Victoria Abadir on Turning Volatility Into Opportunity

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0:35Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, reveal the stories behind their successes, and the lessons they've learned. Join Mark and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights, and a bit of fun. Now, let's dive in. Good morning, America. How are you? Yeah. We're here in Philadelphia and it's one of those kind of always sunny in Philadelphia days. And I'm here with our guest, Victoria, who I'll formally introduce in a minute. But our topic of the day, just because I can't help but feeling it, is volatility. So as many of you know, I'm in the financial business and we talk about volatility in markets.

1:16We follow one of the indexes, indices that we follow is the volatility index. but it just feels volatile politically. There's wars going on at the moment, and there's just a lot of volatility. And I know it affects a lot of businesses in different ways. So, Victoria, I wanted to ask you about when you hear that word, what do you think of in your context in terms of what you do and where you live and all that kind of thing? Hi, good morning. Good morning. So I think when I think of volatility, so I'm in the arts industry, And I think the arts can be volatile in many different ways. I think specifically when you're thinking about volatility in the arts in a community in general, you're thinking at how delicate your arts districts, your arts community can be.

2:07And without enough attention and support from your local government, from the community in general, from the businesses around it, from your tourism, that delicate ecosystem can disappear in a moment. And in Lancaster right now, we're really experiencing kind of a growth and a lot of attention towards a growing arts industry. So I think we're growing, but it can be sensitive, and we have to make sure we're paying enough attention to that in order to make sure that we have a really healthy industry and a really healthy space for the arts to grow and to thrive. Very well done. I just have to say, because I'm very transparent on the show, while I'm messing around with headphones and the technical, you kept going, and you did a great job, Victoria.

3:00So I really appreciate you carrying that for me. So I am back and let me now introduce you to our guest today, Victoria Abadir. And she is the founder and owner of Lancaster Art Vault, a 15 ,000 square foot art gallery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, featuring 24 resident artists alongside with rotating exhibitions. She's a Lancaster native, although she had left and gone to New York like many of the people I've met from Lancaster and came back. And there's a lot of reasons to come back to Lancaster. She's a dedicated community volunteer with a passion for supporting and uplifting the city that she calls home.

3:37Having served on various arts and community-focused boards, she saw an opportunity to transform an empty space into a vibrant hub that elevates and supports Lancaster's creative community. And I just want to say, before I officially welcome her, that this is part of a series, as you know, that we're doing on Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that is often rated. It's on all the lists as one of the best places to live in America now. So I feel like it's a spiritual home of mine, even though I don't live there, and it's not far from Philadelphia, along with my other spiritual home, which is actually a home of mine, Babcock Ranch, Florida, which is another one of the best places to live on the lists.

4:17So we're doing these series because it's more than about the businesses there. It's about what's happening in these communities and how they're transforming and how everybody wants to go there and live there and return there. in the case of Lancaster. So I'd love to talk to you a little bit about that context. But in the meantime, welcome, Victoria. Hi, welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Why don't we, why we're on that? Why don't we talk about that? What brought you back to Lancaster and what do you find fulfilling about being there today? Absolutely. So I spent some time, as you mentioned, in New York where I met my husband.

4:50And after, you know, the growth of the dot-com industry and working in a small startup, things had to change. We ended up coming back to Lancaster and to my family with the birth of our first child. And your husband's not from Lancaster, right? Nope, he's from New York. Right, gotcha. Yes, so we met him there. And we were both looking for a place that we could raise a family. Knowing my family was in Lancaster, we thought it would be a great move. And surprisingly, a move from New York to Lancaster wasn't that difficult. We lived in New York, we lived in Tribeca, in the village, very neighborhood-ly area.

5:24I've lived in the village. It's a wonderful place to live here. It's fantastic. It's walkable. Great restaurants, great diversity. Lancaster is very walkable. It has great diversity. It has great food. It has really great art scene. And so we came back and found a little, you know, a downtown home, which we renovated, and lived in the city, walking to market, walking to restaurants, and just kind of fell in love with it. A little different pace, I would say, though, right? Definitely a different pace. Yes, absolutely. But nice for a family. Well, I was going to say, as you have a family, like I love New York and always thought I would live there again.

5:59In hindsight, I thought I'd raise a family. I couldn't see that, you know, so I get it. Easy train trip right up to New York or down to Philadelphia, so nice and central as well. So I'm going to summarize this quickly, but your background was actually had nothing to do with art. You're not an artist, right? And you worked in HR for a series of startups, so you had a nice career going. and I know then in Lancaster you got involved with developing community to a certain extent. But in terms of this business, you're what I'd call an accidental entrepreneur. Yeah, absolutely. So tell our audience how that happened.

6:34Yeah, so there was a space in Lancaster right on the corner of Orange and Queen Street, which is one block from the convention center and the city square, one block up from Gallery Row, which houses a lot of art galleries, and it was sitting there vacant. And as you mentioned, 15 ,000 square feet on the first floor of this building. And it was also adjacent to Binns Park, which is a city sort of gathering spark. It was just sitting dark. The bank that was there had moved out and it was just this dark corner. And I kind of thought, what could be done with this? And we tried getting restaurants in there and a number of other businesses went down to Alexandria, Virginia and stumbled into the Torpedo Factory, which is a place where there's a lot of artists with individual studios and walked around there and said, you know, I feel like I can do something like this here in Lancaster.

7:25And so I came back and just started walking the space, walking it over and over again and just sort of imagining. Called up a friend of mine, Christiane David, who I've known for years. She is a long-term impressionist artist in Lancaster. She's had two galleries on Gallery Row and I said, I have this crazy idea. What do you think? And she came down and she said, yeah, you've got to do this. We need space for artists to work. We need space for artists to show. You need to do this. I want that studio. I'm your first artist on board. And let's do a pop-up in four weeks to test the market. And I said, no, I can't.

8:01That's crazy. It's November 1st and you want me to open this December 1st? Somehow we pulled it together. We did a pop-up for the month of December, tested the market. and it was really well received and it was a lot of fun. So we went from there. So how long after that did it take you to actually get the space ready and to open? Yeah, so we closed our doors right after Christmas and started working on permitting and construction. And my goal was to open in September of 2024 with a soft opening in August. And the word got out, more artists started signing up and I was about 60 % full in April and the artists were saying, you've got to open these doors.

8:44Like we can't keep sitting here in this construction. This is like the opposite of what you hear of all startup businesses. Yeah. Because you ended up starting before your projected date. We started before. And so we knew Spring Art Walk was coming up. It's a great, you know, a great event in Lancaster in the first weekend in May of 24. I said, all right, well, let's open these doors. We don't have any art on the walls. What are we going to do? So we partnered with another nonprofit, Music for Everyone, got some of the art they had in storage, had their pianos and their artists come in and opened for Spring Art Walk in May and then just pulled together some exhibitions and made it happen.

9:22Very interesting. So you did it with not a lot of money. You got a grant up front, right? And a low interest loan, I understand. And if I might say this, I believe you're in the black after two years in business. We are. We are. Especially for an arts-oriented business. That's pretty amazing. Yeah, it's been really great. So your model is, I know that you have 24 resident artists, right? And then you also have other exhibitions that come in that rotate. May I ask, I assume that maybe, so artists pay rent, right? Does that carry your basic expenses? That's the idea. Yeah, the idea is that, yes, the artists, and we don't, they don't say pay rent, they pay a membership fee.

10:01Gotcha. Because they're not tied into a long-term lease. Right. which makes it really appealing for an artist. Like subscriptions, like everything else. Exactly, exactly. But it allows an artist to, if it's not working for them, to move on and they're not tied into a year lease, which makes it very appealing. And it also, it's a low point of entry for them as well, which is great. Do they move in and out or do most of them stay? Most of them stay. That's what I thought. Absolutely. We've lost a very small handful, mostly because they've moved out of town. One to Seattle, one to Ecuador, and one to Georgia.

10:32And that's it. Because I have to think not only that you have a nice space, reasonable subscription amount, but the camaraderie and the synergies that are created, I got to think are pretty amazing. Absolutely. You've got artists who are very well seasoned, like Christian David, who I mentioned, Peter Stevenson, as well as we also have a lot of new emerging artists. And just that sort of communication and interaction between artists at every stage of their career is really incredible. and everyone saying, I need a little bit of advice. What do you think of this? Or where am I in this painting?

11:06Any advice you would have. And that sort of exchange of idea is what really makes the space exciting. Now, isn't this interesting? I just thought about this because the whole world is moving towards more remote work, right? And it's kind of maybe retreating from that a little bit now. But in general, you know, we went from people working and collaborating in person and artists are those people that usually worked alone and in isolation on their own and deeply involved in their art and that kind of thing. And you've created the opposite of that. You're going the opposite direction where you're bringing people together and there's collaboration and there's camaraderie.

