Open Call 2020 Applications

About the Selection Process

This year we enlisted a vibrant, interdisciplinary group of 43 reviewers and 15 panelists including external curators, artists, producers, and programmers to review proposals with Shed staff, bringing diverse perspectives to our curatorial process. We received about 1,500 applications and held three competitive rounds of review during which we narrowed down the application pool across all disciplines. Reviewers scored applications, and panelists then met remotely to discuss those with the highest marks over two days this summer. From the list of finalists compiled by the panelists, The Shed selected the 27 artists who will present work in 2021 and 2022.

Reviewers and Panelists

Noel Allain

Stephanie Baptist

Suhaly Bautista-Carolina

Eric Guy Booker

Kim Brandt

DeForrest Brown Jr.

Amy Cassello

Jocelyn Cooper

Jordana De La Cruz

Andrea Geyer

Karen Grimson

Marcela Guerrero

A photo of Carlos A. Gutierrez, taken from above. Gutierrez sits on green grass against the trunk of a tree.

Carlos A. Gutiérrez

Carmen Hermo

Andria Hickey

Patton Hindle

Paolo Javier

Rachel Katwan

James King

Andrew Kircher

A photo of Roberto Carlos Lange sitting in light and shadow in a wide-backed wicker chair.

Roberto Carlos Lange (Helado Negro)

Sophia Marisa Lucas

Jocelyn Miller

Raelle Myrick-Hodges

Claudia Norman

Larry Ossei-Mensah

Daniel S. Palmer

Sheetal Prajapati

Marlène Ramírez-Cancio

Hatuey Ramos-Fermín

Prerana Reddy

Maricelle Robles

José F. Rodriguez

Brian Rogers

Ali Rosa-Salas

george emilio sanchez

Alex Santana

Marianna Schaffer

Arden Sherman

Julia Solomonoff

Susan Thompson

Yara Travieso

Carmelita Tropicana

Ela Troyano

Diya Vij

Jasmine Wahi

Abbey Williams

Lauren Argentina Zelaya

X Zhu-Nowell

Noel Allain is the founding artistic director of the Bushwick Starr Theater. He is a graduate of Skidmore College and the Juilliard School’s Drama Division. At the Starr, he has presented over 50 noteworthy companies and served hundreds of artists.

Stephanie Baptist is the founder and director of Medium Tings, a gallery and project space, and curator for Facebook. Stephanie holds an MA in arts administration and cultural policy.

Suhaly Bautista-Carolina is the senior managing educator of audience development and engagement at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, creative director of BlackMagic Afrofuturism Book Club, and founding herbalist of Moon Mother Apothecary.

Eric Guy Booker is the assistant curator and exhibition coordinator at the Studio Museum in Harlem. His work makes space for counternarratives and representation, focusing on queer communities and communities of color.

Kim Brandt is an artist whose work has been presented by MoMA/PS1, MCA Chicago, The Kitchen, SculptureCenter, Pioneer Works, The Shed, Issue Project Room, Artists Space, and Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery among others.

DeForrest Brown Jr. is a New York-based theorist, journalist, and curator. He produces digital audio and extended media as Speaker Music and is a representative of the Make Techno Black Again campaign.

Amy Cassello joined BAM Programming in August 2012 under Joe Melillo, first as the associate producer for the Next Wave Festival, and now as associate artistic director under David Binder.

Jocelyn Cooper is an entrepreneur and veteran of the music industry. She is a partner in Multiply Creative, a marketing and advertising agency, and AFROPUNK, a media and events company.

Jordana De La Cruz is co-director of the performance meets civic space JACK. Her work questions what it means to be free and how we’re helping each other achieve this freedom.

Andrea Geyer is an artist living and working in New York. Geyer’s work ranges across text, photography, painting, sculpture, video and performance. It explores the complex politics of time and memory, with a particular focus on those who identify or at some point were identified as woman.

Karen Grimson is an art historian based in London. Between 2011 and 2020, she worked on curatorial projects at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. She is currently an MA candidate at the Courtauld Institute.

Marcela Guerrero is an assistant curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Born in Puerto Rico, Guerrero holds a PhD in art history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Carlos A. Gutiérrez is co-founder and executive director of Cinema Tropical, the New York-based media arts nonprofit organization that has become the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the US.

