Programs
Smack Mellon's Exhibition Program is at the center of the organization. Designed to advance public interest in the visual arts, the program focuses on providing opportunities for artists to create site-specific works that creatively respond to our space, and work that explores innovative uses of both new technologies and traditional materials. The gallery space provides for large, ambitious shows that allow our artists ample room to explore and present their work. Exhibiting artists also have unlimited access to Smack Mellon’s in-house media equipment. On average, Smack Mellon produces five exhibitions a year showcasing the work of more than 50 artists for 20,000 visitors. We also produce on average one exhibit per year by an emerging guest curator. The gallery, which is free to the public, is open five days a week.
The Artist Studio Program was launched in 2000 in response to the crisis in availability of affordable workspace for artists living and working in New York City. This program provides free studio space, access to a workshop for metal, wood and general fabrication, a common area equipped with the latest technology, and a fellowship (dependent on funding) to six artists for an eleven-month period. Each year, Smack Mellon convenes a panel of arts professionals to select the six Studio Artists from over 600 applicants. The panel also chooses approximately 15 additional “Hot Picks” artists, whose work is featured on our website for one year, along with that of our studio artists. Smack Mellon hosts two Open Studios events annually, as well as sponsored visits from curators, critics and gallerists, which provide significant exposure and invaluable career building opportunities.
In 2007 we developed Arts Education Programs for local youth, in order to better prepare underserved young people for the professional world and to expose them to diverse artistic disciplines. Our Art Ready after-school program partners high school students with professional artists in NYC for a series of studio visits, field trips and a 4-month mentorship in order to help them make a more informed decision about pursuing a career in the arts.
Smack Mellon welcomes proposals from emerging and under-recognized mid-career artists who are based in the greater NYC region. Proposals will be considered for both Gallery One (the larger front space) and Gallery Two (the smaller back space). For Gallery One we encourage site-specific projects and installations that respond to the unusual architecture of the space. Only artists who do not have commercial gallery representation in New York City will be considered.
We accept exhibition proposals on a rolling basis, reviewing submissions periodically through the year. We will be considering submissions for 2025 and later.
Smack Mellon is interested in presenting exhibitions that consider social, political, and environmental issues and formal presentations that are relevant to our time. Through our exhibition program, we seek to support experimental, boundary-breaking work and artists that have demonstrated a dedicated commitment to their practice.
Your submission should include:
1. Work Samples You may include up to ten (10) images and/or three (3) videos that are representative of your artistic career and the work in your proposal. Images should be saved as .jpeg or .png, 1000px maximum in any direction. Videos should be an excerpt of no longer than 2 minutes each. Please DO NOT submit video documentation of exhibitions. We will make exceptions if the exhibition contains video installation (IE: not a single channel video), performance, or other time based elements that cannot be captured by an image.
2. Image information There will be space below each image to provide information about the work. For still images: Include the title, date, medium, dimensions, and a brief description of the work (less than 100 words). For video: Include title, date, duration, and a brief description of the work (less than 100 words).
3. CV Please include exhibitions, residencies, awards, and related projects as well as educational background. Please do not include employment history unless it is directly relevant to the proposed project. PDF only.
4. Proposal as one single PDF, including the following:
- Where the project will take place. You may submit a proposal for either Gallery One (the large space) or Gallery Two (the smaller space). Your proposed project cannot take up both spaces.
- General artist statement (250 words or less)
- Description of the proposed work (500 words or less) that includes a concise explanation of the exhibition concept, and how it will be presented in the gallery space.
- Drawing(s) or mock-up(s) of the proposed project. This should give us a sense of how you envision using the space.
*Note, it is helpful for the reviewers to know why you are interested in Smack Mellon as the site for your work.
A floorplan is available for download HERE
The side view of Gallery One (the large space) is available HERE
Requirements and Eligibility notes:
If awarded an exhibition opportunity, artists are responsible for delivering their artwork to the gallery and for the execution and installation of their artwork. Smack Mellon does not provide a budget for shipping, transportation, or specific production costs, so please take this into account. We will hire up to two freelance preparators to help with the installation of the artwork, but the amount of time available to each artist is limited. Smack Mellon has media equipment available for our exhibitions. Equipment details and installation specifics will be discussed after the proposal has been accepted for further consideration.
Artists are required to do a site visit at Smack Mellon’s space before a proposal is accepted. Smack Mellon provides an artist fee for all exhibitions, the amount of which depends on the gallery space and funding for that year.
