music.