ISSUE plays a vital role in NYC’s cultural ecology, facilitating the commission and premiere of new works and presenting a diverse array of artists working across the disciplines of sound, dance, film, performance and literature. Programming places an emphasis on bringing recognition to creative practitioners whose important contributions to the artistic field are underrepresented, often as a result of the artists’ gender, sexuality, or geographic location. Through the cultivation of innovative new work, ISSUE performs an essential research and development function that fosters a dynamic influx of ideas into the local, national, and international creative landscape.

Our Story

ISSUE Project Room was established in 2003 by late visionary Suzanne Fiol in response to a dearth of art centers fostering innovative creative practice. Across presentation in an array of homes in the East Village, Gowanus, and Downtown Brooklyn, ISSUE has evolved into “Brooklyn’s leading avant-garde venue” (The Wall Street Journal).

Offering year-round opportunities for experimental multidisciplinary artists to develop and present challenging new works, programming focuses on three key areas: cultivating new work by emerging artists through ISSUE’s Artists-In-Residence (AIR) program; bringing increased recognition to pioneering late-career artists through retrospectives and commissioning opportunities; and enabling rare U.S. appearances by innovative international artists.

Artists-In-Residence Program

Since 2006, the AIR series has evolved into a core focus of our programming initiatives, serving a central role in fulfilling ISSUE’s mission to support artists in the local community. The program encourages recipients to take unprecedented creative risks in reaching the next stage in their artistic development, providing residents with a stipend plus production, marketing and curatorial support for the creation of up to 3 new works.

Late-Career & International Artists

ISSUE maintains a strong commitment to upholding the achievements of late-career artists who remain under-represented in the contemporary landscape despite important contributions to the creative field, regularly facilitating rare performances of new and historic work by a diverse range of artistic pioneers.

ISSUE also continues to actively facilitate opportunities for under-recognized international artists to present their work to NYC audiences - often enabling the first-ever U.S. appearances by a diverse range of cutting-edge artists.

Curatorial Fellowship

During the summer of 2016, ISSUE announced the launch of the Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellowship. The fellowship program commissions an emerging New York curator to organize challenging time-based projects, serving a central role in fulfilling ISSUE’s mission to support and cultivate innovative art within the local community.

Space

Since its inception, ISSUE maintained a flexible and ephemeral relationship with space and geography, occupying temporary homes including a garage in the East Village, a silo on the Gowanus Canal, and a third-floor loft in a former canning factory.

In 2008, ISSUE was awarded a long-term lease on a theater in Downtown Brooklyn. Offering a centralized location and an audience capacity more than double that of any previous space ISSUE had occupied, the 22 Boerum Place theater has helped facilitate a degree of publicity and awareness unique for our community of under-recognized artists.

A first phase of a $6m renovation began in February 2015 and was completed in late 2015, with a second and final phase planned to begin during 2017. Once completed, the space will serve as a permanent home for experimental performance and function as a critical catalyst for the cultural revitalization of Downtown Brooklyn.