Smack Mellon is currently only accepting proposals for those based in the greater New York Metropolitan Area, focusing primarily on the five NYC boroughs, extending to the immediately surrounding Tri-State region. Smack Mellon has long been dedicated to supporting the under-recognized artists in our local NYC art community and we see this opportunity as a way to continue that support.
Applications from artists who are currently enrolled in degree seeking programs (MFA, BFA, etc.) are not eligible for this opportunity.
Summer Group Exhibition
Open Call for Emerging Artists
Deadline for submissions: Sun. December 1, 2024 at 11:59PM
Smack Mellon seeks artwork submissions for a summer group exhibition to be guest-curated by New York City-based writer and curator Pallavi Surana. This exhibition conceptually departs from the salt marsh—a transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic environments that provides critical habitat for a variety of species. As ecosystems, salt marshes carry an inherent tension and exist as intermediaries: between land and sea, and between a perceived desolation and vitality. Historically, Brooklyn's waterfront was lined with salt marshes, which were later filled in to accommodate infrastructure, buildings, and urban development. Using Smack Mellon’s location on the waterfront as an anchor, Smack Mellon seeks submissions from artists exploring themes of in-betweenness, belonging, and global movement.
The exhibition aims to address the current moment of persistent global migratory motion and displacement, and expands on Surana's pre-existing research on how such movements can be seen through artistic modes of creation. Surana invites artists whose work engages with notions of excess, navigates interstitial spaces, considers center and periphery, embraces contradictions that defy mutual exclusivity, and imagines borders as fluid and permeable. Through a focus on these perspectives and modes of making, this exhibition seeks to explore new possibilities, uncovering alternative systems of being that challenge conventional boundaries.
By approaching the salt marsh not just as a geographical feature, but as a metaphorical space, the exhibition will interrogate how these liminal landscapes resonate with broader global narratives—spaces of refuge, tension, and transformation. Doing so, the exhibition hopes to allow space for a layered examination of how artists grapple with identity, place, and belonging, while being rooted in a complex historical and environmental framework.
If needed, artists can relate to keywords like:
- Tension
- Density
- Porous borders
- In-between
- Slippages
- Permeability
- Motion
- Plurality
To submit your artwork to this call, please be prepared with the following information and documents:
- Up to 3 images of your work that you wish to be included, and/or similar artworks.
- Images must be labeled in the following format:
- Lastname_Firstname_01.jpg
- Lastname_Firstname_02.jpg..
- etc.
- Up to 2 video excerpts may be included–each video can be 3 minutes maximum. Video submissions will be reviewed for up to 3 minutes, and not over.
- Please note that the videos should NOT include documentation of still artworks or exhibitions. Only time-based, moving-image, and/or performance-based works will be reviewed as video submissions.
- A corresponding image list document with the following information: title, date, medium, dimensions, and up to 100 words each of contextual information. (PDF only.)
- Brief artist statement (150-200 words. PDF only.)
- Current CV (PDF only.)
Artists will be notified in March 2025.
Details and Eligibility:
This call is only open to emerging artists. We define an emerging artist as one who is at the beginning of their public artistic career and would greatly benefit from the opportunities we provide. Artists may have some experience participating in group shows, solo shows at lesser-known art spaces, some press recognition, and/or are recent graduates of BFA or MFA programs. We do not consider artists emerging if they have had solo exhibitions at widely recognized galleries or institutions; already received consistent production opportunities, awards, and press; and/or if they have 10 years or more of consistent public experience/exposure as an artist. Age is not a determining factor. We understand the ambiguity of some of these terms, but hope they offer insight into our selection considerations.
Artists cannot be enrolled in degree seeking programs at the same time as this exhibition.
Smack Mellon can offer a small stipend for participation in this exhibition, which will be determined by the Curator once all artists are selected. We do not have the funds to commission new artworks. We also do not have a budget for shipping, transportation, or on-site production, and therefore we prioritize artists living and working in the greater New York area. Smack Mellon hires a small art handling team for each exhibition installation and deinstallation, but artists are responsible for providing Smack Mellon with instructions on safe handling. Artists are expected to be on site for the installation and de-installation of their work unless other arrangements have been made with the Curator and Smack Mellon’s staff. Artists are expected to arrange safe and timely transport of their works to and from the gallery.
