By Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor
Cultivate 7Twelve, an art gallery located on Austin Avenue, will be closing its doors for good in January 2025. Owner Debbie Wright announced the news via an Instagram post on Oct. 31.
Wright explained that the gallery was forced to make the decision to close due to their landlord doubling the rent for the building.
“We got to a really great point, but now downtown Waco is booming and everything is just growing so much,” Wright said. “We just cannot keep up with it.”
For years, Cultivate 7Twelve has served as a place for local artists to display their work and for the community to gather in admiration and appreciation of various types of visual arts. Wright said that at the time the gallery opened, there were no other art galleries or performance spaces in Waco.
“Our mission always has been to get art into the community and make it accessible,” Wright said. “We want to make sure it’s welcoming and diverse, and we’re just making a voice for those who have not been heard in Waco before, and making it a space where everybody can come together and see something they hadn’t seen before.”
San Antonio senior Ellie Cerwin, a studio art student at Baylor and employee at Cultivate 7Twelve, has held a few of her own exhibitions at the gallery. The most recent was also her first solo exhibition, titled “She’s Still a Part of Me.”
The space has welcomed exhibitions and displays from Waco and Baylor artists alike, Cerwin said. Some of these submissions included artworks that didn’t make it into the university’s student art show. These pieces reside on the upper level of the gallery in a space called the “Salon of Rejects.”
“Part of the reason why I’m so sad that Cultivate is closing is because so many people care about this space,” Cerwin said. “The art world cannot die, especially in this concept.”
Aside from Art Center Waco, Cerwin said Cultivate 7Twelve was the only art gallery in Waco that has been known to accept submissions from students and other amateurs. Cultivate 7Twelve has also partnered with these less experienced artists for a few exhibitions, and Cerwin said she participated in a recent show with a few other Baylor students.
December marks the gallery’s seven-year anniversary, Wright said. In celebration, a casino-style James Bond-themed party will be held on New Year’s Eve, with the countdown to the new year doubling as the countdown to the gallery’s close. Wright said the event will be open to the public.
“We’re gonna end the year strong,” Wright said. “New Year’s Eve is our big fundraiser, so that’s like a last chance for people to come and support and donate.”
Up until its last day, weekly classes will continue to be held, as well as a black tie art showcase on Dec. 6 and a Nightmare Before Christmas-themed vendor market on Dec. 13.
Wright said that while the building will no longer be open as a gallery, Cultivate 7Twelve — which she plans to rebrand to “Cultivate Waco” — will be kept alive by other means. She plans to attend pop-up shops and art fairs in the area as a way to continue to exhibit and support Waco artists, in addition to possibly setting up a pop-up in Richland Mall around Valentine’s Day.
“We just want to continue to provide a space, and even if that is in a different way — either by doing pop-ups or by doing other community events — we still want to make sure we’re out in the community because that’s really what’s important to me as the owner,” Wright said. “I just have loved getting to see the growth of Ellie throughout her full artistic career and her college career. It’s been so inspiring to see all the other artists come together and just fill this space both literally and metaphorically with love and work. And it’s just so important for us to keep going.”
Wright said to follow along with Cultivate 7Twelve’s social media for updates and further announcements on the gallery.