Carmen Hermo is the associate curator for the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

Andria Hickey is a curator and writer and is senior curator and director at Pace Gallery. She has held curatorial positions at MoCA Cleveland, Public Art Fund, Art in General, and Walker Art Center.

Patton Hindle is the head of arts at Kickstarter, where she oversees the arts and film team and works closely with artists, filmmakers, and arts organizations globally. She was previously the co-founder of the Chinatown gallery yours mine & ours and the director of gallery and institutional partnerships at Artspace.

The former Queens Borough Poet Laureate (2010 – 14), Paolo Javier has produced three albums of sound poetry with Listening Center (David Mason). A featured artist in MoMA PS1’s Greater New York 2015 and Queens International 2018: Volumes, he is the author of O.B.B., a weird postcolonial techno dreampop comics poem forthcoming in 2021 from Nightboat books.

Rachel Katwan is a performing arts administrator living in Brooklyn (Lenapehoking). She currently serves as the general manager for Pomegranate Arts and previously worked at BAM for over a decade.

Danielle King is committed to championing boundary-blurring, forward-thinking artists and the development of new performance. She is the managing producer at the Tank, a home for emerging artists in Midtown Manhattan.

James King is currently managing director at Harlem Stage having served the field in various administrative and leadership positions with such organizations as the Public Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Cherry Lane Theater.

Andrew Kircher is a producer, dramaturg, and scholar. He collaborates with Janani Balasubramanian, 600 Highwaymen, Flako Jimenez, and was director of the Public’s Devised Theater Initiative and curator of Prelude.

Roberto Carlos Lange (Helado Negro) is a South Florida native, born to Ecuadorian immigrants and based in Brooklyn. Exploring Latinx identity and pluralistic sensibilities, his music as Helado Negro is lyrically personal and politically avant-pop.

Sophia Marisa Lucas is an assistant curator at the Queens Museum where she has co-organized, led, and supported exhibitions focusing on emerging and mid-career artists since 2015.

Jocelyn Miller is a New York-based curator who has organized exhibitions at MoMA PS1 and MoMA featuring artists Julie Becker, Zoë Paul, Martine Syms, Maria Lassnig, and Meriem Bennani among many others. She recently co-curated Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration at MoMA PS1.

Raelle Myrick-Hodges is a presenter/hybrid theater artist who focuses on national and international works. Known for her narrative, text-based work, Myrick-Hodges is currently in collaboration with artist Andrew Schneider and the Philadelphia Opera (El Cimarron, 2021). She is a professor at Brown University.

Claudia Norman is an artist manager and cultural consultant based in New York specializing in developing, producing, and executing international projects in the performing arts since 1998. She created, produces, and curates the annual Celebrate Mexico Now Festival in venues across New York City.

Larry Ossei-Mensah is a curator and co-founder of ARTNOIR, a global collective of culturalists who actively engage this generation’s dynamic and diverse creative class.

Daniel S. Palmer currently serves as curator at Public Art Fund, New York.

Sheetal Prajapati is the principal and founder at Lohar Projects, a professor at the School of Visual Arts (MFA in Fine Arts), and a founding board member at Art + Feminism.

Marlène Ramírez-Cancio is founding director of EmergeNYC, an incubator for emerging artists-activists in NYC. Developing the creative expression of POC, women, and LGBTQAI+ folks, EmergeNYC prioritizes process, discovery, and risk-taking.

Hatuey Ramos-Fermín is an artist and director of programs at the Laundromat Project. He has organized projects at sites ranging from small businesses and community centers to churches, streets, galleries, and museums.

Prerana Reddy is a cultural producer based in NYC. She has held positions as director of programs at A Blade of Grass and the Queens Museum.

Maricelle Robles is an arts leader, organizer, and educator guided by a mission to connect people of all socioeconomic backgrounds to quality arts education. Robles is currently a programming partner for Prospect.5 New Orleans.

José F. Rodriguez was formerly a senior staffer at Tribeca Film Institute, where for the past six years as their director of documentary programs, he oversaw the growth, funding, and overall strategic vision for all of their documentary programs as well as their filmmaker/industry market, TFI NETWORK.

