ASHEVILLE – A downtown building’s revival and dedication to the creative arts have come during a turbulent time for the city’s music and arts sectors.
Third Room founders Hailey Dellinger, Alex Duvall and Whitney Wolf converted the estimated 5,000-square-foot ground level of the former Jubilee! Community ― a nondenominational church in a building that relocated in 2023 ― into a “third space” brimming with creativity and inspiring community connection.
Third Room, at 46 Wall St., debuted with two concerts by Desert Dwellers on opening weekend, Nov. 15-16.
The name “Third Room” refers to the concept of people occupying a third space ― after home and the workplace ― where community members gather.
Dellinger said Third Room’s opening timing wasn’t ideal, considering Tropical Storm Helene and the challenges it would create. The historically catastrophic storm made landfall in Asheville on Sept. 27.
Duvall said delaying opening due to Helene wasn’t an option as rent costs and other expenses demanded payment, and performances were booked.
“We had a great grand opening. We had a full house both nights,” Dellinger said. “It was a sigh of relief to be open and have it be a success because we didn’t know what we were going to see when we opened our doors.”
In December, Papadosio, an Asheville-based multi-genre band, presented a three-night, sold-out concert series, “Holidosio.”
Desert Dwellers were originally scheduled to play Salvage Station, a riverside music venue decimated when the French Broad River rose to a historic height, cresting at 24.67 feet due to Helene.
Third Room employs nearly 25 staff members, including the owners, and a team of about 10 contract workers hired for tasks like sound engineering, deejaying, security and other production positions.
Duvall said Third Room, which has a capacity of 397 people, hired many of Salvage Station’s displaced staff. The expanded team added costs, and the business partners opened with fewer aspects than planned.
The building’s improvement project included renovating restrooms, the plumbing system and engineering, including installing more than a dozen projection machines to the high ceiling.
“We’re grateful to be able to have done that but it was a lot to jump into immediately as a new venue,” Duvall said.
Third Room’s artistic touch
Dellinger said Third Room’s focus on creating a curated cohesion of music and visual art sets it apart from other area venues.
“As we start to lock in our vision and tune up to what we’ve always wanted to do with the space, I see us doing a lot more curated events where we have specific themes and symbology and color schemes and art-deco for a specific event that brings more of an immersive experience to the room,” said Dellinger, an Appalachian State University graduate, who earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting.
She worked as a certified public accountant for Asheville nonprofits before founding Third Room, where she could merge her lifelong love of music and art with her professional business experience to assist with acquiring funding for the creative center.
Wolf and Duvall, co-art directors, curate the visual and audio-visual experiences, design the space and build the large-scale art installations, like the “mycelium” blacklight tunnel at the entrance and the built-in face on the main room’s wall that morphs and moves under different projections.
“The face with the maze, she’s kind of like the overseer of the third space,” said Wolf, who earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art, and worked as an art director and scenic artist for Disney and Universal in Orlando, Florida, creating large-scale art installations, stage designs, and immersive experiences and props for attractions and new rides and festivals.
“She’s like a universal concept where her face is a blank canvas where we can put any ‘mask’ on her and change her look with a click of a button,” he said.
Wolf derives from a family of artists ― his father a classical realist sculptor, art professor and former operator of a bronze foundry, and his mother a museum curator.
Duvall, a digital designer with an affinity for projection mapping and motion graphics and a former Miami, Florida resident said Third Room provides a platform and exposure for up-and-coming artists.
Third Room’s new installation of portals is programmed with different, integrated lighting effects and displays motion art graphics to “transport” audiences to various spaces, landscapes and dimensions.
Third Room’s performance lineup features deejays, electronic music producers and bands.
Wolf said the nearly 360-degree wraparound wall installation constantly changes to create a “captivating, unforgettable experience that’s completely unique” for each show.
“There will never be a performance in Third Room that’s the same,” Wolf said.
Third Room concerts and gallery artists
The 2024 event calendar featured Crystal Method, Phutureprimitive, NOLZ, Celestial Dreamers and Opiuo.
Upcoming concerts include the Late Show with Larry Keel and the Future Grass Band, a bluegrass show on Feb. 8, following the Billy Strings concert at Harrah’s Cherokee Center.
Joe Samba with Dale and the Z Dubs will play reggae on Feb. 14.
The art gallery, equipped with 11 screens, showcases digital and physical artworks from local, national and international visual artists.
“un/natural worlds,” an exhibition of futuristic, surrealist and abstract landscapes, bio-organic and nature subjects and imagery, runs through January. Jack Henry and Annie Kyla Bennett from the Art Garden AVL, a gallery in the River Arts District’s Riverview Station destroyed in Helene, are among the featured artists.
“Asheville has such an incredible, diverse culture,” Wolf said. “We wanted to bring a fresh take on that with the digital art and technology and try to introduce something new to a community that was preexisting and thriving in the arts.”
Third Room
Where: 46 Wall St., downtown.
Gallery hours: 12-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
Info: Purchase event tickets and select artworks at thirdroom.art. High-quality prints and NFTs are available for purchase. For more, follow @thirdroomavl on Instagram.
Third Room is available for private event booking. Interested artists may inquire about exhibiting and performing by contacting Third Room via Instagram direct messages.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Tips, comments, questions? Email tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow @PrincessOfPage on Instagram/Bluesky.