Cleopatra's was the name of the deli that had previously occupied our space. Our model wasn’t quite that of a nonprofit, but it was one that didn’t need to depend on selling the work we showed to survive. We’ve always felt more like the artists in the room. But we also observed that the alternative venues active around the same time as Cleopatra’s weren’t necessarily doing what we considered to be a fair share of work on the “gallery” side to warrant the cut of sales they were taking. By splitting the space’s monthly rent and removing the expectation of sales to offset that cost, we put ourselves in the same boat with the artists we worked with—almost all of whom paid for studios to work in after they’d finished at their day jobs—and this established a mutual understanding that was critical to our relationships with the artists with whom we collaborated. It’s pretty beautiful to think back on the fact that the space was really just an outcropping of our desire to engage directly with artists we admired. How better to include yourself in this conversation than by putting comparable skin in the game? . . .