Overview and Studios
The Artist Studio Program was launched in 2000 in response to the crisis of available affordable space for artists living and working in New York City. The program supports artists from historically underrepresented racial, cultural, or economic backgrounds, prioritizing those who identify as women, transgender, or non-binary. We provide six NYC-based early career artists with a free private studio space access to our shared production facilities, and a stipend (dependent on funding). The program runs for an eleven-month period from September 5 to August 5. The studios, accessible to the artists 24/7, are located on the lower level of our building at 92 Plymouth Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn and range in size from 250 to 300 square feet. The program does not provide living space.
Production Facilities
Artists have access to shared facilities that include: a digital production lab, including a set of 27″ iMac workstations professionally configured for video and graphics editing, calibrated monitors, HD projector, stereo monitor speakers, flatbed film scanners, a wide-format photo printer, a color laser printer, wireless internet access and a newly implemented reference library; a fabrication shop including table saw, bandsaw, drill press, and belt-sander. Our staff is on-hand to provide technical support and to respond to the studio needs of our resident artists.
Program Requirements & Community Engagement
Artists who are accepted into the program must be prepared to actively use their studio a minimum of 50 hours per month or they will lose it. In addition to monthly studio hours, artists are expected to help at Smack Mellon’s annual benefit and make themselves available for studio visits with school groups and other tour groups outside of Open Studio event hours. Artists are required to participate in two Open Studio events annually, as well as organized visits with curators, critics, and gallerists, which provide significant exposure and invaluable career-building opportunities.
Special Notes
Not all studios have windows. Artists will not be permitted to choose their studio. Please also note that due to the possibility of flooding in our basement studios, we strongly recommend that artists keep anything valuable off the floor at all times; therefore artists accustomed to working on the floor should think carefully about whether our studios will meet their needs.
Selection Process & Eligibility
Each year, Smack Mellon releases a free open call for applications to the Artist Studio Program, and a panel of arts professionals is convened to select the artists. A call for applications to the 2025-26 program will open in fall 2024. Six artists are selected to participate in the program. A group of finalists who are not selected for the Artist Studio Program are featured on our Hot Picks page on our website and social media for one year.
Smack Mellon’s Artist Studio Program is open to artists who are New York City residents. Please note that this program supports emerging and early-career artists. We define an emerging artist as one who is at the beginning of their public artistic career and would greatly benefit from the opportunities we provide, such as regular studio visits with New York City curators, public open studio events, and free studio space. Artists may have some experience participating in group shows, solo shows at lesser-known art spaces, some press recognition, and/or are recent graduates of BFA or MFA programs. We do not consider artists emerging if they have had solo exhibitions at widely recognized galleries or institutions; already received consistent production opportunities, awards, and press; and/or if they have 10 years or more of consistent public experience as an artist. Age is not a determining factor. We understand the ambiguity of some of these terms, but hope they offer insight into our selection considerations.
The Smack Mellon Artist Studio Program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York City Council Member Lincoln Restler, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, and with generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund of The New York Community Trust, Jerome Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Inc., Select Equity Group Foundation, and Smack Mellon’s Members.
Smack Mellon programs are also made possible with generous support from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, The Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation, and an Anonymous Donor.
In-kind donations are provided by Materials for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs/NYC Department of Sanitation/NYC Department of Education.
Space for Smack Mellon’s programs is generously provided by the Walentas family and Two Trees Management.