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The 91��Ƶ Art Gallery has received a $20,000 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), recognizing the quality of the gallery’s exhibitions over the past three years. The grant, which will support artist stipends and exhibit marketing, will take effect on January 1, 2024, beginning with an exhibit featuring contemporary comic book artists. Through New York State’s continued investment in arts and culture, NYSCA has awarded over $80 million since Spring 2023 to over 1,500 artists and organizations across the state.

“91��Ƶ Art Gallery is dedicated to developing local partnerships that are so critical to reaching a diverse audience,” said 91��Ƶ Art Gallery Director Sarah Cunningham. “The support from NYSCA will help us continue to provide enriching, meaningful exhibitions and programming and enhance our outreach to our downtown community.”

Since its launch in its current space on the ground level of 41 Park Row in 2019, the 91��Ƶ Art Gallery has sought to provide innovative, thought-provoking exhibits and programs that are free and open to the public. The rotating exhibitions have highlighted diverse artists and a wide array of subject matter, including a partnership with New York Latin American Art Triennial’s multi-site exhibit and an exhibition showcasing art by New York City sanitation workers.

The Gallery also received a grant from NYSCA in 2023. The Gallery’s first NYSCA-supported exhibit in February 2023 was Degentrification Archives, a collection of pieces from the Chinatown Art Brigade amplifying the stories of those impacted by the gentrification of Chinatown near 91��Ƶ’s downtown Manhattan campus. During the exhibit, the Gallery hosted an artist panel discussion, a zine workshop, and the launch of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) archive.

Throughout 2023, the Gallery hosted three more exhibitions supported by NYSCA. To Be Made Whole featured work from five artists who sought to explore identity through representational imagery using tangible textiles. A solo exhibition by Firoz Mahmud entitled Inscaping Legacies reflected upon the histories of the South Asian Bengal region, connecting his roots to immigrant communities in New York City.

The current solo exhibition, Mother Octopus, features the work of Mie Yim, who, by breaking apart her cute characters with abstraction, invites the viewer to deeply feel her subjects’ dynamic inner states rather than to gloss over their sweet facades. The exhibit also includes a mural, which features a deep-sea cephalopod brooding her eggs. The mural was created in collaboration between Yim and students in Cunningham’s Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies course.

This exhibit, which remains on view through Saturday, January 20, 2024, is made possible by the with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The artist will also give a talk about her work on Tuesday, November 28, at 2:15 p.m. The gallery is located in Lower Manhattan at 41 Park Row. All of the gallery’s exhibits and events are free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday from 12:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m. and by appointment.

About the New York State Council on the Arts

The mission of the New York State Council on the Arts is to foster and advance the full breadth of New York State’s arts, culture, and creativity for all. To support the ongoing recovery of the arts across New York State, the Council on the Arts will award $127 million in FY 2024. The Council on the Arts further advances New York's creative culture by convening leaders in the field and providing organizational and professional development opportunities and informational resources. Created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1960 and continued with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Council is an agency that is part of the Executive Branch. For more information, please visit the , and follow NYSCA's Facebook page, Twitter @NYSCArts and Instagram @NYSCouncilontheArts.