Drawing Center Inc.
Drawing Center Inc.
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About this organization
Mission
Promotes the significance of drawings through exhibitions, publications, and education.
About
The Drawing Center, a museum in Manhattan's Soho district, explores the medium of drawing as primary, dynamic, and relevant to contemporary culture, the future of art, and creative thought. Its activities, which are both multi-disciplinary and broadly historical, include exhibitions; site-specific installations; open sessions, a curated artist program encouraging community and collaboration; the 'Drawing Papers' publication series; public programs; and educational initiatives for school and community groups. It was founded in 1977 by curator Martha Beck (1938-2014). The impact on the medium that the Drawing Center has had over the past 40 years is clear. Drawing has taken its place as a central and respected art form, with institutions and galleries across the globe hosting major exhibitions that confirm its artistic importance and commercial viability. This shift in the field has allowed the Drawing Center to rethink its mission, moving away from a more defensive stance about drawing-that it is legitimate, important, and valuable-to a more expansive and positive exploration of how drawing operates in contemporary culture. This new institutional approach has been popular with general audiences and the field in general, and the Drawing Center is seeing increased annual attendance figures as well as the development of a broader base of supporters. Every year, the Drawing Center serves 20,000+ individuals both on-site and through off-site drawing workshops. As a museum that does not maintain a collection, the main focus of the Drawing Center's programmatic activity is temporary exhibitions and longer-term site-specific installations. The museum mounts 10-12 exhibitions or installations annually across its three gallery spaces main gallery; drawing room; the lab and two installation sites-the lab corridor and stairwell. Often, these exhibitions travel on to different national and international venues, with 14 exhibitions traveling to more than 25 museums since 2007 alone. During the 2018-2019 exhibition season, the Drawing Center hosted seven exhibitions in its various galleries including the second iteration of Winter Term, an annual initiative in which the museum partners with an artist or organization whose mission it is to explore the transformative role that drawing can play in civic and global society. In the fall, the Drawing Center hosted two exhibitions with fully illustrated catalogues: For Opacity: Elijah Burgher, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Nathaniel Mary Quinn in its main gallery and Jennifer Wynne Reeves: Alright for Now in the Drawing Room. The first exhibition brought together three contemporary artists, Elijah Burgher (b. 1978, Kingston, NY), Toyin Ojih Odutola (b. 1985, Nigeria), and Nathaniel Mary Quinn (b. 1977, Chicago), who explore diverse identities in portraiture and who do so almost exclusively through the medium of drawing. This exhibition followed a Drawing Center tradition of introducing new artists through a timely thematic that highlights drawings urgency today. Jennifer Wynne Reeves fulfilled another Drawing Center imperative: providing a long overdue consideration of a highly-regarded yet under-recognized artist. The exhibition was Reeves's first solo museum show, an artist who developed a unique contribution to the dialogue between representation and abstraction until her too-early death from brain cancer in 2014. In the winter, the Drawing Center hosted its second Winter Term, a yearly program consisting of public events, classes, and performances as well as an exhibition, committed to exploring drawing as a tool for addressing inequity and encouraging social change. Winter Term 2019, engaged the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), a Brooklyn-based organization that leverages graphic design and illustration to bring transparency to complex civic structures (ex. land use, labor rights, immigration rights, juvenile detention) in partnership with the communities impacted by them. The residency featured an exhibition, in which the project was broken-down visually from its conception through its design, testing and distribution via text, photographs, videos, and printed material, as well as a series of events geared towards individuals wishing to learn more about community-engaged design. Rounding out the season were two Open Sessions exhibitions in the Lab Gallery as well as a major survey of the renowned German artist Neo Rauch occupying the main gallery and drawing room. Rauch's psychologically complex paintings have been widely collected and written about for more than twenty years, but Neo Rauch: Aus dem Boden / From the Floor was the first exhibition of his drawings in the United States. It was a collaboration between the Drawing Center and the Des Moines Art Center and included a fully-illustrated catalogue. As a compliment to Neo Rauch, we presented As If: Alternative Histories from Then to Now, an exhibition spanning a historical era transformed by war, racial and economic inequity, authoritarianism, and the persistent fear of eminent apocalypse. The works in this exhibition offered alternative understandings of our present by rewiring the past. The Drawing Center presents around 40 public programs every year. These include gallery talks and walkthroughs; lectures; readings; performances; and film screenings that provide new insights into the work on view in exhibitions or to the medium of drawing more generally. Reviving its decades-long history of hosting vital cultural and political voices, this year we launched Bellwethers, a new series of public programs that convene prominent writers, cultural critics, and artists to respond to a cultural 'bellwether'. For additional entry points, the Drawing Center produces a catalogue or publication around each of its exhibitions; there are now 137+ books in the 'Drawing Papers' series, which have impacted millions online and through wide distribution to bookstores. Launched in January 2014, Open Sessions gathers 30-40 contemporary artists for a two-year collaborative program to develop radical and unique approaches to drawing. Open Sessions invites selected artists to consider drawing's current and potential roles in their artistic practice and empowers them to find new approaches for contextualizing and presenting their work through exhibitions, public programs, professional mentorship, and peer review. The Drawing Center serves 5,000+ individuals annually through its Michael Iovenko school programs and programming in collaboration with diverse community-based organizations. Serving students and community members from across the five boroughs of NYC, single-session Draw and Reflect art workshops consist of a guided tour and an art-making workshop in the galleries. Drawing Connections is a partnership with four local schools to provide an in-depth arts-in-education experience for 100 students; this multi-part program is comprised of a single gallery visit and six in-school sessions. The Drawing Center also offers drawing workshops for artists of all ages on Saturday mornings; off-site public drawing workshops in collaboration with the non-profit organization Street Lab; guided tours for adult and university groups; and a robust internship program.
Interesting data from their 2020 990 filing
According to the filing, the non-profit's mission is “The drawing center, a museum in manhattan's soho district, explores the medium of drawing as primary, dynamic, and relevant to contemporary culture, the future of art, and creative thought. its activities, which are both multidisciplinary and broadly historical, include exhibitions; open sessions, a curated artist program encouraging community and collaboration; the drawing papers publications series; and education and public programs.”.
When referring to its actions, they were described as: “Promotes the significance of drawings through exhibitions, publications, and education.”.
- According to the law, the state of operation reported by the non-profit is NY.
- As per the filing, the address of the non-profit for 2020 is 35 WOOSTER STREET, NEW YORK, NY, 10013.
- According to their form, the non-profit as of 2020 has a total of 27 employees.
- The non-profit has loans outstanding as of 2020.
- Does not operate a hospital.
- Does not operate a school.
- Collects art.
- Does not provide credit counseling.
- Does not have foreign activities.
- Is not a donor advised fund.
- Is not a private foundation.
- Expenses are greater than $1,000,000.
- Revenue is greater than $1,000,000.
- Revenue less expenses is -$139,660.
- The CEO compensation plan of the organization is determined by an independent party's review and approval.
- The organization has a written policy that describes how long it will retain documents.
- The organization has 22 independent voting members.
- The organization was formed in 1976.
- The organization has a written policy that addresses conflicts of interest.
- The organization is required to file Schedule B.
- The organization is required to file Schedule O.
- The organization pays $1,105,905 in salary, compensation, and benefits to its employees.
- The organization pays $395,221 in fundraising expenses.
- The organization provides Form 990 to its governing body.
- The organization has minutes of its meetings.
- The organization has a written whistleblower policy.
- The organization has fundraising events.
- The organization's financial statements were reviewed by an accountant.
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