The day after Thanksgiving, the downtown retail core is bustling with shoppers getting a jump-start on their holiday gift purchases. But a few blocks north, in Belltown, a group of homeless Seattle artists worry that they will have trouble peddling their hand-crafted holiday cards and artwork this season. The art gallery they work from was temporarily closed, effective Thanksgiving day.

"Streetlife Gallery members locked out during the Thanksgiving Holidays," says a butcher-paper sign outside the gallery. "We have been locked out during arbitration for a new fiscal sponsor."

Streetlife Gallery, which sits at Second Avenue and Bell Street, in a space donated by the Seattle Archdiocese Housing Authority (AHA), closed on Thanksgiving day due to a dispute between a group of the gallery's artists and homeless advocacy group Real Change. Real Change runs the gallery along with several other homeless empowerment programs and a newspaper by the same name.

Ann Keeney, an artist who has worked at the gallery since 1995, is worried about missing out on holiday shoppers while the gallery is in limbo. "There's people that make Christmas cards. If [the gallery] is closed at Christmas time, you might as well just throw those away."

Several artists say they are frustrated with Real Change's gallery management and allocation of funds, and when they started voicing their concerns, Real Change locked the door.

Real Change has run the gallery since 1998, supporting the artists' work by paying bills and purchasing supplies. Tim Harris, executive director of Real Change, says the group spent over $10,000 last year on the gallery.

But despite the outlay, the artists are frustrated by what they say is a lack of support from Real Change: They would like to see more money funneled into the gallery to pay for additional supplies and to hire staff, and they'd like more help writing grants.

Moreover, Taylor says Real Change doesn't respect the artists' work. "[The gallery] is just a way for them to raise money for the paper," Taylor says. "They bring people around on tours like it's a little zoo."

Harris says he has tried to talk with the artists several times about the relationship between the program and Real Change, and about the gallery's finances. Harris says Real Change is very supportive of the gallery, noting that the amount spent on the gallery ($10,000) is five times what Real Change received in earmarked donations and grants last year--about $2000.

"The basic problem we are having is that a group of leaders at the gallery don't see the gallery as a program of Real Change, and don't see themselves as accountable to Real Change," Harris says, explaining that the leaders see it as an independent program, with Real Change acting as the landlord. A meeting between the artists and Real Change's board is scheduled for December 6.

The artists, meanwhile, have a different solution: They want to find a different financial sponsor. Taylor says she and a few other artists have started researching other non-profit organizations, and they plan to write letters soon to ask for support.

Harris says that switching sponsors might mean the end of the gallery, since the space is owned by the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, which has a good relationship with Real Change. Bill Hallerman, an AHA director, is on the Real Change advisory board.

"They're not interested in giving the space to a different sponsor," Harris says. "[The artists don't have the option of saying 'Screw Real Change, we'll go somewhere else.'"

amy@thestranger.com

Jennifer Elam contributed to this story.