Green Beacon Gallery in Greensburg will stay in its West Pittsburgh Street building for at least one more year as its owners transform the business into a nonprofit.
Hempfield Area graduates Steve and Phil Harrold signed the lease for the downtown Greensburg gallery in June 2020, opening its doors just three months later.
It hosts between 80 and 90 live music performances per year and about the same number of miscellaneous community gatherings — such as movie, painting and record-listening nights. Three couples have even held their wedding ceremonies or receptions at the gallery.
Western Pennsylvania artists hang their work on the gallery’s walls in hopes of attracting buyers.
The gallery’s landlord informed the Harrolds last year they would not be able to renew their lease when it expired in June, prompting the brothers to search for a new location.
The landlord explained to the Harrolds last monthhe had not intended to remove the gallery from the building, said Phil Harrold of Greensburg.
“He just nearly correctly assumed that we probably wouldn’t be able to afford a 30% rent increase,” Phil said.
The landlord for the property, Robert Struhala Jr., declined to comment.
Rent prices have significantly increased since the brothers first signed their lease in 2020, he said.
“(Our landlord) told us he was losing money on our rent, so he raised it to where he was not doing that anymore,” Phil said. “It was super kind of him to work that out with us.
“Even with the extra rent that we’re paying to him, that’s still miles and miles cheaper than anywhere else in downtown (Greensburg) that we were looking at.”
The Harrolds also decided to transform the business into a nonprofit under the same name. The gallery’s nonprofit status went into effect July 1, Phil said.
“We were already kind of a nonprofit on paper,” he said, “because we weren’t making a profit. But hopefully now, we’ll be better equipped to serve the community.”
The brothers will reduce programs at the gallery in July to allow them more time to establish the nonprofit and gather more volunteers.
They hope to expand their volunteer pool from 10 people to 25 people, Phil said.
Phil is grateful for the support the nonprofit has received in recent months, since announcing their search for a new location.
“We’ve got essentially the same mission statement — to inspire people in Greensburg to make art, whether it’s sounds or pictures, and give them a place to show what they make,” Phil said. “I’m just so psyched to continue to be here in service of the musicians and the people that come to see the musicians and the artists and the people that come to see the art.”
How to help
To contact the gallery about volunteering, call 724-237-2737, email greenbeacongallery@gmail.com or visit the “Volunteer” section of its website, greenbeacongallery.com/volunteer.
To donate to the gallery, visit greenbeacongallery.com/donate-1.