11:40They're probably much happier and they're probably more productive. And I got to think it's more profitable because you have a space where people can come in and buy the art and see them at work and that kind of thing. Absolutely. And I think that's what really makes us different and what people really love. Even if the artist is not in studio, their doors are open. So a guest can come in and go into studio and see what's on the easel, see their palette of paints, see what they're working on. The studio also acts as an extension of the gallery, so it gives the artist an ability to showcase more work.

12:12And I think you're right. As a gallery, we can sell artists' work, but nothing sells a painting or a drawing or a piece of artwork more than the artist itself. When you're buying a piece of art, you're connecting to the art, but you're also connecting to the story behind it. you're connecting to the artist. And so having the artist in the space really allows our guests to understand and to connect and come home with something really special. And I think that's really unique. Other than the Torpedo Factory, are there many other places like that around the country? I assume it's growing. Yeah, there are.

12:46There are. There's other models locally. There's the Goggle Works in Redding, Banana Factory, which they've changed their name up in Allentown. There's a great new place down in Baltimore. The name escapes me. but they took an old school and they actually have residences for artists as well. So it's affordable housing along with studio space, which is really cool. Of course, Asheville has a ton. So it is a model that is growing. Philadelphia has the Cherry Street Pier. It's a model that's growing in both large and small communities. I would think there's an opportunity there to connect with all these other places and maybe bring their artists as visiting artists to each other's galleries and that kind of thing.

13:27Is there any kind of collaboration like that going on? I wouldn't say we have any formal collaboration there, but there are a lot of artists that we pull, especially from the Goggle Works, that show their work in Reading and they come down and see our work as well. Fairly close by. Fairly close by. We like to try to keep our artists somewhat regionally. We have so much talent within the Lancaster area and surrounding. We don't feel that we need to pull too far away. We did have an artist come in from L.A., but he was originally from Lancaster, so that tie is there. How about Philly? Yep. We have a number of artists who come in from Philly.

14:06A great artist, Michael James. Oh, my goodness. He's young, 23 years old. It's fantastic. So, yeah, we pull from the Philadelphia area as well. So interesting. I never usually hear of Philadelphia as that Lancaster surrounds, but it's pretty cool. So with that, we're going to take a really quick break because it's that time. And we'll be right back on Founders Forum with Victoria Abadir. Discover creativity, community, and culture at Lancaster Art Vault in the heart of downtown Lancaster. Lancaster Art Vault is a contemporary art gallery and working artist studio space featuring 24 resident artists creating and exhibiting on site.

14:44Guests can explore what's currently on the easel, meet the artists in their studios, and experience the creative process firsthand. Showcasing local, regional, and emerging talent through inspiring exhibitions, events, and community programming, Lancaster Art Vault offers something for collectors, art lovers, and curious visitors alike. From vibrant opening receptions to ever-changing artwork and experiences, there's always something new to discover. Visit Lancaster Art Vault in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania and experience Lancaster's thriving creative community. Follow them on Instagram at Lancaster Art Vault and learn more at www.lancasterartvault.com.

15:28We are back on Founders Forum with our guest today, Victoria Abadir, who is founder of Lancaster Art Vault, a really interesting business and business model. As I mentioned before, you're an unlikely and kind of surprise entrepreneur. It kind of popped out of nowhere. And it's kind of like it sounds like instant success. But I know we do a show about entrepreneurs that it's not just this instant and it's a smooth ride. So I know you had some challenges along the way. What kind of challenges did you face? Yeah, definitely not an instant success. But a lot of work along the way. I'd say probably our biggest challenge was really at the beginning, trying to get the space ready.

16:06I really didn't know what I needed to do in terms of permitting and licensing and all of those things to get the space ready. And you're always held up as you are in any sort of start of a business to get those things done. So we were behind the ball a little bit there. Also, quite honestly, as you mentioned, I don't have a background in art. I literally had no idea. Yeah, I literally had no idea what I was doing. And so biggest challenge was just trying to figure it out as I went without a partner, without a mentor, and making a lot of mistakes. But really, you know, pivoting, giving it a try, and learning from those mistakes.

