WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO

ACNY’S Mission

Art Connects New York’s mission is to channel the transformative power of original art to improve, expand and enrich lives. We actively link New York visual artists with social service organizations by creating opportunities for donations of their works of art. We expand artists’ public exposure, provide professional opportunities for curators, enhance the ability of recipient organizations to fulfill their missions, and extend access to visual art for the benefit of our city.

Our Process

We create professionally curated, themed collections of donated, original art for New York’s social service agencies and nonprofit organizations. These collections are permanently installed in the offices and facilities of recipient agencies and organizations.

Art Connects New York’s role is to organize the art placements:

In doing so, we:

• Engage curators interested in creating installations.
• Recruit artists interested in donating works of art.
• Select social service agencies to receive donations.
• Maintain a database of artwork available for donation and installation
• Coordinate installation of the work.
• Teach the agencies to care for the work.
• Celebrate the work and the recipient agency.

To date, Art Connects New York has worked with a variety of social service agencies, from a rehabilitation center for the disabled to a supportive housing facility for the formerly homeless. Our community of artists and curators grows daily.

Our Organization

Art Connects New York was inspired by and loosely patterned on The Art Connection, an organization founded in Boston in 1995. We are deeply grateful to The Art Connection for all its encouragement and help establishing Art Connects New York as an entirely independent organization.

Art Connects New York was incorporated in 2006 as a not-for-profit organization. ACNY’s 501(c)(3) status is pending today, we are a  sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Art Connects New York may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Our Board

Our implementation staff is small — and volunteer:

President	Gwendy Feldman	Gwendyf@ArtconnectsNewYork.org
Vice President/Sec	Jamie Johnson	Jamiej@ ArtconnectsNewYork.org
Treasurer	Don Galligan	Donaldg@ ArtconnectsNewYork.org

ACNY also has an expanding group of other volunteers who support our mission and efforts. Your participation is welcome.

Installation at Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter

It is when we are in a secure environment that we can call our own that we excel and can imagine anything.

In early June, ACNY completed an installation of art donated to the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter. Titled Securing Space for Imagination, the installation consists of seven works donated by seven artists. This placement enhances a community space in the Coalition’s supportive residence on East 81st Street where 65 formerly homeless people now reside. This newly renovated building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side also provides a full range of services and programs to enhance and support residents’ independent living.

NCS’s mission addresses the fundamental human need for a secure personal space that serves as home and shelter and also as a place to express ourselves. Through NCS programs, residents are enabled to imagine a future. Securing Space for Imagination establishes a visual analogy: the artists struggle to create a space all their own within the edges of the paper or canvas, using their own visual vocabulary. The variety of the works in this installation pays homage to individuality and the multifaceted possibilities that all of us have to express ourselves.

The idea of Art Connects New York, has transformed an inspiring vision into a tangible reality which has benefited thousands in our fist year. Read more about our first donor.