New work from early-career NYC-based artists to be presented beginning in summer 2021
The Shed announced 27 New York City-based artists for its second Open Call, a large-scale, commissioning program for early-career artists across performance, visual arts, and popular culture. Each artist, who lives or works in the five boroughs, was selected by The Shed along with 50 external industry professionals and artists across disciplines to create and present new work at The Shed beginning in summer 2021 and continuing into 2022.
Artists receive a commissioning fee of up to USD 15,000 depending on the scope of the proposed project, in addition to production support and resources to develop their new projects. In June 2021, 11 artists will present their work in a group exhibition in the Level 2 Gallery and nine artists will have performance and participatory projects in The McCourt (configured as an open-air plaza) and in off-site partner spaces. Seven artists will present their performances at The Shed in 2022. Admission is free to all Open Call events.
Open Call continues to be integral to The Shed’s institutional and civic vision: to produce and welcome innovative art and ideas, across all forms of creativity, and to build a shared understanding of our rapidly changing world and a more equitable society. Panelists and reviewers in a wide range of disciplines—from the visual arts to digital media to theater and dance—reviewed more than 1,500 proposals in May and June of this year, a significant increase from the 900 applications received from the inaugural call for proposals in 2018. With a city-wide focus, the panels selected the following 27 inventive, thought-provoking, risk-taking, timely, and culturally sensitive proposals that will provide sustained impact for a wide range of audiences.
The second edition of Open Call is organized by Emma Enderby, Chief Curator; Tamara McCaw, Chief Civic Program Officer; and Solana Chehtman, Director of Civic Programs, with Alessandra Gómez and Adeze Wilford, Assistant Curators, and Maggie MacTiernan, Director of Artist Services. Dates and additional details are to be announced. Full project descriptions are available at theshed.org/opencall.
Artists
Level 2 Gallery, summer 2021
Aisha Amin, Ayanna Dozier, Caroline Garcia, Emilie Gossiaux, Esteban Jefferson, Le’Andra LeSeur, Simon Liu, Tajh Rust, Pauline Shaw, Kenneth Tam, Anne Wu
The McCourt, summer 2021
AnAkA, Merche Blasco, Leslie Cuyjet, Nazareth Hassan, Ana María Agüero Jahannes, DonChristian Jones, Ladi’Sasha Jones , Cindy Tran, Emily Waters
Level 4, 2022
JJJJJerome Ellis, Justin Hicks, Niall Jones, Benjamin Akio Kimitch, Eleanor Kipping, Yo-Yo Lin, Zachary Tye Richardson
Open Call Panelists and Reviewers
Noel Allain, Laura Aswad, Stephanie Baptist, Marlène Ramírez-Cancio, Suhaly Bautista-Carolina, Eric Guy Booker, Kim Brandt, DeForrest Brown Jr., Roberto Carlos Lange (Helado Negro), Amy Cassello, Solana Chehtman, Jocelyn Cooper, Jordana De La Cruz, Emma Enderby, Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, Andrea Geyer, Alessandra Gómez, Karen Grimson, Marcela Guerrero, Carlos A. Gutiérrez, Carmen Hermo, Andria Hickey, Patton Hindle, Raelle Myrick-Hodges, Paolo Javier, Rachel Katwan, Danielle King, James King, Andrew Kircher, Sophia Marisa Lucas, Tamara McCaw, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Jocelyn Miller, Claudia Norman, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Daniel S. Palmer, Alex Poots, Sheetal Prajapati, Prerana Reddy, Maricelle Robles, José F. Rodriguez, Brian Rogers, Ali Rosa-Salas, George Emilio Sanchez, Alex Santana, Marianna Schaffer, Arden Sherman, Julia Solomonoff, Susan Thompson, Yara Travieso, Carmelita Tropicana, Ela Troyano, Diya Vij, Jasmine Wahi, Adeze Wilford, Abbey Williams, Lauren Argentina Zelaya, and X Zhu-Nowell.
About Open Call
Launched as part of The Shed’s inaugural year program, Open Call is a large-scale commissioning program for early-career NYC-based artists. For the first iteration of Open Call, 52 artists and collectives were commissioned to present their intentional and boundary-pushing new work beginning in May 2019. Each received commissioning fees, production support, and experience working with a large cultural institution and navigating the commissioning process. Open Call continues in fostering and supporting the next generation of NYC artists.
Open Call was conceived by The Shed’s Artistic Director Alex Poots, Tamara McCaw, Chief Civic Program Officer; Emma Enderby, Chief Curator; and Senior Program Advisor Hans Ulrich Obrist.
