This just in from Space Gallery in Portland:

"SPACE Gallery announces the resignation of Todd Bernard, its founding director, and the hiring of Ian Paige as the Events Programmer. Bernard drew upon his experience as an artist, educator and event planner when co-founding SPACE in 2002 with Jon Courtney. After six months’ work gutting a former pizza parlor in a storefront location in the heart of the arts district at 538 Congress Street, Bernard and Courtney opened SPACE with a group art exhibition that featured works in a variety of media and invited the participation of the public. It didn’t take SPACE long to become home to a wide range of emerging artists, local and touring musicians, and documentary film screenings."

The news is not unexpected. Word on the street for the past several months was that Bernard would be leaving to pursue a project related to developing a performing arts space, with seating for 500. This press release makes his departure official.

The other significance is the impact that Bernard and his staff have had on the Portlands arts scene. In its five years, Space made its reputation for presenting a great range of programming, both in performing arts and visual arts.

As evidence of that, in 2007 the gallery was named one of the top 40 music venues in the United States by the national music magazine Paste.

A musician, Paige has worked at Space for several years. He also is a local writer. Paige will book local and national touring acts and work with the rest of the gallery staff to develop other performance, literary and film events.

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