Summer in DUMBO: A Visit to the Sharpe Foundation
Strikingly, the Sharpe Foundation program seems to place less of an emphasis on networking opportunities than similar residencies offer. Instead, artists rely on themselves and one another to generate buzz. Artist Vince Contarino describes how the Space Program artists encourage one another and share visitors. In opposition to glitz and hype, the focus is not on exposure but on providing artists who couldn’t necessarily afford it enough space to make the work they want, something that is increasingly difficult in New York. I am encouraged to see a group of working artists steadily building their careers in this way.
Sharpe’s Space Program is important because it serves those artists who are making a serious commitment to a career despite the sometimes tedious economic realities of what this involves. I wonder: without more programs like Sharpe’s Space Program, how long can New York sustain these kind of groups?
— Howard Hurst for Hyperallergic