Curator Bio:
Pallavi Surana is an arts writer and curator currently based in New York. In her curatorial practice, Pallavi is particularly interested in drawing on transnational histories and migratory movements. She is drawn to artistic practices that are cluttered, dense and visually fragmented—practices that come together and fall apart at dizzying speeds—kaleidoscopic, and in constant motion. She has held positions at SculptureCenter and Hessel Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Flint, and St+India Foundation in India; as well as the Cookhouse Gallery and the Camden Arts Centre in London. Her writing has appeared in publications like Eflux Criticism, ARTnews, The Art Newspaper and Ocula, among others.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
- You can submit a maximum of 10 still images OR a maximum of 2 videos and 5 still images. Please choose the one that best suits your practice.
- PLEASE NOTE: due to the high volume of applications we receive, your submission may not exceed the amount of works allowed: 10 images OR 2 videos + 5 images. If you try to submit MORE than 5 images AS WELL AS videos, the panelists will prioritize the videos and not consider the final 5 images as part of the application.
- Videos in your submission should show your original time-based work (media or performance) or installation of it in a physical space. Videos should NOT be used to show documentation of still work or a single channel installation.
- Videos in your submission should NOT be a reel, but one continuous excerpt. Title credits should be listed in the "video information" section.
- You can submit only one application per residency cycle
Program Eligibility
All applicants for the Studio Program should be emerging or early career artists. We define an emerging artist as one who is at the beginning of their public artistic career and would greatly benefit from the opportunities we provide, such as regular studio visits with New York City curators, public open studio events, and free studio space. Artists may have some experience participating in group shows, solo shows at lesser-known art spaces, some press recognition, and/or are recent graduates of BFA or MFA programs. We do not consider artists emerging if they have had solo exhibitions at widely recognized galleries or institutions; already received consistent production opportunities, awards, and press; and/or if they have 10 years or more of consistent public experience as an artist. Age is not a determining factor.
Applicants must also be legal residents of NYC and file their taxes in NYC for minimum one year prior to the application deadline. Applicants must be residing in NYC at the time of the application process and for the term of the residency. If you become a finalist and are invited for an interview, you must be able to provide a tax return for proof of residency. All applicants must be United States citizens or legal Permanent Residents of the United States, 18 years or older, may not be enrolled in any degree program, and must be able to demonstrate need for a studio. Applicants may not be a resident artist in another studio program at the same time as the Smack Mellon residency.
The 2025-2026 program begins September 5, 2025 and ends August 5, 2026.
All six of the artists selected for the studio program will receive a fellowship, three will receive a New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship. The New York Community Trust’s Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund provides support for talented, culturally diverse, economically disadvantaged young people who are seriously dedicated to a career in the arts.
*Applicant Requirements for The New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship are to support artists who are seriously dedicated to a career in the arts, reside in New York City, identify racially and or culturally with a historically underrepresented community, age 30 or younger, and have a demonstrated need for financial assistance to advance their artistic career. If you feel you are qualified and would like to be considered for one of Smack Mellon’s (3) Van Lier funded studios you will have a place to indicate your interest in the application form. Please note that if you have received a Van Lier Fellowship from another organization, you are not eligible for this.*
For those who are not eligible for the Van Lier Fellowship, the other three slots available in Smack Mellon’s Studio Program are for emerging artists of any age who are New York City residents.
Selection Process
A panel of arts professionals and artists will review applications and select artists for the 2025-2026 season. Artists will be selected based on the quality of their work and their potential for making the most of their time in the program. The 2025-2026 program begins September 5, 2025 and ends August 5, 2026. Notifications go out in late May 2025. Please do not call or email the office for selection results.
Before applying, we encourage you to read about the Artist Studio Program, by clicking here.
FORMATTING IMAGES
- Each image file must be titled: LastName_FirstName_image number. Example: Smith_John_01.
- File type: JPEG, 1000px maximum in any direction
- Image information: title, medium, date, and dimensions for each entry
- Image script: Enter up to 50 words of description about the content or context of each image or series of images. This information will be reviewed by the panel when your work is viewed.
FORMATTING VIDEOS
- Each video file must be titled: LastName_FirstName_video number. Example: Smith_John_01.
- File types: Mp4, AVI, MOV, MPG.
- Video information: title, medium, production date, and total run time.
- Video script: Enter up to 50 words about the content of your video. This information will be reviewed by the panel when your work is viewed.
For any inquiries about the program please email: info@smackmellon.org
For technical questions go to: http://help.submittable.com/