Socrates Sculpture Park Inc

Programs: Socrates presented two major group exhibitions & two billboards in 2016:landmark (may 8, 2016 - august 28, 2016): marking socrates sculpture park's 30th anniversary in 2016, the institution presented landmark, a series of artist commissions and projects that transformed the land both physically and symbolically. Once an industrial landfill and illegal dumping ground, socrates transformed itself into new york city's preeminent sculpture park and social space for public art, community engagement and urban discovery. Landmark directly addressed the idea of place as intimately tied to social and ecological structures, to maintenance and stewardship, and to evolution over time, featuring a newly commissioned major earthwork by meg webster, as well as artworks by abigail deville, brendan fernandes, cary leibowitz, jessica segall, casey tang, the curatorial collective artport_making waves, and a broadway billboard by hank willis thomas. 2016 emerging artist fellowship exhibition (september 25, 2016 - march 13, 2017): the annual emerging artist fellowship exhibition (eaf) is a cornerstone of socrates sculpture park's visual arts programming, widely acclaimed for the ambition, breadth, and innovation of selected contemporary works. A singular opportunity for rising artists to experiment with ambitious, large-scale public art, eaf provides 15 artists with an open studio, monetary support, and institutional guidance. From june through september, eaf artists worked on-site, negotiating the physical and conceptual challenges of production in the park's outdoor studio space, culminating in eaf16: emerging artist fellowship exhibition. Diverse in subject, materials, and approach, each site-specific work addresses social, ecological, or political issues that are pertinent to the past, present, and future of the park as it celebrated its 30th anniversary year. Eaf16 artists are: liene bosqu , travis boyer, andrew brehm, lea cetera, dachal choi and mathew suen, onyedika chuke, galer a perdida, dylan gauthier, dmitri hertz, madeline hollander, olalekan jeyifous, lia lowenthal, sable elyse smith, elizabeth tubergen, and bryan zanisnik. Broadway billboards: the park's ongoing "broadway billboard" series allows socrates sculpture park to commission artists to create a billboard image that spans the main entrance of the park and offers a unique platform for exhibiting two-dimensional media. At least twice annually (spring and fall), socrates installs a new work on the 11' x 28' billboard, which can be seen along broadway in long island city. (1) as part of landmark, socrates alum hank willis thomas willis thomas presented a striking photograph with from cain't see in the morning till cain't see at night (from strange fruit). (2) from september 25, 2016 - march 12, 2017, lisa oppenheim's applause was on view, and evolved from the artist's ongoing study of color and perception, focusing on the impossibility of a "natural" blue rose. Socrates served local youth through free education:sculpture studio: april - june & october - november. By introducing students to new modes of creative expression, sculpture studio - the park's in-school arts education program - helps participants find their own voices by providing a forum to develop a visual language through a sculpture practice. Building off the success of our free art-making workshops, socrates sculpture park launched sculpture studio (formerly called "the art studio") in 2014 as a multi-year education expansion that integrates the park's existing visual arts classes, grounded in developing creative expression through art-making, with curricula at our local public high schools. Saturday sculpture workshops: on saturdays, may 7 - september 24, socrates hosted free sculpture workshops tailored for kids and their families. Each class was free and offered in the park's education area on a drop-in basis. Participants worked with a different artist each week, exploring innovative art mediums and a variety of subject matter. Sculpture camp: these free workshops accommodated groups of children from neighborhood youth agencies, community groups, summer schools, and day camps by offering the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities inspired by our landmark exhibition. Artists ran two sessions of their workshop each weekday to teach children fundamental and contemporary art-making techniques. . Workshops were held on weekdays from july 11 - august 19. Socrates presented free public programming:outdoor cinema: in collaboration with film forum and rooftop films, socrates presented the 18th annual outdoor international film festival. Each evening focused on a different country or culture and celebrated the diversity of queens through film, performance and food. Films took place every wednesday over eight weeks from july 6 - august 25. Performance series: on july 11, socrates presented the metropolitan opera's summer recital series, produced in association with summerstage and the new york city department of parks & recreation. The series featured three talented young met singers performing arias and duets from a variety of operas. Jazz at socrates, thursdays, june - august 4 , 2016for the first time, socrates and the jazz foundation teamed up to present a dynamic debut series of jazz in the park, featuring an eclectic range of live music by queens-based musicians. The monthly series culminated on august 4, louis armstrong's 115th birthday. Young dancemakers company, saturday july 30, 2016 for a debut performance at socrates sculpture park, teen dancers from the young dancemakers company presented original danceworks as part of their citywide tour. With a mix of roving and on-stage performances, teens created expressive choreography with vital themes that are relevant, mindful, witty, and fun. Hip to hip theatre company presents shakespeare in the park , sundays in augustnow in its tenth season, hip to hip returned to the park to present a tragedy one week (julius caesar) and a comedy (as you like it) the next, performed in repertory by a professional troupe of actors. Kids & the classics - a children's interactive workshop - was offered prior to each performance. Designed for children ages 4 to 14, this program offered children a chance to interact with the actors and theatrical text by previewing characters and situations, and by making comparisons to contemporary life through theater games. Through local partnerships, socrates also hosted a weekly greenmarket; offered free boating and fitness classes; and organized free annual festivals, including kite flight, lic bike parade, a summer solstice celebration, circus amok, and a halloween harvest festival.