From tourists visiting Chinatown’s restaurants to professionals on their lunch breaks, residents and visitors said downtown Boston lacked the respite that the Praise Shadows Art Gallery now brings to the busy area. 

Praise Shadows is a contemporary art gallery focusing on “untapped and unrecognized” artists of all disciplines, according to its website. The gallery moved from Brookline to downtown Boston in January and reopened in mid-March, said Yng-Ru Chen, founder and CEO of Praise Shadows.

“I’m so happy she’s here because she can really help revitalize and add some life into the neighborhood, which we need,” said Christine Maraganore, a downtown Boston resident.

Praise Shadows has operated in Coolidge Corner — where Chen lives — since its opening in December 2020.

Although Chen said she loved the Brookline location, where students, childhood friends and teachers walked by, she said she was ready for the change.

After meeting with the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and Downtown Boston Alliance, Chen said they decided on a 2,000-square-foot space on Kingston Street.

Downtown Boston Alliance, a coalition aimed at improving the downtown Boston neighborhood, has worked with Mayor Michelle Wu and her Office of Arts and Culture to fill vacant storefronts with more arts businesses.

Chen said she’s excited to move downtown because of the location’s convenience and the “breathing room” the added space gives her and artists. The downtown Boston location is about twice the size of the previous venue. 

Chen said the new location brings a diverse audience to the gallery because of its proximity to the Financial District and Chinatown.

“People are going to come to Praise Shadows to see the shows, whether they live in the neighborhood or not,” she said, mentioning that visitors still come from Brookline. “But it is a larger community because we’re more central downtown.”

Dedham resident Morris Collins, who used to visit Praise Shadows in Coolidge Corner, said the new location is convenient and he appreciates that local artists are being showcased in the gallery.

“Investing in diverse artistic spaces in Boston is exactly what I’d want from the Mayor’s Office,” he said. 

Downtown Boston Alliance President Michael Nichols said the Alliance has an interest in arts and cultural spaces downtown because he thinks they will have a “major impact” on the neighborhood’s future and possibly create a new “design district” in Boston. 

The arts sector is one of the largest sources of employment for people in Boston and broader Massachusetts, Nichols said.

The gallery is the first of two businesses to move downtown as part of the creative enterprises initiative, Nichols said. The Boston Society of Architects also recently signed a long-term lease, moving downtown from the Wharf District.

“There is some power in clustering,” he said. “It leads to cross collaboration.” 

Woburn resident Ray Huang said most people in downtown Boston are there to work every day and “forget the purpose of life.” For that reason, Huang said, downtown needs more art. 

Mai Pham, an undergraduate student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, said the influx of art moving downtown is especially positive for the culturally rich area of Chinatown.

“Arts and culture go hand in hand together,” she said. “The opening of Praise Shadows feels like a step forward in the direction of [reminding people] Chinatown is an important community. There are so many outstanding individuals popping up.” 

Chen said the year’s exhibitions for Praise Shadows are already planned out, with guest curators in the summer, a fellowship with Boston Art Review and a mentorship program. 

“We’re continuing to do what we always do, it’s just that we have more space,” Chen said.