Brian Rogers is a director, filmmaker, video and sound artist, and co-founder and artistic director of the Chocolate Factory Theater, which supports the creation of theater, dance, music, and multimedia performances at its 5,000-square-foot facility in Long Island City, Queens.

Ali Rosa-Salas is a curator of live performance, music, and visual art. She is the director of programming at Abrons Arts Center and is associate curator of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

george emilio sanchez is a performance artist, writer, and social justice activist. He is also a social practice artist-in-residence at the Abrons Arts Center, the performance director for EmergeNYC, and teaches at the College of Staten Island (CUNY) in the Performing and Creative Arts Department.

Alex Santana is a writer and curator with a deep interest in conceptual, politically-engaged, and participatory art. Through critical writing, exhibitions, and other artist-centered programs, she fosters a sustained commitment to democratic access in the arts.

Marianna Schaffer has over 15 years of experience working in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors in a variety of capacities, most recently in support of artists and arts institutions dedicated to positive social change. Schaffer served as the inaugural director of artist initiatives at Creative Capital.

Arden Sherman is a contemporary art curator, producer, and writer. Currently Arden is director and curator of Hunter East Harlem Gallery, a multidisciplinary space for art exhibitions and socially minded projects located at Hunter College in New York City.

Julia Solomonoff is an Argentine filmmaker living in New York. She is the writer/director of Nobody’s Watching, The Last Summer of la Boyita, Hermanas, and Aerocene Pacha. She is the producer of Zama, Found Memories, and Cocalero.

Susan Thompson is an independent curator and writer. From 2009 – 20, Thompson worked as a curator at the Guggenheim Museum where she organized exhibitions by artists such as Simone Leigh and Anicka Yi.

Yara Travieso is a Brooklyn-based writer, director, filmmaker, choreographer, educator, and United States Arison Artist Fellow, creating wild genre-bending productions drawing from a kaleidoscopic Latin American womanist lens.

Carmelita Tropicana is a writer-performer and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Creative Capital, and Obie Award. A collection of work can be found in I, Carmelita Tropicana Performing Between Cultures.

Ela Troyano is a Cuban-born interdisciplinary artist, writer, director, and producer. Her films and performances straddle the worlds of fiction and documentary, installation and live action.

Diya Vij is the associate curator at Creative Time where she critically investigates the evolving role of public art in politics and civic life. Over the past decade, she has held curatorial, programming, and communications positions at the High Line, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), and the Queens Museum respectively.

Jasmine Wahi is the Holly Block Social Justice Curator at the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the founder and co-director of Project for Empty Space, a Newark, New Jersey-based nonprofit organization that supports artists who are interested in social discourse and activism.

Abbey Williams is a Brooklyn based artist and the Director of Art Matters. Williams’s work has been exhibited widely in the US and internationally. Solo exhibitions include ones at Bellwether Gallery, NY, and Foxy Production, NY, and an upcoming exhibition at Sargent’s Daughters, NY.

Lauren Argentina Zelaya is a cultural producer, curator, and DJ based in Brooklyn. She is currently the director of public programs at Brooklyn Museum.

X Zhu-Nowell is an assistant curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where they arrange exhibitions, make acquisitions, facilitate public programs, write essays, and lead various curatorial working groups.

The application process was organized by Emma Enderby, Chief Curator; Tamara McCaw, Chief Civic Program Officer; and Solana Chehtman, Director of Civic Programs, with Madeline Aleman, Open Call Assistant; Alessandra Gómez, Assistant Curator; and Justin Wong, Civic Programs Coordinator. The program was conceived by The Shed’s Artistic Director and CEO Alex Poots, Tamara McCaw, Emma Enderby, and Senior Program Advisor Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Information Sessions

We recommended that prospective applicants participate in one of our information sessions via Google Meet. We held both general information sessions (including a Q&A) with Shed staff and Q&A sessions with past Open Call artists. Live closed captioning was available through the Google Meet platform for all sessions.

