How a Community Art Space is Moving

A glimpse inside Holding Space, a community art gallery in Kingston, NY, that host art classes, mental health workshops, and sells homemade trinkets by local artists. (Photo by Lily Paturzo)

Fractures of light from the disco ball above dance on the blue and white checkered tile floors. Collages, paintings, posters, prints, and photographs pepper the walls of the space, drawing passersby into a wonderland of color and texture. A mess of colored pencils and blank coloring sheets sit on a coffee table in the corner for customers to doodle on. 

By the end of September, all that was left of this space were four blank walls. 

“Being able to be messy and imperfect in a community makes us human,” said Bridget Badore, a photographer and the founder of Holding Space, a community art gallery in Kingston, NY. 

Holding Space is being forced to move out of its current location at the end of September. This is due to a dispute between Badore and her business partner over advertising for local political candidates in Holding Space. Badore said her business partner did not support the values of the candidate she endorsed in Holding Space and so they decided to part ways. 

One neighbor even left a hateful comment saying that Holding Space is “a disgrace to downtown that never should have happened” on their Facebook page. 

“There was a lot of tension in my mind for a while between releasing this physical space and holding on to it,” said Badore.

Holding Space still does not have a storefront to move into. Now, Badore is tasked with keeping the Holding Space community alive without their physical space. 

Since their opening in December 2023, Holding Space has developed into a free workspace for creative collaboration and a respite for LGBTQIA+ artists in the Hudson Valley. These local artists work with Badore to host support groups such as Dead Parent Club, the Business Coven and Grief Group, as well as art and writing workshops and open mics. Badore said she created Holding Space for self-proclaimed ‘lowercase artists’ like her to have a community to belong to. 

“I have to believe in abundance and hope that we’re going to keep growing towards a more loving community together,” said Badore. 

Hudson Valley artist, Lauryn Fenigstein, said she was sad that this part of her life as an artist at Holding Space is over, but she hopes that the community of artists will remain.

“I hope people realize that the community can follow them anywhere,” said Fenigstein. 

While Badore does plan to look for a new location for Holding Space in 2025, she is taking the rest of this year to bring Holding Space outside of its glittery four walls and into the community. Although some of the workshops will be transitioning to Zoom, many of her neighbors have offered their spaces to host support group meetings and events. 

“It will be a cool opportunity to expand, not only in who we’re with, but where we are able to be,” said Badore.

One local artist, Karlie Flood, is using her thrift store, Rewind Kingston, to host collaging workshops that she once taught at Holding Space. 

“[Holding Space] wasn’t about the space itself, it's the concept of community which I feel like people are really lacking after the pandemic,” said Flood. 

Despite the easy shift to alternative spaces for the workshops, Flood said that Holding Space’s temporary closure will have a greater negative impact on the people that used Holding Space as a place to collaborate on projects or even as a remote work location.

“I think because [Holding Space] was free to be in, that definitely opened a lot of doors for people who didn't have the money to pay for a co-working space, which I definitely don't,” said Flood. “It's definitely going to be more of a hit for our community.”

A Polaroid of Karlie Flood and other Holding Space guests during a collaging workshop at Holding Space. (Courtesy of Bridget Badore)

Bridget Badore, a New York City based photographer and founder of Holding Space, a community art space that opened in December 2023 in Kingston, NY. (Courtesy of Bridget Badore).

Badore said she has made her peace with closing this chapter of Holding Space. She has memorialized the art and events in a Holding Space Yearbook and hosted a goodbye party for the space. 

For now, Holding Space will leave its physical space behind but take all of the people that came from it with them into their next chapter. 

“I'm really excited about the magic in the void about all of this,” said Badore.