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Impact Recognized: Chautauqua Art Gallery owner receives Art Service Inc Spark Award

By Sara Holthouse 7 min read

 Leslie Calimeri, owner of Chautauqua Art Gallery spends a lot of her time advocating for the arts and bringing local artists together, and her work was recently recognized by her nomination and receiving of an award from Art Service's Inc.

The Spark Awards, presented by Arts Services Inc., celebrates the artists, organizations, educators, advocates, and creative leaders whose work strengthens Western New York's arts and cultural community. Through an open nomination process reviewed by a panel of industry peers, the awards recognize outstanding creativity, leadership, collaboration, and community impact across Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany counties.

Calimeri was nominated by Cathy Panebianco for the Community Organizer Spark Award, which she received honorable mention for.

"I wanted to nominate Leslie because she is such a passionate advocate for the arts and a driving force behind connecting artists and communities throughout Chautauqua County and the greater Western New York region," Panebianco said. "As a Chautauqua County artist, I see all of the work Leslie does through her gallery, public art initiatives, classes, and community partnerships. She has created meaningful opportunities for artists to share their work while making the arts more accessible and welcoming to the public."

The Community Organizer Spark Award recognizes individuals whose events, programs and other efforts strengthen connections within the arts and cultural sector. This is something Panebianco said Calimeri does, bringing people together, creating opportunities for collaboration and continually finding ways to make the arts a bigger part of the local community.

"I think the people who are most deserving of recognition are often the last ones to receive it," Panebianco said. "Leslie is incredibly humble, and I'm so happy to see her receive the recognition she deserves. I'm especially thrilled that Arts Services Inc. recognized Leslie for something that is at the heart of everything she does: bringing people together. She consistently supports artists, encourages collaboration, and creates welcoming opportunities for people to experience and participate in the arts. Her generosity, dedication, and genuine care for the creative community have made a lasting difference. It's wonderful to see that impact recognized beyond our local community."

For Calimeri herself, being nominated for and receiving this award is flattering.

"I'm flattered really," Calimeri said. "I'm not one for the spotlight typically, so it's so very flattering that someone would submit my name and I would be recognized that way. I felt a little shy. I love doing the work that I do but I'm not really the best self-promoter, so usually the work I promote is about the collective of art that we're doing, so it was different to be talking about myself. I'm humbled and flattered."

The Art Services Initiative, Calimeri said, used to give out these awards annually with a banquet and around Covid it was put on a shelf for a while, with things starting again now. Calimeri added there were hundreds of submissions, which adds to her being flattered to receive one. Another Chautauqua County artist, Kaycee Colburn, was also nominated and won an Art Service Inc award alongside Calimeri.

Calimeri's recipient of the award, she said, was because of her work with art in the community, specifically the Artscape banners downtown and the work that goes into supporting local artists as a whole and connecting them to each other.

"One of the great things about Artscape is how it connects people locally," Calimeri said. "We don't have a local arts company or a lot of formal ways for artists to get together, so when I see artists in our area meeting each other at Artscape and becoming connected and doing things with each other afterwards, it's really a great feeling and I've seen a lot of positivity come from that aspect of it."

Artscape, she added, is a great community builder and people love to see their art or their family's art downtown on the banners. Some come to the city just to see the banners outside, and Calimeri said it is fun to help make those connections and see them happening and celebrate the talent of the area.

Calimeri will be going to the awards banquet on October 6, where she will be recognized, and she said it is "a nice feather in my cap", and will help her keep the energy going to bring artists together downtown. For example, with Artscape, about Covid time when the oak trees on Third Street had to come down, Calimeri said she helped do a virtual art show and got many artists to contribute to that, with proceeds going towards the Community Foundation to support the costs of the planned new trees.

Working on that with the Community Foundation and Dan Stone with the Parks Department led to many other community art projects. Artscape just finished its fourth year, and the banner project was supported by multiple organizations in the city following the virtual art show.

Other upcoming plans and ideas for public art projects include redoing the art in the alleys downtown, connecting with local high schools for a senior art show in the spring at Chautauqua Art Gallery. The show will highlight seniors from across the county and then select artwork from that show to update the work in the alleys in Jamestown, with the idea to do a similar show every year to keep things refreshed every few years.

An email has gone out for that, and Calimeri said she is working with Stephanie Baker at Southwestern School to get the information out. Other projects are coming up next summer, but Calimeri said they are waiting on the funding for that.

"It's been exciting to see all of the art opportunities coming to Jamestown, whether I am involved with them or not," Calimeri said. "I'm really just proud to be a part of getting that going right now."

A lot of hard work goes into the Chautauqua Art Gallery, Calimeri said, also praising her coworker and friend Joe Grace. Another local artist, Grace has been working at the gallery with Calimeri, and she said it has taken the two of them to keep it running and doing everything they get to do. Grace has also been a big part of the energy and direction for the art gallery, with a big grant funded mural by him expected to be going up on the side of the gallery next month.

"We live in a great arts community," Calimeri said. "There's so many talented people here, whether they work as a professional artist or they have other professional jobs. We get to highlight them in Artscape whether they are a professional artist or have a day job, and they are just very talented artists aside from their day job. I'm glad we are showcasing that in Chautauqua County and that we are part of that scene right now, and the whole group of people that are coming together to lift each other up here."

A few more events for the Chautauqua Art Gallery are coming up, including the fifth year of Artscape, which applications will open for around December. Final dates for that will be planned in the next few weeks. Another art show opens Saturday and runs to October 31, highlighting some new artists in the gallery that Calimeri said they have not had before. The show is called "Down the Rabbit Hole" and Calimeri said it is a unique show compared to things they have hosted before. Other big projects are planned once funding is officially secured as well.

"I just feel fortunate to be here and be living this artistic life in Jamestown, surrounded by other artists and the support that we have for each other," Calimeri said. "It's not just me doing things, there's a lot of people doing the work in the area."

Chautauqua Art Gallery is located at 318 North Main Street. For more information on the gallery, find them on Facebook, call (716)294-3027, or visit chautauquaartgallery.com. Calimeri's personal website and work can be viewed at lesliecalimeri.com.

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