Lydia Weinberger, Arts & Entertainment Editor 

History 

Founded in 1937 by Sylvia and Joe Gray as the Carolina Sales Company, a catalog and surplus store with a 14-room boarding house above, the cacophony that is now Elsewhere is far from unfamiliar to the people of Greensboro. After Joe’s death in 1955, Sylvia transformed the store into her personal dragon’s hoard, which she added to and maintained until the day before her death in 1997. In 2003, her grandson, George Scheer, and Stephanie Sherman (a director, producer, curator and social design strategist) took over Elsewhere as cofounders and began guiding it on its new journey as a living museum. 

Artist in Residence

Started in 2005, Elsewhere offers two main artist residency opportunities: a four-week timeline ($2,500 in fees) and a two-week timeline ($1,500 in fees). Elsewhere details their artist eligibility as follows: “Elsewhere embraces an expansive view of creative practice and actively seeks artists with diverse voices, experiences, and perspectives to strengthen our collaborative community. We welcome established artists with a sustained practice, body of work, and exhibition history who are ready for radical creative disruption and a transformative, context-driven, materially saturated experience. Applicants must be at least 18 years old,” continuing that “ideal candidates demonstrate site-specific thinking, transformative imagination, and resourcefulness, with experience working in non-traditional spaces and refining their concepts and materials. Successful residents work independently and adaptively, engage generously with their cohort and the wider Elsewhere community, and approach collaboration with inclusivity and care. Above all, applicants should see clear value in how the residency will support their personal, professional, and artistic growth.”

Leilei Xia is Elsewhere’s Artist in Resident for September 2026—according to Elsewhere’s website, “Leilei Xia was born in Guangzhou, China. She is a multimedia artist who works in tactile art, experimental animation, video art, and participatory collective art. As the founder of the tactile art collective Tactileye and one of the editors of the independent science zine Icosa Magazine, Leilei explores how tactility and bodily feelings are manifested in different mediums and is interested in combining the process and result of creating art, treating art not merely as a noun but as a verb.” Her films and animation have been awarded or selected in the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Stop Trik Animation Festival, Berlin Female Film Festival, Paris International Animation Festival, SPAM New Media Festival. Xia is an Assistant Professor of New Media and Design at UNCG, teaching courses such as Interactivity I, Interactivity II, and Variable Topics in New Media and Design.

Upcoming and Recent Past Events

Elsewhere regularly hosts Artist Talks (the most recent being September 4 for First Friday) as well as “Secret Shows” in collaboration with Swaghouse Shows, in which the performers are not revealed, and admission is based on a suggested donation. The next Secret Show will be on September 27. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the show starts at 7:00 p.m. and the suggested donation is $20. A full museum tour will be available after the show.  

Elsewhere will be open to the public for walk-ins from 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. on September 25 and September 26, with plans to return to normal operating hours soon. Keep an eye out on their online calendar (https://www.elsewheremuseum.org/calendar) or their Instagram, @elsewheremuseum.