The Studio Museum in Harlem is reopening, and area residents will be able to see world-class art at little or no cost on select days. 

Studio Museum in Harlem was first founded in 1968 and has called 125th Street home since the 1980s. It has been closed for seven years, and its new building is the culmination of a $300 million capital campaign.  

"Our challenge was just the fact that to make this project happen, we had to close," Studio Museum in Harlem director and chief curator Thelma Golden said. 

The Studio Museum in Harlem will open to the public for free on November 15. There will also be other free events for all ages, such as its "Studio Sunday" programming with talks, tours, art-making workshops, story time, and family gallery tours at little or no cost.

One of the most common reasons why people do not visit museums is because of the cost of admission, according to a 2024 report by the American Alliance of Museums.   

"The idea of access, the idea of making opportunities to engage with art is something that we deeply believe in," curator Connie Choi said. "The opportunity for people to come as they are. To come without having to feel like they have to present in a certain way, or to have an understanding of art in a certain way."  The collection has grown to around 9,000 works of art by more than 700 artists. 

Much of the art visitors will see was created by past and current artists in residence, as well as other notable local creators like New York native Tom Lloyd. Lloyd was a sculptor and activist who was part of the museum's inaugural exhibition, which featured his electronically programmed light sculptures. 

Lloyd would eventually put his own artistic aspirations aside to advocate for other artists, especially Black artists, through the Art Workers Coalition. That sacrifice is honored at Studio Museum where a retrospective of his career is on display. 

The museum offers studio space for artists to not only display their work but to create it—carrying on Lloyd's legacy of community support and engagement.

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