NYC Department Of Cultural Affairs Unveils Public Artists In Residence For 2025–26

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs will place three artists in City agencies as part of the 2025–26 Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) program. Selected through an open call, the artists will be embedded in the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations, the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit, and the NYC Department of Small Business Services.

Each residency will span 12 months and will support work addressing challenges that include serving asylum seekers, expanding access to public services, and supporting small businesses in immigrant communities.

Artists receive a $40,000 stipend, workspace within their host agency, and technical support throughout the residency. “For ten years, our pioneering Public Artists in Residence program has brought the power of creative practice to bear on some of our city's most pressing civic challenges,” said NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. “With this new cohort of PAIRs, we're excited to see these artists get to work alongside public servants working in diverse fields like housing, small business, and public engagement.”

Additional agency leaders, including the Department of Small Business Services’ Commissioner Dynishal Gross; Adrienne Lever, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit; and Rudy S. Giuliani, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations, underscored the value of integrating artists into civic systems.

2025–26 PUBLIC ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Mauricio Higuera, PAIR with the Mayor's Office of Housing Recovery Operations
Mauricio Higuera is an artist and educator whose practice examines migration and the intersections of the material and the immaterial. “I am honored to be chosen to participate in New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs Public Artist in Residence program, and lend a hand in this effort through the arts, in engaging and collaborating with our newest New Yorkers to mark this moment in history,” he said.

Ifeoma Ebo, PAIR with the Mayor's Public Engagement Unit
Ifeoma Ebo is the founding Principal of Creative Urban Alchemy LLC and works across art, architecture, urban design, and planning. “I'm honored to work with the Public Engagement Unit to explore how art and creative storytelling can transform the spaces between government systems and community needs into sites of collective imagination and healing,” she said.

Stephen Kwok, PAIR with the NYC Department of Small Business Services
Stephen Kwok is an interdisciplinary artist and curator whose work explores the connections between site, activity, and systems. “It's a proposal rooted in the understanding that the most potent artistic concepts are often actualized and embedded within everyday structures,” he said.

ABOUT THE PAIR PROGRAM

PAIR residencies begin with a four-month research phase, during which artists and agencies develop a shared understanding through site visits, meetings, and studio engagement. Following approval of a collaboratively designed project proposal, the implementation phase includes at least one public-facing component. Artists receive $40,000 for the full program, office access, and materials through Materials for the Arts.

Launched in 2015 and inspired by the work of Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the City’s first artist in residence (1977), PAIR has since embedded 24 artists in 15 agencies. Past participants include Kameron Neal, Tania Bruguera, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Yazmany Arboleda, Modesto Flako Jimenez, Carlos Irijalba, and Alex Strada. A full list of PAIR artists is available on the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs website.