A Brief History of the NOAA and Gallery Vertigo....continued
The group quickly grew in size and moved on to the next logical step which was
to exhibit together. A desire to create and view art of a more alternative nature
was a uniting force that drove the group forward.
In December 2000, a call was issued to all artists in the region for a group exhibition which was held in a vacant storefront in Vernon's downtown district. A second exhibition was planned for the spring of 2001. Encouraged by the overwhelming response from both local artists and the public, the association, which had grown to about 40 artists, incorporated as a registered non-profit society in February of 2001. The North Okanagan Artists Alternative was born. The group continued to exhibit in random available spaces over the next year.
In the spring of 2002, the N.O.A.A. Society organized a members' exhibition in a particularly appealing second story location in a heritage building in the downtown core. A core group of N.O.A.A. artists rented the space soon after, renovated it at their own expense and launched an alternative gallery.
The gallery's artists officially merged with the N.O.A.A. in May 2003, forming an even larger, stronger, more vibrant and unified artistic community thereby creating the North Okanagan's first Artist Run Centre.
The society currently boasts about 80 members and that number continues to grow each year. The space houses two exhibition galleries, studio areas for eight artists, a large workshop/classroom and a resource room geared towards professional development for artists. Programming has expanded to include the literary arts and musical events as well as continuing to host a regular schedule of exhibitions of visual art and arts related workshops.