The Studio Museum in Harlem is the nexus for artists of African descent locally, nationally, and internationally and for work that has been inspired and influenced by Black culture. It is a site for the dynamic exchange of ideas about art and society.

Born out of an urgent need amid the political, social, and cultural ferment of the 1960s, the Studio Museum in Harlem was founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists who came together to address the exclusion of artists of African descent from mainstream museums, commercial art galleries, academic institutions, and scholarly publications. The institution secured a space with a central aim to play a crucial role in pivoting the artistic canon and making space for artists in Harlem. Today, under the leadership of Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden, the Studio Museum’s permanent collection represents more than 700 artists, spans 200 years of history, and includes nearly 9,000 works of art. The Studio Museum will be opening the first building in its history created expressly for the needs of the institution and its communities in fall 2025. The new building occupies the site on West 125th Street on which the Studio Museum has been operating since 1982 and will provide extensive exhibition, education, and program spaces and public amenities supporting the Studio Museum’s commitment to artists, audiences, and the Harlem community.

Jerome Foundation supports Studio Museum in Harlem’s Artist in Residence program. Every year, the Museum offers an eleven-month residency for three local, national, or international visual artists of African and Afro-Latinx descent working in any media. Program offerings include institutional guidance and professional development, research support, studio space, and a stipend paid out over the course of the residency. The Artist-in-Residence program culminates each year with an exhibition of new works by the artist cohort that were completed during their residency. Overseeing the Artist-in-Residence program is Yelena Keller, Assistant Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem, who has worked closely with the foundational Artist-in-Residence program for the last five years.