General sessions with Q&A

April 29 at 7 pm
May 6 at 1 pm
In partnership with CUNY Arts

Q&As with past Open Call artists

May 14 at 7 pm
With Justin Allen, Analisa Teachworth, and Kelsey Pyro
In partnership with Bronx Council on the Arts
(ASL interpretation and audio description were available for this session.)
May 22 at 11 am
With Fyütch, Thanushka Yakupitiyage, and Kiyan Williams

This general information session includes a Q&A with Shed staff for prospective Open Call 2021 applicants. The session was presented in partnership with CUNY Arts.

This information session includes a Q&A with Open Call alumni Justin Allen, Analisa Teachworth, and Kelsey Pyro. The session was presented in partnership with Bronx Council on the Arts.

For Open Call, we only accept one proposal per applicant. However, you can collaborate with another lead artist who submits a proposal.

In line with The Shed’s mission, the Open Call program values inventive and bold proposals that explore and question the urgent issues of our time. We look for submissions that are both idea-driven and poetic, and that can be feasibly realized. We encourage artists to be inclusive and equitable as they engage their ideas and communities with intellectual and aesthetic rigor. We aim to support NYC’s diversity of emerging talent in its many forms—including artistic medium, race, ethnicity, age, identity, physical ability, and other experiences.

All eligible applications are reviewed by Open Call’s panelists. Applications with the highest scores will then be reviewed during a panel discussion, resulting in the selection of finalists. Through this review process, Open Call offers artists the opportunity to have their work and ideas discussed by a range of experts across different artistic fields as well as The Shed’s staff.

For The Shed, an early-career artist is one who has not yet received major support to create new work. We define major support as a range of opportunities, from the receipt of substantial institutional funding to presenting and / or producing opportunities at large-scale cultural organizations.

Open Call accepts applications from artists who are:

Early-career* artists and art collectives (18+ and no education requirement)
Currently living or working in New York City
Working in a range of artistic disciplines, including the visual arts, theater, dance, music, performance, spoken word, literary arts, film, fashion, art and technology, social practice, and new media, as well as across multiple and new disciplines

*We consider early-career artists to be those who have not yet received major support to create new work.

If you do not live in one of the five boroughs of New York City, but you work predominantly in NYC, your application will be considered.

Yes. In the Submittable application, artists can list up to three collaborators.In the Submittable application, artists can list up to three collaborators. The Shed defines collaborators as those who are key to the early development of the creative team. If this is a performance work, artists do not need to list all performers as collaborators. We understand that artists will redefine the collaborative elements of their projects during the commissioning process.

Application: Closes May 31, 2020
Panel Review by The Shed’s Staff and External Guests: July 2020
Notification of Acceptance: September 2020
Presentation of Work: 2021 (dates to be announced)

All work will be presented at The Shed. The images in the slideshow further down this page show a variety of presentation configurations in the Level 2 Gallery, The Griffin Theater, and on the Plaza.

The Level 2 Gallery will feature visual artworks in a group exhibition, with works varying in scale and medium. While we do not have specific size limitations for each work, nor restrictions on how they might be installed (works can be free-standing, hanging, wall-mounted, etc.), we encourage artists to be ambitious in their proposals while remaining mindful that other artworks will also inhabit the space. Footprints of sculptural works in the past have ranged in scale, falling mostly within a 20 by 20 foot area. Wall-mounted works have also varied in scale, occupying an area up to 20 feet wide on the wall. The group exhibition will be curated by The Shed’s curatorial team. To learn more about past Open Call works presented in the Level 2 Gallery, please visit this page.

The Griffin Theater, on Level 6, is a black box theater with resilient (not sprung) wood floors. It will be subdivided into two intimate, 220-person-capacity spaces to suit the needs of a range of productions and installations. In the past it has been configured in two ways: as a proscenium-style space, with a stage roughly 39 feet wide by 20 feet deep with wings on each side, located on the east side of The Theater, and as an open-plan space roughly 78 feet wide by 55 feet deep. Pieces in The Griffin Theater will run for three performance dates.To learn more about past Open Call works presented in The Griffin Theater, please visit this page.

The Shed’s Plaza, an iconic public space, is formed when the building’s movable outer shell is nested to create a 17,000-square-foot outdoor plaza for large-scale performances. It can accommodate an audience of up to 1,500 and will be set up with the most up-to-date sound and light technology. The main stage that will be built will be approximately 47 feet wide by 24 feet deep and 42 inches high, with steps upstage right and left. This space does not allow for outdoor projections. Pieces will be performed once, and can make use of the stage or of the Plaza itself. To learn more about past Open Call works presented on the Plaza, please visit this page.

