Staten Island Arts equips Staten Island-based artists and culture bearers with the tools, platforms, and resources they need to drive Staten Island’s growing arts and culture movement and transform the current conditions of arts and culture in our borough. Our Space is an artist- and community-centered program that’s designed to meet the individual and collective needs of Staten Island artists. With an aim to build a vibrant and supported network of local artists, these hybrid spaces are meant to nurture connection and collaboration, exchange knowledge and skills, and spark art activation and neighborhood change-making amongst Staten Island artists. Our Space holds pop-up shows, art walks, workshops, community conversations, skillshare events, healing circles, screenings, and whatever else our community of artists wants and needs. These spaces center artists who have been historically under-resourced based on race, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, ability, economic disadvantage, and refugee/immigration status.

To submit an idea for a future program or event, please fill out this survey.

While Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City, the barriers Staten Island faces as a borough are unique. Demographics and local issues resemble other towns across New York State and the country that are often overlooked and invisible compared to neighboring towns. Root issues specific to the cultural and artistic communities on Staten Island include but are not limited to:

• Lack of dedicated cultural and communal spaces;
• Lack of city-wide visibility for the arts and cultural production on the Island;
• Dissonant cultural economics, or a lack of local investment;
• Siloed communities;
• Safety & preparedness as they relate to climate change and social or civil unrest;
• Access to cultural resources and city-wide initiatives; and
• Lack of career mobility in the local arts and cultural sector.

Our Space is committed to remaining an artist-centered program for Staten Island artists and culture bearers. This commitment means that Our Space aims to continuously build programmatic spaces that connect the experiences of Staten Island artists and culture bearers to historical and ongoing borough-specific issues and systems of inequality. The program stands on the belief that Staten Island artists and culture bearers face specific challenges and barriers by being a Staten Islander, in addition to other forms of oppression they experience by way of their identity and artistic/cultural practice, and uses this lens to inform programming. 

GrantsLab  

GrantsLab works alongside our annual Fall grant cycle. This hybrid program creates opportunities where artists can freely experiment with their project ideas, meet other local artists, explore writing techniques, and learn how to write a clear grant proposal and budget.

GrantsLab works with local and citywide facilitators trained in grant writing and community building techniques to cover topics to support prospective SIA Fall grantees. GrantsLab is open to returning artists or first-time artists thinking about applying for a Staten Island Arts grant for the first time, but remains open to the public. 

Community Conversations 

Community Conversations gathers local artists in the borough to discuss challenges specific to Staten Island artists, re-imagine solutions to barriers, and receive practical tools and guidance from an experienced artist or facilitator to address those issues. These conversations function as an incubator, positioning local artists to solve their own challenges. 

Past community conversations have included:

• How do I Open an Art Venue on Staten Island? (2023)

Professional development 

We provide ongoing professional development opportunities and resources for emerging, mid-career, and established artists to gain and strengthen skills in arts administration, financial management, marketing, and other areas needed to support a creative practice. Past professional opportunities have included workshops, presentations, and networking events for Staten Island artists to gain new skills to advance their artistic and cultural practice.