PORTLAND, Maine — Leigh Kellis is not afraid of risks.
In 2012, the single mom borrowed $30,000 from family members to start a potato donut shop in a defunct convenience store on Park Avenue. Now, Kellis’ Holy Donut brand boasts five thriving locations, and she was named Maine’s small business owner of the year in 2017.
In 2019, Kellis left her growing donut empire in her brother-in-law’s hands and moved to Hawaii for a year to support her teenage daughter’s competitive surfing career.
Now, Kellis’ latest business gamble hinges on two of the riskiest things in Portland: Art and expensive storefront real estate.
Three weeks ago, she opened “The Gallery of Life” just a block off Monument Square, at 417 Congress St. Kellis is hoping to turn the cavernous, three-floor space most recently occupied by a print shop into an affordable visual and performing artist co-op.
“Portland is so creative,” Kellis said. “To have it all in one place would be so exciting.”
Her business model is still evolving, and she’s open to ideas, but Kellis hopes to attract monthly-dues-paying artists who will utilize the space for art shows, concerts, music recording, stand-up comedy and lectures.
In the short time the space has been open, it’s already hosted a wine tasting, improv theater workshop and reggae Christmas performance, among other events. The copious wall space is all but completely covered with art, as well.
In the coming days, Kellis’ venture will also host a sex education class and a talk by Portland painter, author and Rwandan genocide survivor Frederick Ndabaramiye.
On Tuesday, Kellis sat down to brainstorm with Portland Somali-American rapper and poet Munye Mohamed, better known as Shine.
“I want to do spoken word and poetry here,” Shine said. “You know, get the lights down low, get some tea going. People would be stoked.”
Shine also expressed interest in putting on a full rap show with some of his associates. Kellis said she was into the idea, under the one condition she has for everything that might go on in her new space.
“It just has to be good energy,” she said. “I was on a mission from God to make donuts and bring sweetness into the world — and it’s the same here.”
Shine said that wouldn’t be a problem, and the two started discussing turning the upstairs into a small recording studio. Both agreed that affordable working and performance spaces — not located inside bars — for mid-level artists are sorely lacking amid the city’s ongoing housing crunch and accompanying skyrocketing rents.
“We’re artists, but we don’t have the resources to make art,” said Tanade Muse, another local rapper who accompanied Shine to the meeting.
The enthusiasm was music to Kellis’ ears. But, she said, in order to stay open, she’ll need actual paying co-op members.
To offset the cost of renting the space inside the huge Masonic Building, Kellis hopes to find 100 artists who will pay $100 per month for shared use privileges. Kellis said she’d fund the whole thing herself, if she could.
“I have a nice car and a nice business but no cash,” she said. “But I believe in community, and I want to do something good for the world. Music, art, comedy — its what makes life tolerable.”
