Celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2019, FIRST STREET GALLERY, located in the heart of the Chelsea art district in New York City, is an art gallery showcasing the work of emerging and mid-career contemporary artists. As an artist-run gallery, First Street remains committed to the belief that artists themselves are best qualified to impart direction to every phase of their creative work. Opening its doors in 1969 on the Lower East Side, the Gallery has been launching and nurturing artists’ careers ever since, sharing their work with the general public, other artists and curators, collectors and critics. Our artists have been reviewed in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Sun, Art in America, ARTnews, The New Republic, The New Criterion, Art & Antiques and artcritical.com, among other print and online outlets. The Gallery offers its artists solo and group exhibition opportunities as well as an array of other services. The Gallery invites applications for membership and reviews submissions monthly. A (501(c)(3) nonprofit since 1981, the Gallery has had a robust program of annual exhibition opportunities for local and national nonmember artists for more than 30 years.
Mission
Through innovative programming that brings art and the community together, FIRST STREET GALLERY continues to nurture, educate, inspire and challenge artists everywhere. Through community outreach initiatives, the Gallery provides opportunities for member and nonmember artists to exhibit their work and engage with the public and others who can assist them in their artistic and professional careers.
Goals
- To bring a diversity of exceptional work to the public’s attention each season.
- To encourage and promote creative efforts by painters, sculptors, graphic and other visual artists.
- To provide artists with a forum in which to exhibit their work, receive public comment, and exchange ideas on one another’s work and, thereby, facilitate their artistic development.
- To sponsor exhibitions, discussion groups or other programs, to foster public understanding and appreciation of art, and to enable members of the public to have a more intimate experience of works of art than that afforded by commercial art dealers.
