NEW YORK, NY.- The New Museum today announced it has been awarded a $1,000,000 Arts Education Impact Grant from the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, enabling a major expansion of the Museum’s programs serving high school students. Distributed over five years, the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation grant will support the establishment of the NewMu Teen Fellowship, a two-year, intensive afterschool program for public high school students, as well as the Bowery Art Space, a free, monthly drop-in program for teens.

The NewMu Teen Fellowship will provide forty students each year with an intensive program of professional development, work experience, and leadership opportunities, helping students advance their academic progress and career readiness through deep engagement with contemporary art. Through weekly sessions at the New Museum, Fellows will have the opportunity to work directly with leading contemporary artists and New Museum staff, to apprentice with New Museum Artists-in-Residence, and to realize their own public programs including exhibitions of their artwork and gatherings for teens from across New York City.

In addition to the fellowship program, the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation grant will enable the establishment of the Bowery Art Space, a free, monthly, open-access afterschool program. Designed as an accessible entry point to contemporary art for teens who are not ready to commit to a two-year program or who are simply looking for a fun, welcoming spot to hang out, this drop-in program creates another new pathway for young people to access the New Museum.

“The New Museum was an early innovator in the field of teen museum education programs, having launched our High School Art Program (HSAP) more than 40 years ago, and since that time our programs for high school students have grown to be our specialty and our strength,” said Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum. “We are extremely grateful to the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation for their generous support, and we look forward to inaugurating the programs they have enabled in the New Museum’s expanded campus this fall.”

“The NewMu Teen Fellowship will invest in young people’s visions for the future and their agency to act on the world—an investment that will have far-reaching ripple effects and create new avenues for interaction between the New Museum and its community for years to come,” said Alethea Rockwell, Keith Haring Director of Education and Public Engagement.

"We are proud to support the education programs at the New Museum. From its inception, the Museum has been a visionary force dedicated to emerging and historically under-recognized artists. Its approach to education—inspiring young people through experiences that reflect and celebrate their identities—resonates deeply with our Foundation's mission while honoring both the Museum's artistic vision and its impressive educational history," said Alessandra Carnielli, CEO of the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation