Dear Friends,
2022 has been a year of renewed energy and growth at Artspace, as we hope it has been for you. We focused on the support of living artists and successfully supported almost 150 artists through our exhibitions and programs. Take a look at our end-of-year report to learn more. We know culture is critical to health and well-being. Please consider a donation today so that we can continue with our extraordinary annual schedule of events.
Through an artist-led planning process uplifting BIPOC voices, Artspace is reconceiving what it means to be an art organization by opening up its model to anti-racism, collaboration, empowerment, experimentation, and support—our core values in our new strategic plan as adopted by our board of directors. Artspace is charting a course that is anti-racist, community-centric, and inclusive: through open studios, showcases, storytelling, neighborhood collaborations, project seedings, and critical learning sessions, we will become the heart of inclusive arts programming in New Haven, an expansive vision that extends far beyond the gallery walls, into neighborhoods, studios, and partnering organizations.
- Donate to enable us to create more Exhibitions and Programs. Your support helps us keep the lights on and the gallery filled with brilliant ideas that foster engagement with the arts and bring artists and communities together to catalyze new ways of learning, thinking, and being. General support is critical to enabling a year of exhibitions, public programs, and workshops.
- Donate to support the Summer Artspace Program (SAP). Over the course of three weeks each summer, we welcome New Haven public high school students into Artspace to think about careers in the creative field and prepare them with an art-historical education combined with hands-on art-making, exposure to exhibition preparation, and connection to professional artists. SAP began in response to the lack of advanced visual art education for public school students and has grown to be a powerful incubator for the next generation of talented New Haven artists.
- Donate to provide opportunities through our Flatfile and Artist-in-Residence Programs. In 2022, Artspace's Flatfile and Artist-in-Residence programs returned, reimagined by our Visual Culture Producer Gabe Sacco. The new Flatfile program focuses on ten artists, each consigning eight artworks for a six-month period in their own dedicated Flatfile. The files feature artworks from the newly initiated Flatfile artists: Linda Lindroth, Jason Ting, Michael Corey, Esthea Kim, D. Douglass, Austin Kim, and Janet Warner. The Short Shift micro-residency debuted culminating in a pop-up exhibition featuring artists-in-residence The Unlearning Collective (Renée Bouchard, Julie Graves Krishnaswami, and Matthew Gernt). The Long Shift residency will take place in the first half of 2023.
- Do you want more from your annual gift? Join our new Membership Program and support the presentation of the work of living artists in New Haven. Members can have access to curator-led tours, studio visits, and artist-led workshops.
Ultimately, we are fostering a collective cultural community that supports economic growth while placing artists at the center of the creative economy. We have undergone rapid growth in the past months, adding new staff members to build institutional infrastructure and program support. We can only do this with your help and support. Please consider giving generously this year so our impact can continue to grow. If you'd like to donate online by credit card or PayPal, you can do so easily here.
Be well and have a wonderful holiday season. We look forward to seeing you at Artspace in 2023.
-- Lisa Dent
Executive Director
Artspace New Haven