Locust Projects
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Founded by artists for artists in 1998, Locust Projects is Miami’s longest running nonprofit alternative art space. They produce, present, and nurture ambitious and experimental new art and the exchange of ideas through commissioned exhibitions and projects, artist residencies, summer art intensives for teens, and public programs on contemporary art and curatorial practice. As a leading incubator of new art and ideas, Locust Projects emphasizes boundary-pushing creative endeavors, risk-taking and experimentation by local, national and international artists. They invest in South Florida’s arts community by providing artists with project grants and empower creative careers by supporting the administrative work of being an artist through an onsite artist resource hub and access to pro bono legal services.
Founded by a trio of Miami-based artists: Elizabeth Withstandley, Westen Charles, and COOPER, the organization was among the first to open in a converted warehouse in Miami's once depressed Wynwood neighborhood. In 2001, Locust Projects became incorporated and organized its first Board of Directors. Locust Projects was officially recognized as a 501 (c) (3) not for profit institution in 2002. A grant award from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in 2006 allowed the organization to hire its first full-time Executive Director and subsequently supported the relocation of Locust Projects to Miami's Design District in May 2009. Additional major grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, as well as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs have supported and sustained the organization's growth.
Locust Projects is currently located at 297 NE 67th St, Miami, FL 33138. Locust Projects has always been and will always be FREE and open to the public.
History
Westen Charles, COOPER and Elizabeth Withstandley met at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in the early 1990s. After undergraduate school the three kept in touch and in the late 1990s they discussed starting an artist run exhibition space in Miami, Florida. At the time, Miami had a small art community and didn’t have much to offer in the way of exhibition spaces. During a meeting in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1997, the three discussed calling the space Locust Projects. After COOPER and Elizabeth Withstandley received their MFA’s from The University of Alabama they headed to Miami to meet up with Westen Charles who was finishing up his graduate degree at The University of Miami. In 1998 the three found a warehouse in an area of Miami called Wynwood, a then dilapidated and forgotten area of Miami. They rented a 3500-squarefoot warehouse at 105 NW 23rd Street, across from a Salvation Army rehabilitation center, nestled between a bus yard and an empty lot. With their own funds they renovated the warehouse which had previously been used as a wood shop for a custom woodworking business.
In the spring of 1999, Westen Charles inaugurated the space with its first show called “Pigs and Lint”. In late 1998 and early 1999, the founders contacted artists and invited them to exhibit in the space which began the first few years of programming. They also advertised an open call to artists to submit proposals. From the open call and from contacting artists that they felt should show in Miami they selected artist such as Tatiana Garmendia, LOIS (a Canadian artist collaborative group), Miami based artist David Rohn, Ilona Malka Rich and Randy Moore. They invited artists that wouldn’t have otherwise exhibited in Miami due to the lack of non-commercial spaces. Since the Wynwood area was essentially an abandoned neighborhood they hired off duty police officers for all of the gallery openings. After the first few years they expanded the space to enable two-person shows. During that time supporters in the community discussed ways they could help the artist-run space and provided guidance on how to create a lasting institution. Dennis & Debra Scholl suggested that the organization should form a board of directors and file to become an official not-for-profit 501c3. Dennis Scholl served as the first Director of the board.[1]
References
- ^ "Dennis Scholl's entrepreneurial vision shaped Knight Foundation's arts programs | Miami Herald Miami Herald". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18.