The arts community in Calgary is inching ever closer to losing another great space unless something happens fast. Tele Asencio, owner of Artlife Gallery, expects that with sales declining since the start of the year, and interest waning, he will only be able to keep the space for another “two or three months.”

“It’d be a shame if we had to close down,” he says. “I’d be bummed. It would be a shame to lose something like this. I’m booked all the way through February now, though, we’ve got artists booked.”

The problem Asencio is facing really comes down to money: money he doesn’t have. The gallery’s for-profit status prevents him from receiving government grants.

Without a board of directors and a non-profit status, the gallery doesn’t qualify for funding through Calgary Arts Development Authority Ltd. (CADA), which spends taxpayers’ dollars in and around the city.

He suspects the weak economy may be the reason that people aren’t buying as much art these days, as “everybody’s careful how they’re spending their money. Art isn’t one of those things that you really need, so no one’s really splurging.”

It’s not the calibre of the art either, as Artlife promotes work from a diverse collection of artists. Without catering to the corporate community, however, there’s little that can be done to increase sales.

“I cater to the artists and the artists’ friends, not necessarily the corporate crowd. I’m not afraid of ‘selling out,’ but I call this ‘the people’s gallery.’ Maybe I need to expand there, I don’t know.”

Holly Simon, a community investment officer with CADA, says the distinction between non-profit and for-profit really just comes down to how revenue is spent, and that she sympathizes with the plight of smaller galleries like Artlife.

“It doesn’t mean that (non-profits) run on a zero balance, but that any profit goes back into the organization, rather than the owners, and that they’re governed by a group of community members that would make up their board of directors,” she says.

“There’s that arm’s-length group of people that are able to shepherd an organization through, which is different than in a for-profit model where there’s owners and if they make a good go of it, they make a profit, and if they struggle, then they don’t make a profit.”

Asencio worries that the presence of a board would diminish his control of where the gallery is heading, but Simon says that there are usually two ways that the process can work out.

“It’s a challenge to the organization to bring good people that have a common vision, and sometimes the board structure can be really dysfunctional or it can be pretty magical. Sometimes it is a choice that everybody makes, as to what kind of organization they want to have and how much individual control they want to have. There are some great collaborative groups that are non-profits.”

Artlife opened its doors with the intention of selling art by Asencio and a group of friends, eventually expanding to host shows from artists around the world. The for-profit tag is just that, as the owner hasn’t been raking in cash from his business. It’s a labour of love for Asencio, who admittedly “thinks, lives and breathes this thing.”

“It takes a lot to run a gallery,” he says. “I thought I could just sell my own art and my friends’ art, but there’s a lot more to it. I haven’t got to do any of my own art for over a year. I have tons of commission work I haven’t been able to do because this place keeps me so busy.”

There are other options for businesses like Artlife, though. Simon mentions funding for small businesses available from the province and federal government, and that applying for those might best the best available route to take.

CADA is handcuffed in its spending of taxpayers’ dollars. Its mandate is to only fund spaces and events that are transparent in their spending; in other words, non-profits.

Erik Olson, a local artist who ran the now-defunct Ideal Art Space, hit many of the same problems that Asencio is facing, even though Ideal was “always intended as a temporary spot.”

Olson feels that organizations like CADA really aren’t built to move as quickly as the art world often does, and that there’s too much red tape to clear before small galleries are able to access public dollars.

“It’s very quick. You have to be planning six months in advance,” he says. “I don’t know if a government or city group will be able to completely offer that speed and support. It’s difficult for them to know which project will be really valuable and what project wouldn’t be. It’s difficult for them to be fair if they are offering money up quickly. I’d like to see some way that a group or individual would be able to get an artistic non-for-profit status, where it’s not the gallery or the space, but you could do projects under the umbrella of a non-profit.”

Ideal was housed in a derelict building and closed its doors “before it got chilly” last September. Even though the space was being subsidized privately, the city treated the gallery as though it was profitable.

“Several months later (after closing) I did end up getting a gigantic tax bill from the city, charging me per square foot what you would be charging across the street to the high-rise buildings,” says Olson.

“That was unexpected in a certain way, but it highlighted the disparity between what is considered not-for-profit and once you cross that line into ‘what’s profit’ then you’re getting taxed as a real business. Ideal wasn’t for profit, in that we weren’t making any money — in fact investing our own money to put on art shows for the community — but we were being treated as a for-profit.”

One theme that the three could all agree on though was the old adage that “business is business,” and that if places like Artlife and Ideal are not going to start out as non-profits, then all bets are effectively off.

“I think that galleries like Artlife and Ideal Art Space are amazing for the cultural fabric of the city,” Simon says. “They just run with an idea and try and make it work. We’re all sorry when these things go away, but then new things come up. I think the challenge for a non-profit or a for-profit is to bring in a whole set of diverse patrons that can get interested in the work, and can buy the work. That’s just a slow thing that happens over time, to build and make a community bigger and diverse enough to support what you do. Businesses come and go all the time, and art galleries are no different.”

Asencio says that even with the threat of closing looming over him, he can take solace in the fact that Artlife has outlasted not just other galleries, but other businesses in Calgary as well.

“Clothing stores are going out of business and people buy clothes on a regular basis. People don’t buy art or a regular basis, so the fact I’m still here says that I’m doing something right, but it’s not as good as it should be, I think.”

“For someone like Tele,” says Olson, “it’s a business, but it also has such cultural value. What it’ll take is finding the right kind of corporation that will help you with low rent on the site and the municipality not taxing you heavily because your establishment has cultural value.”

Asencio will do what he can to keep the gallery afloat through the summer, hosting events and showing art he hopes will turn the tide for Artlife, but if he does end up going out of business, he says that he will always be involved in Calgary’s arts community in some form.

“I don’t need a whole lot, just love to keep this place going.”