16:45Also, I mean, this is, art is very subjective, of course. But you have to pick good artists to have people want to come in and keep coming back. And were you an art fan? Or how did you determine how you would pick the best artists for the situation? Yeah, I was an art fan, but without a whole lot of knowledge. And that was definitely some growth as well, especially when it came to pricing. You know, I kind of followed the lead of the artist, and I'm getting a little bit better now of figuring out what our market is and what's going to sell. Really making sure that the art I was picking was different so that there was always a different sort of medium or style throughout the gallery, making it engaging.

17:27one thing that we also do is we actually do a community call aligned with every single show each of our shows are themed and so that brings in along with our guest artists that show full series some really a new dynamic what a community call is that like a zoom no so so for example our current show is called imaginary spaces which is abstracts and dreamscapes so we have four we have five artists that are our guest artists to fill the space but we have a lot of space so we actually put a call out to the community so additional artists can submit one to three pieces and from there we do a blind sort of selection so we'll bring another like 20 to 30 pieces how do you get the word out social media social media website newsletters all of those things word of mouth and um it's just provides another opportunity for artists within our community to showcase their work in our in our space so now you're getting even more like let's say beginning artists or less known artists in the door that way as well.

18:25And we're sourcing artists that way. There's great artists that we'll find through the community call that we'll then invite in to be a guest artist. Interesting. Yeah. A headlining guest artist. I guess some of those could be future resident artists if you have the space for them. Absolutely. It's a great feeder and it's a great way to discover. So through the things you had to learn, what would you say, what strengths have you built? So I'd say the biggest thing I've learned is, as you said, I'm an accidental entrepreneur. I've always been very careful and just, you know, giving it a try, just doing it.

18:53Because if you don't do it, it's not going to get done. And that sort of happened when we opened early. I said, okay, well, we're just going to do this. So giving things a try, pivoting if it doesn't work, learning and listening, listening to my artists, taking their ideas. There's been more times than not when an artist has come to me and said, I don't think this is working. I said, well, this is the way it is. I take 24 hours. I come back to them. We discuss it. And oftentimes my mind has changed. Listening to the community, hearing what their needs are, what they want, realizing that we have a need for lower cost studio space for emerging artists, making that happen.

19:32So really giving things a try, pivoting when they don't work, and adopting new ideas and listening. You just said the word I kept thinking about, the pivot, the art of the pivot. Yeah. Important for entrepreneurs. We talk about that on the show a lot. Absolutely. It's great. Yeah. So very good. So let me ask you this. I mean, you've had, I think it's phenomenal. I know it's not without challenges, and I didn't mean to say like overnight success. But two years is pretty quick to be turning a profit, particularly in an art-based type of business. So congratulations on that, first of all. What do you see for the future?

20:08If we looked out, we like to talk about three years from now. So if this is 2029 in May and you and I are talking, we're looking back on the last three years, what would have had to happen, Victoria, for you to feel like that was a successful three-year period in your business and or your life? Yeah, I think just continuing the growth of the vault, especially through our events and through education. So we have a workshop room. I think there's a lot of opportunity there, both for artists to teach and for community to take workshops. I'd also think I'd expand it beyond just the Lancaster Art Vault.

20:42Lancaster in general is going through a sort of resurgence of the arts. There's a lot more galleries that are coming in, and there's actually a big economic impact study occurring right now, not just within the visual arts, but performance and culinary and everything. Well, I was going to say food, music. Yeah, all of it. Theater, everything is going on, and it's amazing in Lancaster what's happening. It really is, and what I'd love to see in three years is there to be a really significant growth there with an art council. And perhaps more galleries or spaces that are doing what we're doing, more studio spaces for artists, more community gathering space for artists and the community, just more space for the arts to be and for collaboration to happen among the arts.

21:27So not just visual, but also bringing in poetry, spoken word, theater, dance, all of those things and spaces for artists to be able to grow, to create, to market, to sell. So what challenges do you see in accomplishing that vision over the next few years? I think, you know, kind of going back to what we said at the beginning is the volatility aspect and making sure that the attention is there. I think the challenges are always sort of money and budget. So making sure that there is money, there's budget items, that there is an organization sort of behind it to make sure that the growth continues to happen.

22:04The attention is there, and the intention is there as well. Not only attention, but the intention of growing this community, growing Lancaster as an arts-based community, and spreading the word regionally and nationally. We've seen it before. And I think from a financial perspective, it used to be that if you're in the arts, you could look to grants. You could look to the – I mean, they're still out there. You had received one, but it's getting harder and harder. government is tightening up and getting out of the art space so you have to be more financially self-sufficient in these projects which sounds like you're doing you know which is which is really you have a great head start towards that yeah that's wonderful um and you're so this this to me is a story of and you're not you weren't you didn't spearheaded this because you've just been doing a two years two two years uh ago you started but you were involved in it because i I know you were involved in the Lancaster community.

