A plan is underway to turn one of the galleries at the Grant Theatre Center for the Arts into co-operative to offer artwork at a more affordable price and introduce some new works to the community.

The Grand Theatre is revamping its Matthews Gallery to become a co-op exhibition space, where artists, musicians, songwriters and poets from Tracy and around the country can show off and sell their work. While all types of art are eligible for submission, the gallery will be curated to ensure top quality. Gallery supervisor William Wilson said it won’t be run like a gift or thrift shop.

The new gallery will open on Dec. 8, with public hours running from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free.

“This has been something I’ve been considering for years across my career,” Wilson said. “The Matthews gallery is a little quirky architecturally and it lends itself to different uses. The artists in the community are hungry for this. People have asked if we have additional work for sale.”

Wilson said this new co-op will target art lovers who want to buy art, but can’t afford paintings and sculptures worth thousands of dollars. There will be a price limit of $500 for art sold there.

The co-op gallery accepts original artwork, as well as books, designed products, CDs and DVDs, clothing, jewelry and toys. Works can be dropped off at the Grand, 715 Central Ave. or e-mailed to William.Wilson@ci.tracy.ca.us.

“People are hungry for art, they are just hungry for art at a price point that makes sense for them,” Wilson said. “It’s an experiment, we’re going to try some off the wall things in there. We should be able to laugh and try some things that maybe wouldn’t be appropriate in the formal space.”

Wilson said the other galleries at the Grand — the Souza and GWF Energy galleries — would still be used traditionally. He said that if this is received well, he wants to make it an ongoing feature at the theatre.

Works of art will be rotated every few weeks, Wilson said. He estimated that while half of the artwork available will be from local people, the other half would be from all over the country. Wilson said he’s already working with local artists such as wood worker Mark Knize, watercolor painter Lynn Petz, sculptor and metalworker Frank Cameron and photographers Alice DeLaurier-O’Neal and Glenn Moore.

“I look at this as an ongoing project,” Wilson said. “As long as this doesn’t fail, I’d love to keep doing this.”

Contact Tracy Press reporter Justin Lafferty at 830-4269 or jlafferty@tracypress.com.