The Shed aims to reduce disparities in New York’s cultural ecology through equity, inclusion, and access. Artists with disabilities are encouraged to apply to Open Call. The Shed’s performance spaces are all wheelchair accessible. All Open Call information sessions will include live captioning. ASL interpretation and audio description will be available during the information session and conversation with artists on Thursday, May 14 from 7 – 9 pm. Please email our Open Call team at opencall@theshed.org with questions or any specific requests. For more details on The Shed’s accessibility values, please visit theshed.org/accessibility.

The Shed will support Open Call projects with a commissioning fee of up to $15,000 per artist or collective, paid in quarterly installments. This commissioning fee covers artist fees, collaborator fees, rehearsal and studio space, administration costs, costumes and other production materials, and any extra equipment. An itemized budget template is provided as part of the application.

Any requests for revisions to applications should be sent to opencall@theshed.org. We will review these revisions on a case-by-case basis.

Unfortunately, our application requires a direct upload of artist work samples. However, there is an opportunity to link to your website, if you have one.

For general questions about Open Call or application materials, please email opencall@theshed.org. For questions about using Submittable, please contact the Submittable help desk.

As this is a commissioning program, we ask that artists agree to premiere their commissioned work at The Shed.

Photos from past Open Call commissions

Ricky (YATTA), An Episode: Ricky’s Room, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, June 22, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Ricky performing on stage with a bed and swing in front of a large screen.

Richard Sears, Yael Ginosar, Clara Cullen, and Ethan Braun, Should I Lose You, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, June 22, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Audience viewing film on large screen in blue-lit space.Capture_315_002cc.jpg

Yulan Grant, Buss Demon Choat, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, July 5, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Dancers on a dramatically lit stage in front of a crowd.

Richard Kennedy, HIR, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, May 31, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Dancers and musicians performing together on a stage.

Richard Kennedy, HIR, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, May 31, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Kelsey Pyro, Makadewiiyaasikwe, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, June 15, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

190615_Shed_OpenCall_Group1_Kelsey_Pyro__0498 (2).jpg

Richard Kennedy, HIR, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, May 31, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Tariq Al Sabir, #UNWANTED, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, June 29, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Performers taking a bow on stage to standing ovation.

Installation view: Open Call: Group 2, The Shed, New York, June 19 – August 25, 2019. Photo: Stan Narten.

An installation view of the Open Call Group 2 artists' group exhibition.

Installation view: Open Call: Group 2, The Shed, New York, June 19 – August 25, 2019. Photo: Stan Narten.

The Illustrious Blacks performing as part of Open Call: Group 3, The Shed, New York, August 9, 2019. Photo: Noemie Tshinanga.

The Illustrious Blacks on stage performing outside the Shed building from the perspective of the Hudson Yard's Vessel, overlooking the Plaza.

Maya Lee-Parritz, Tribute to Bells, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 3 at The Shed, New York, August 10, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Four dancers in motion on an outdoor stage.

The Illustrious Blacks performing as part of Open Call: Group 3, The Shed, New York, August 9, 2019. Photo: Noemie Tshinanga.

The Illustrious Blacks on stage performing as part of Open Call Group 3.

Ricky (YATTA), An Episode: Ricky’s Room, 2019, performed as part of Open Call: Group 1 at The Shed, New York, June 22, 2019. Photo: Christopher Garcia Valle.

Open Call Read more about “Open Call ” All details for “Open Call ”

SUMMER 2024

New art for New York

The Lead Sponsor of Open Call is

Support for Open Call is generously provided by

Additional support for Open Call is provided by Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation.

The creation of new work at The Shed is generously supported by the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Commissioning Fund and the Shed Commissioners. Major support for live productions at The Shed is provided by the Charina Endowment Fund.

Open Call 2020 Applications

About the Selection Process

Reviewers and Panelists

Information Sessions

Frequently Asked Questions About the Application Process

Photos from past Open Call commissions

Thank you to our partners