ABOUT SUMMERTIME
Summertime is an art studio, residency, and gallery based in New York City where artists with and without disabilities create and display artwork together. We celebrate neurodiverse artists with rigor and joy, fighting for a more inclusive art world.
Founded in 2019, Summertime is revolutionizing the art world. Summertime radically transforms the lives of artists by spotlighting their passions and talents, fostering lifelong relationships, and bursting open doors.
Our programming acts as a force of inclusion, bucking systemic obstacles by treating great artists as great artists regardless of their diagnoses. Summertime builds community, visionary creations, and an art oasis free of pretension or exclusivity. It also enables artists to generate essential income, providing independence and empowerment.
VALUES
Artists Come First
At Summertime, artists always come first. Artists drive agency direction, decision making, art sales and day to day choices.
Connection
Summertime believes art is a universal language and a conduit for building community. We are a gathering place and creative hub for all artists, art enthusiasts and everyone in between.
At the Same Table
Summertime values a diverse and inclusive community. Summertime strives to provide power and access to places and spaces often reaching only a select few.
Yes First
Summertimes believes in starting from a place of openness and optimism, a belief that anything is possible. We want to open doors, not close them.
Joy
Warmth and fun are imperative in life and in the work we do. Summertime runs with artists’ passions - embracing positivity, possibility, and experimentation.
Respect
Summertime honors the artists we work with by treating each project, exhibition, and event with consideration and appreciation.
A NOTE ABOUT LANGUAGE
Our mission strives to one day eliminate the necessity for labels such as “artists with intellectual disabilities” or “neurodiverse artists” and rather refer to everyone exactly as they are — artists.
This will be evidence that we’ve done the work we’ve set out to do! But for now, we use language such as neurodiversity, intellectual and developmental disabilities (e.g. autism, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, etc.) to ensure that our mission is clear to everyone.
