Children's Museum of the Arts, New York City's non-profit art museum dedicated to uniting children and artists to create and share ambitious new works of art with their communities and the world, has announced their 2021 Art Auction and Fundraiser Exhibition Now is Not the Time, taking place virtually February 25-March 11, 2021, in partnership with Artsy. Proceeds from the fundraiser exhibition will ensure the continuation of CMA's mission to provide vital access to the arts for children of all backgrounds and abilities from around the globe.
The online fundraiser exhibition includes over 40 artists whose work responds in ways both subtle and profound to issues of social justice, including Faith Ringgold, Rashid Johnson,
Eddie Martinez,
Cindy Sherman, and Baseera Khan. The title, Now is Not the Time, refers to the increasing trend of abandoning arts education in the wake of COVID-19 and today's social and political challenges. CMA actively pushes back against this mode of thinking, advocating that access to the arts is more important than ever for children and families dealing with the stress of the current moment.
"Arts education is a critical, transformative tool for all children, and the very thing that makes it possible for kids (and adults) to process and respond to the events we're living through," said CMA Executive Director Seth Cameron. "With the generosity of these incredible adult artists, we hope to continue our mission of celebrating and advocating for children artists."
Though CMA's doors remain closed to the public, the museum has expanded their online programming to include art-making workshops, After School classes, half-day art camps, resources for parents, and more. CMA's online programs allow them to bring arts education to a wide audience of children around the world - their popular online art-making program, CMA Live!, has reached children from New York City, and Hoboken, NJ to cities like Yorkshire, England and Tel Aviv, Israel. Coinciding with the art auction, CMA is hosting two programs for children and families: Club CMA Para Familias: Everyday Objects, a Spanish-language program inspired by the work of auction artist Oscar Rene Cornejo on February 20, and Sculpt with David: Sweet Treats, a clay sculpture workshop inspired by auction artist Rashawn Griffin, which took place on February 5. More information about CMA's programs can be found
here.
The art auction builds upon CMA's reimagined vision to expand their content and programming to support the needs of children and families in the current moment. Over the last several months, the museum has launched new initiatives to carry out this mission, including the Vision Fund, which supports the museum's mission to unite children and artists to create and share ambitious new works of art, and the forthcoming Look Make Show, a weekly interactive, online variety show where child and adult artists work together to take on important questions of our time.
The fundraiser exhibition artists include Uri Aran, Stephen Bron, Benjamin Butler, Seth Cameron, Oliver Clegg,
Tommy Coleman, Oscar Rene Cornejo, Ann Craven, Blane de St. Croix, Francesca DiMattio, Adriana Farmiga, Zaria Forman, Daniele Frazier, Rico Gatson, Alexander Gorlizki, Nathan Randall Green, Rashawn Griffin, Mara Held, Serban Ionescu, Rashid Johnson, Bo Joseph, JR, Baseera Khan, Julia Kunin, Alex Kwartler, Blaze Lamper,
Eddie Martinez, Joanna Messer, Ryan and Trevor Oakes, Nathlie Provosty, Hannah Rawe, Elaine Reichek, Faith Ringgold,
James Rosenquist,
Andrew Ross, Jonathan Seliger,
Cindy Sherman, David Shrobe,
Philip Smith, William Villalongo, Nicole Wittenberg, and Andrew Zuckerman.
More information about Now is Not the Time can be found
here.