23:01And really, Lancaster has been on a revitalization kind of path, a community entrepreneurship path, because there's a lot of entrepreneurs, and we've had many of them on the show already. There's a lot of creative innovation going on, and you're right in the thick of all that, I think. Yeah. Do you see that slowing down in Lancaster? I really don't. Lancaster City is filled with owner businesses, and it's incredible the amount of growth that's occurring. The restaurants are popping up everywhere. We're rooted in history. We've got a ton of history, but yet we're so much growth. And people who come to Lancaster from all over, they're returning to Lancaster, they're coming to retire, they're coming for an art scene, they're coming because they want to be able to have a walkable, really dynamic city.

23:52And I think with all of that, we're just going to continue to grow. And we have a great new mayor who's really excited about the growth. And I'm really excited to see where we are in that three to five-year time period and how the city will have expanded. It's exciting. By the way, you mentioned the history. So growing up outside of Lancaster in the Philadelphia suburbs, I experienced Lancaster as the home of the Amish, Dutch wonderland. Hershey was nearby. And that was about it, right? That's what you thought of. But there actually is a lot of history that I've learned recently that if you go to Lancaster, you find out very closely connected to the birth of the nation.

24:33This goes way before all of that. And people are starting to highlight that. And there's little organizations that are starting to highlight it. And a lot of the organizations, the people that I'm meeting are aware of that and are building on that history and building on the culture that's always been there. but it's really kind of just come out of come into its own i'd say over the last 20 years maybe 20 30 years something like that and and it's doing it on a big basis we met through deb brandt who has fig and she has these big uh launch parties every every quarter for fig magazine which i'm going to say again i think is the best city magazine i've ever seen it's it's on high quality paper it's really really done well and it does a great job to showcase lancaster and now she's in other cities as well.

25:22And it's something special. Like if you haven't been to Lancaster, you got to go visit and you got to go check this out and just listen to our series of podcasts. You'll find out about a lot of the entrepreneurs. You can get good wine, good food, good art. You can experience a lot of great things by going there. Let me ask you a couple other questions. Let me ask, these are surprise questions because you didn't pick them. Usually we let our guests pick them in advance. What kind of music do you like to listen to? So I really like all music. I don't really have a specific genre, but I'll be honest with you.

25:55When I'm driving, I'm a big reader. So I'm constantly reading a book and I'm listening to a book. So I'm a reader. I'm a podcaster. And so there's usually like two books on my nightstand, two books on my Audible. You're a podcaster. You're listening to podcasts. I like listening to podcasts. You don't have your own podcast. Correct. Correct. Yeah. You should though. We could talk about that. Okay. If you'd like to have your own podcast, you would be good at it. So listen, that's not unusual and that's a great answer. Thank you very much. Do you have a favorite movie? Oh, gosh, a favorite movie.

26:24Oh, I really wish I could think of it. I'm going to let you off the hook on that one if it comes to you before the end. Let me ask you one other question. If you could speak to your younger self, what would you encourage about to yourself to do? I would encourage my younger self to take risks. I did a little bit after college, but I think I was really careful sort of growing up. And I think I would just sort of be confident in myself, take more risks in high school, expand a bit more, and then a little bit after college as well. Just take the risks. It's the only time you can. Well, we're out of time, so I'm not going to put you on the spot about the movie again.

27:01So thanks so much for being here, Victoria. Get back to me. We'll talk about it. Thank you all for listening. It's a pleasure to have you here on Founders Forum, and we look forward to speaking with you again next week. Founders Forum was brought to you in part by March Forward LLC. We partner with entrepreneurs like you to assist in accomplishing your future vision, your life, your business, your legacy. Comprehensive wealth planning that starts with you, not a product. We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum and that you found something of value to take with you throughout your day.

27:33Join us again next week for another episode of Founders Forum on WWDB 860 AM Philadelphia or on your favorite podcast streaming service. Securities offered through DFBG Investments, LLC. DFBG. Investment Advisory Services offered through Diversify Advisory Services, LLC. Diversify. DAS and DFBG are affiliated entities. March is unaffiliated with DAS and DFBG. Members FINRA slash SIPC. The information provided in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as investment advice. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Diversify or DFBG.