The Studio Museum in Harlem is continuing its legacy of celebrating art across the African diaspora with the unveiling of a building.
On Saturday, Nov. 15, the museum will host a Community Day celebration to welcome visitors into its new home, according to a press release. Designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson as executive architect, the seven-story, 82,000-square-foot building marks the first purpose-built home in the Studio Museum’s 57-year history, made possible through a holistic campaign that has raised over $300 million.
“With deep gratitude to our visionary founders, who dared to create the Studio Museum amid the ferment of 1968, and to all the Trustees, staff, campaign supporters, artists, curators, educators, architects, community members, and partners in the City of New York who have made the Studio Museum into what it is today, we welcome Harlem and all the world into the home we have dreamed of having,” said Thelma Golden, Ford Foundation Director and the museum’s chief curator. “Our mission as champions of artists of African descent and their practices is as urgent today as it ever was and is made all the more possible because of our remarkable new building.”
As part of its Nov. 15 unveiling, the Studio Museum will offer free admission, inviting the public to explore its inaugural exhibitions, participate in art-making workshops, and enjoy performances, games, giveaways, and DJ sets throughout the day.
The celebration continues the next day with the premiere of Studio Sundays—a weekly day of free, family-friendly programming featuring art workshops, guided tours, gallery talks, and storytime sessions.
The museum’s inaugural exhibitions will include a major showcase of Tom Lloyd, the pioneering artist featured in the Studio Museum’s first-ever exhibition in 1968; From Now: A Collection in Context, a rotating display of works from the museum’s 9,000-piece permanent collection of artists of African descent spanning the 1800s to today; From the Studio: Fifty-Eight Years of Artists in Residence, featuring new works on paper by over 100 program alumni in an intergenerational dialogue; and To Be a Place, an archival exhibition highlighting photographs and ephemera from nearly six decades of the museum’s history, tracing its evolution through eras of cultural and political change.
Founded by a collective of artists and activists in 1968, the Studio Museum closed its 125th Street location in 2018 to begin construction on its first purpose-built home. The museum originally opened on Fifth Avenue before relocating in the 1980s to 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, occupying the former New York Bank of Savings building.
The new state-of-the-art facility features expansive galleries, a spacious lobby, flexible program areas, and a dedicated Education Workshop—designed to deepen community engagement and enhance the museum’s service to artists, visitors, and Harlem alike. The new space also expands exhibition areas and doubles the size of the artist-in-residence program, while increasing indoor and outdoor public spaces by 60%.
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