Annual Report

Fiscal Year 2008 (July 1, 2007 - June 1, 2008)

The Studio Museum in Harlem
144 West 125th Street
New York, NY 10027
Phone: (212)864-4500
Fax: (212)864-4800

Mission & History

“The Studio Museum in Harlem is the nexus for black artists locally, nationally, and internationally, and for work that has been inspired by black culture. It is a site for the dynamic exchange of ideas about art and society.”

Founded in 1968 as a studio space for experimental art and artists, The Studio Museum in Harlem has played a significant role in redressing the lack of opportunities for black artists within the mainstream of American art and culture, while serving as a vital resource for this community. Over the years, its groundbreaking exhibitions, programs and publications have defined historical themes and concepts, set scholarly standards, and provided support for generations of artists who were excluded from the larger art world. A full-time residency program, which has helped to launch the careers of more than 100 artists, remains central to the Museum’s identity today.

A permanent collection of more than 1,800 artworks, representing artists from the United States, the Caribbean, the Americas, and Africa, preserves this vital legacy for future generations. Approximately 100,000 people visit the Museum in a typical year and the museum presents over 200 public programs per year.

SMH publications include exhibition catalogues and Studio magazine, an insightful blend of Museum news, including exhibitions and programs, artist profiles and interviews, commissioned artwork, and highlights of events and projects at other cultural institutions around the world. It is mailed to over 20,000 Museum members, supporters, schools and other regular visitors.

Exhibitions

In FY 2008, the Studio Museum presented 16 exhibitions which included contemporary art by emerging and established artists, major retrospectives, historic and thematic exhibitions, as well as selections from the permanent collection. Highlights of exhibitions presented during the past year include:

Summer 2007 (July 18-October 28, 2007), David Adjaye: Making Public Buildings introduced the work of this internationally celebrated architect to American audience, tracing his working process-from inspiration to completion-for ten projects, both built and incomplete. Also on view was Midnight’s Daydream: 2006-07 Artists-in-Residence—Titus Kaphar, Wardell Milan II and Demetrius Oliver. This annual Artists-in-Residence final project featured twenty-four works of art in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and mixed-media installed in the Museum’s mezzanine gallery. Additionally, Shift in Focus was presented, an exhibition of photographs by high school students participating in the intergenerational program, Expanding the Walls: Making Connections between Photography, History and Community.

The fall/winter exhibition, Kori Newkirk: 1997-2007, opened on November 14th and remained on view through March 9, 2008. Kori Newkirk is a celebrated multidisciplinary artist whose conceptual practice is based on transforming modest materials into loaded signifiers that question both cultural and aesthetic notions of beauty. Newkirk blends medium and message using photographs, wax, hair pomade, beads and neon lights to forge a new paradigm in art practice.

Spring 2008 (April 2-June 29, 2008), FLOW focused on art by a new generation of international artists from Africa. Presenting about 75 works in all media by approximately twenty emerging international artists under the age of forty, this exhibition featured models of imaginary architecture, wall sculptures of beads, digital photography and many other types of art. The artists included hailed from eleven different African nations. Also on view was Charles Ethan Porter: African –American Master of Still Life. This exhibition features dozens of Charles Ethan Porter’s still-life’s, landscapes and portraits and portraits, and introduced audiences to this shadowy painter who deftly combined the American luminist tradition with that of the French Barbizon School.

Education and Public Programs

The Museum offered a wide array of public and educational programs last year that gave context to the Museum’s work while striving to foster meaningful audience engagement across a wide range of constituencies.

Target Free Sundays – The Museum was proud to partner with the Target Corporation, who sponsored exciting public programs with free admission on Sundays.

School Programs, which served students from K-12, included: Education Tuesdays!; Multi-Session Collaborations with Schools; Interactive Tours and Hands-On Art-making Workshops for Classes. Resources for educators include Open Houses, Teaching and Learning Workshops and curriculum guides. Programs for educators included open houses, workshops, and curriculum guides. Over 5,000 students-many with little or no access to the arts-and educators participate in these programs each year.

Youth Programs provide free after-school programs for high-school students and include ARTLooks: A Day in the Life of an Artist, which provides opportunities for students to meet with artists in their studios for discussions and portfolio reviews. Expanding the Walls: Making Connections between Photography, History, and Community, an intergenerational program, uses the Museum’s collection/archive of famed Harlem photographer, James VanDerZee to stimulate interaction between youth, seniors and families.

Adult Programs are inspired by exhibition themes and current issues in contemporary art. Some popular programs included: The Artist’s Voice, a forum for artists to discuss their creative processes with the public; The Fine Art of Collecting which offered seminars on collecting art in various media; Vital Expressions in American Art, presenting concerts, performance art, music, theatre and dance; Books & Authors, featuring established authors and emerging writers and Uptown Fridays! Music, Cocktails & Culture, offering social evenings and gallery tours.

College and High School Internship Programs provide paid and unpaid internships to undergraduate college students pursuing arts and humanities degrees, and high school students seeking work experience in the museum field. Forty internships were offered last year.

The following is an overview of the Studio Museum’s income and expenses for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008.

Total Support & Revenue: $ 5,926,603
Program Expenses: $4,415,643
Management & General Expenses: $ 308,507
Development: $987,024
End of Year Net Asset Balance: $ 2,875,066

Members

Officers
Raymond J. McGuire, Chairman, Carol Sutton Lewis, Vice-Chair, Reginald Van Lee, Treasurer, Anne B. Ehrenkranz, Secretary

Gayle Perkins Atkins, Jacqueline L. Bradley, Kathryn C. Chenault, Gordon J. Davis, Reginald E. Davis, Susan Fales-Hill, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Sandra Grymes, Joyce K. Haupt, Arthur J. Humphrey, Jr., George L. Knox, Nancy L. Lane, Dr. Michael L. Lomax, Tracy Maitland, Rodney M. Miller, Eileen Harris Norton, Dr. Amelia Ogunlesi, Corine Pettey, Charles A. Shorter, Jr., Ann Tenenbaum, John T. Thompson

Ex-officio

Hon. Kate Levin, Commissioner, NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Karen A. Phillips, Representative for Hon. Michael Bloomberg, Mayor; City of New York

The Studio Museum in Harlem is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

To view The Studio Museum in Harlem’s IRS 990 filing on GuideStar.org please click on the following link:

http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=guidestar&npoId=446306