New Jersey-based Project For Empty Spaces, home to socially-aware art, is awarded a $1.5 million grant from Mellon Foundation.
The grant comes as a big deal to the small art space, which has so far functioned on limited resources. In a joint statement, Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Jampol (joint founder of the space) said: “There are so many ways that this funding allows us to realize many of our long-standing goals.”
Project For Empty Spaces elaborated that the grant will allow them to expand their operations in Newark. It will also allow them to open new studios for the residency of an ever-increasing number of budding artists willing to join them. Not just that, but it will also allow them to hold outdoor public park art projects. Currently, their plans include opening a space in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (where the project began in 2010), as well as eventually opening another Manhattan space in the fall.
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The grant will also allow Project For Empty Spaces to expand its staff, which had been limited thus far. Some immediate additions would be a Residency Manager (to oversee their residency programs) and a Director of Development (to manage their expansions). The grant will periodically reach the art space all through 2024. Thanking the Mellon Foundation, PES founders that the grant will allow them to start programs that will force artists “to really flex their imaginations during their times with us.”