Join us for a second roundtable conversation, prompted by artist and educator Kerry Downey. Emerging out of questions and ideas posed during our first program with them in January, this follow up roundtable program will delve deeper into the relationships between freelance labor, museums and other cultural institutions. What do we need to make our work sustainable - to support each other, the work we do, and the people we serve? We will discuss examples of organizing both in and outside of the workplace, and envision what next steps might be for freelancers looking to change the conditions of their work. The discussion will engage topics to support Downey upcoming essay on "queering museums," a yearlong reflection on the valuation of cultural work and institutional investment in "community partnerships."

This program is Free and open to the public with RSVP.

Kerry Downey (b.1979, Ft. Lauderdale) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in New York City. Downey’s work explores relationality through the many ways we inhabit our bodies and access forms of power. Downey’s practice includes video, printmaking, painting, drawing, writing, and performance. They’ve recently had solo shows at Bureau of General Services--Queer Division in New York and CAVE in Detroit. Their publication We collect together in a net was published by Wendy’s Subway in 2019. They have also exhibited at the Queens Museum, Flushing, NY; the Hessel Museum at Bard College, Annandale, NY; Danspace Project, New York, NY; Knockdown Center, Maspeth, NY; Kate Werble, NY; The Drawing Center, New York, NY; Cooper Cole, Toronto, CA, and Taylor Macklin, Zurich, CH. Downey is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant and Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant. Artist-in-residencies include Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME; Triangle Arts Association, Brooklyn, NY; SHIFT at EFA Project Space, New York, NY; the Drawing Center’s Open Sessions, New York, NY; Real Time and Space, Oakland, CA; and the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. Downey participated in the Queer/Art/Mentorship program in 2013. Their work has been in Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, and The Washington Post. Downey holds a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Hunter College.

Culture Workers Education Center is a platform for people to gather, learn, and organize to address urgent issues such as living wages, labor rights, industry policy, and equity in the cultural workplace. We provide direct services to culture workers in New York City and State, and online resources for workers everywhere. Our programs focus on building new and strengthening existing communities of culture workers through practical skill-building, resource sharing, and the collaborative generation of new ideas. Programs are free, accessible, interdisciplinary, and participatory.

PS122 Gallery is a dynamic, cooperatively-run not-for-profit, alternative space in the East Village that provides opportunities and support services for emerging and under-recognized artists. Maintained by the members of Painting Space 122 and sustained by the generosity of artists, curators, critics, gallerists, and the public since 1979. PS122 Gallery is free and open to the public and inclusive of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, LGBTQIA identity, and class. Conveniently located on the ground floor of the 122 Community Center in the East Village of Manhattan near several public transportation lines, PS122 Gallery provides wheelchair accessibility through the 122CC main entrance, as well as wheelchair accessible water fountains and all-gender restrooms.