Sites & Stewardship

Sites & Stewardship nurtures the ever-evolving relationships between artmaking and place. Rooted in Ruth DeYoung Kohler II’s long standing love of artist-built environments, the program stems from the belief that new possibilities emerge when we value the specificity of sites in the pursuit of creativity.

Retrospective and forward-facing, this program supports projects that intersect with the extraordinary aspects of an artist’s community, home, studio, archive, collection, or built environment.

Reflecting on both the tangible and ephemeral qualities of our surroundings, we encourage initiatives that connect location to creativity, artist to community, histories to futures.

This program empowers both those who take the lead in investigating where and how creativity flourishes and those who activate the imprint artists make on our cultural landscape. Our inaugural Sites and Stewardship grantees were announced in March 2023.

Program

An integral aspect of the Sites & Stewardship program is centering artists and site-specificity. In their missions and programs, the awarded organizations have goals to:

Honor the specific qualities of a location
Gain a deeper understanding of the creative process
Offer a fuller picture of our past
Generate new offerings for the future
Connect with surrounding communities

Fifteen organizations were selected to receive grants in the inaugural year, with two organizations receiving multi-year funding for major initiatives: The W.O.W. Project (New York) and Doll Museum Forward (funded through fiscal sponsor The Social Good Fund)(Philadelphia).

To help refine and deepen the structure of the program, we consulted with artists, architects, curators, and site stewards from across the country, including: Heather Hart, artist (New York); Daniel Fuller, independent curator (Georgia); Lisa Stone, scholar and curator (Wisconsin); Charles Fowler, site steward (Georgia); Jeffrey Mansfield, architect (Massachusetts); and Saya Woolfalk, artist (New York).

Photo: Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum in Joshua Tree, California. Photograph by Rachel Reichert.

The Sara Lee doll, the first mass-marketed doll with African-American features. Photo: Viet Le

Black Doll Museum. Photo: Meredith Edlow

Photo: Viet Le

Play

Philadelphia Doll Museum Documentary produced by Temple Contemporary, Tyler School of Art

MULTI-YEAR GRANTEE

The Philadelphia Doll Museum was established by Barbara Whiteman in 1988. The collection first started in Barbara’s living room, and as interest grew from area schools, it expanded into a physical museum space providing lectures and workshops. Ms. Whiteman says that the dolls are, “More than play objects or toys, {they} symbolize the struggle for freedom and human dignity and each have a message of truth and strength that is important to the psychological and sociological development of Black people. Collectively, they present visual images of how Black people were perceived throughout history.”

Curator Rob Blackson and Ms. Whiteman are currently working together closely to share the work of The Philadelphia Doll Museum through the new initiative, The Doll Museum Forward. This project will catalogue and circulate the collection of 300 Black dolls throughout Philadelphia, to honor the history of the museum, engage new audiences, and initiate community-wide art programs. The whole life of a museum is considered, and even outside of the individual collection, this project will strengthen the mission and educational goals of 30+ cultural, civic, and educational organizations throughout Philadelphia.

Images courtesy of the Black Doll Museum. Video produced in 2018 by Robert Blackson with Temple Contemporary, Tyler School of Art.

FCWL 2023. Photo: Marion Aguas

Met Residency 2021. Photo: Marion Aguas

Joy Residency 2022. Photo: Echo Chen

Joy Residency 2022. Photo: Renee Chang.

Photo: Marion Aguas

MULTI-YEAR GRANTEE

Founded in 1890, Wing On Wo is the oldest operating store in New York’s Chinatown, and one of the last that still specializes in Chinese porcelain. The storefront has lived many lives, originally selling a wide range of products such as dried fish, canned goods, prescription herbs, and roast meats. In 1964, the shop began to specialize in porcelain. Five generations later, in 2016, Mei Lum took ownership of Wing on Wo & Co., establishing what is now The W.O.W. Project.

Through art, W.O.W. supports and creates communal practices, connecting the history of Chinatown with its future. Current initiatives include artist residencies, youth programs, public artworks, and public events.

Mei Lum shares: “The W.O.W. Project sustains ownership over Manhattan Chinatown’s future by growing, protecting, and preserving Chinatown’s creative culture through arts, culture, and activism. As a community-based initiative, W.O.W. envisions the future of Chinatown as one that centers women, non-binary, queer, and trans people as leaders in building intergenerational bridges of understanding across Asian American communities and beyond.”