KODA 5th Professional Development for Artists Symposium

Starting with a focus group on Future of Residencies & Supporting Artistic Vision with Christina Daniels, three comprehensive seminars will follow, each lasting 30 minutes, with 15-minute Q&A. Artist Sari Carel will share her community engagement journey. Artist Rowan Renee, alongside Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects, will share their insights on artist-run residencies with their project Stilt City. Lastly, a session on funding ambitious projects with Brittni Collins will conclude the event.

Program

12:00-1:00 PM Registration
1:00-1:15 PM Welcome remarks by Klaudia Ofwona Draber and Program Partners
1:15-2:00 PM Focus Group: Future of Residencies & Supporting Artistic Vision by Christina Daniels, Times Square Alliance
2:00-2:45 PM Seminar #1: Community Engagement by Artist Sari Carel
2:45-3:00 PM Short Break
3:00-3:45 PM Seminar #2: Artist-Run Residency by Artist Rowan Renee & Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects
3:45-4:30 PM Seminar #3: Funding Ambitious Projects by Brittni Collins, Powerhouse Arts
4:30-5:00 PM Mingle

Seminar Leaders

Christina Daniels is an arts administrator focused on supporting artists and public art programming. They are currently the Assistant Director of Public Art at Times Square Arts. Prior to Times Square Arts, Daniels worked at Pioneer Works Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Kasmin Gallery, Culture Corps, and Black Frame. They have a BA in Art History from the University of Michigan and a MA in Arts Administration from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Sari Carel is a Brooklyn-based, interdisciplinary artist and environmental activist. Her projects consider interspecies communication, nature and the built environment, and how the senses inform perception. Sari Carel participated in a KODA Land + Environment artist residency in 2021. She was offered a studio space on Governors Island in partnership with Swale House, exhibited at FiveMyles and organized a tree-care and stewardship workshop with Trees NY in Brooklyn, NY. Recent exhibitions: The Sun Is A Mouth Of Blue at Melanie Flood Projects, Portland, OR; The Shape Of Play, a public art project in Boston’s North End, and Mud Songs For Anni at The Schneider Museum of Art’s Art Beyond in Ashland, OR. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies at Stundars Museum, Solf, Finland; Atelier Stipendium des Bundeskanzleramtes, Vienna, Austria; and Bundanon, Illaroo, Australia; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY; and LMCC Residency on Governors Island, NY, among others. She is a recent recipient of a commissions award for Korea Art Forum's 2024-2025 “Shared Dialogue, Shared Space” program.

Rowan Renee (b. 1985, West Palm Beach, Florida) is a genderqueer artist currently working in Brooklyn, NY. Their work addresses intergenerational trauma, gender-based violence and the impact of the criminal legal system through image, text and installation. They have been exhibited in solo exhibitions at The Green-Wood Cemetery (2023), Smack Mellon (2021), Five Myles (2021), Aperture Foundation (2017), and Pioneer Works (2015). Renee's solo projects are influenced by community-based workshops with people affected by gender-based violence and mass incarceration. Previous partners include Recess Art, The ReEntry Theater of Harlem, and The Stories We Tell. They have received awards from the Aaron Siskind Foundation, the Harpo Foundation, the Jerome Hill Foundation, and the Art for Justice Fund. Their installation, No Spirit For Me (2019), was included in the critically acclaimed exhibition Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, curated by Dr. Nicole R. Fleetwood at MoMA PS1. Rowan Renee is an artist-in-residence at KODA in the “Healing” season, and is also the founder of Stilt City.

Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects is an award-winning architecture and design practice with an international reputation for design excellence. Founded in 1998, and led by firm principals Stephan Jaklitsch and Mark Gardner, the studio is based on the belief that design is for people and possesses the ability to communicate collective values, provide relevance, and create meaning. Jaklitsch/ Gardner Architects believe that there is fundamental value in designing distinctive buildings, spaces, interiors, furniture, and products of all scales that contribute to the quality of how people live. Jaklitsch/Gardner is a Black-and-LGBTQIA+-owned architecture and design studio.

Brittni Collins is the Director of Public Art at Powerhouse Arts and has spent the last 10+ years dedicating her career to advancing the needs of living artists. Previously, she was the Assistant Director of the public art program Times Square Arts, where she collaborated with artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world’s most iconic urban spaces. In earlier roles, she expanded artist resources and virtual programming at MacDowell and oversaw artist services and award funding at Creative Capital. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, she holds a BA in Economics from Emory University and serves on the board of Burnaway, an Atlanta-based magazine of contemporary art and criticism from the American South.

Program Partners

Alara Arts Ring is a New York-based arts group founded by Columbia University Arts Administration students. Its mission is to foster creativity and dialogue that enhances interdisciplinary collaborations and inspires innovation in the arts. Alara Arts Ring serves as a platform for administrators, artists, professionals, and individuals from diverse fields to connect through panels and artistic events. We aim to enrich the professional landscape and empower our audiences with insights and connections needed to drive the arts forward

Culture Push is an arts organization that creates programs to nurture artists and other creative people who are approaching common problems through hands-on civic participation and imaginative problem-solving. The mission of Culture Push is to create a lively exchange of ideas between many different communities; artists and non-artists, professional practitioners and laypeople, across generations, neighborhoods, and cultures. Culture Push supports the process of creating new modes of thinking and doing and serves a diverse community of creative people. The programs of Culture Push focus on collaboration and group learning through active, participatory experiences. Culture Push programs appear in many different locations, taking many different forms, and public presentations are low-cost or free, to give access to the widest audience.

Organizer

Established in 2019, KODA is celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2024. KODA is a nonprofit arts organization based in New York dedicated to mid-career artists of diverse backgrounds. We grant residencies to allow for experimentation and facilitate creative projects through strategic partnerships with socially engaged partners. We are the go-to thinking spot and serve the community through exhibitions of contemporary art, events and outreach to strengthen art education. KODA works with mid-career conceptual artists who explore social justice related topics. They surface the world’s economic and social challenges through their insightful research and concepts. Our work is designed around the needs of individual artists, with the main aim to provide them with due exposure and scholarship. Our projects include residencies and survey exhibitions, community and education programs as well as partnerships with socially engaged businesses. Our work is aligned with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Image Release

Registrants, instructors, and guests attending the program agree they may be photographed, videotaped, and audio taped during the event. Photographs, videos, and voice recordings are the sole property of KODA Arts Inc., which reserves the right to publish attendees’ likeness online and use it in promotional materials.

Host or Publisher KODA