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Mission & Values

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© New Art City

Mission & Values

New Art City’s mission is to develop an accessible toolkit for building virtual installations that show born-digital artifacts alongside digitized works of traditional media. Our curation and product design prioritize those who are disadvantaged by structural injustice. An inclusive and redistributive community is as important to our project as the toolkit itself.

  • Built for Art and Access - New Art City is an artist run organization and each part of our tool is purpose built to support artists and art institutions in art collaboration, exhibition, and preservation. Our exhibitions don't require software updates or expensive hardware.
  • Accessibility is Intersectional - Physical art experiences typically advantage those with physical privilege. At New Art City we believe that all people regardless of ability should be able to experience and enjoy art. We conduct accessibility testing and work with the disabled community in an effort to make our gallery experience accessible to all, beginning with our recently launched “Catalog” view. The Catalog is an automatically generated, screen-reader accessible description of New Art City spaces for users who may not be able to experience a 3D exhibition. If you have any accessibility feedback, please contact us at a11y@newart.city.
  • Ethics & Integrity - Platforms move fast and break things. We take our time and listen. We want to build a sustainable community and that takes patience. We don't like ads, so we don't sell ads. We prioritize user empowerment.
  • Technology is Privilege - We empower artists of all backgrounds and disciplines to make unique and expressive virtual worlds without code in a broadly accessible and archivable format, and to show their work on a global stage alongside established artists.
  • Supportive & Inclusive Community - We are a redistributive artist community. This means transferring knowledge, space, money, and visibility from those who have it to those who don't. Our partners in education, traditional galleries, museums, and institutions must share our values and contribute to the community in one of these ways.

This is what we believe, but what are we doing about it?

Sliding Scale

While we are building software tools, we do not operate as a typical technology startup. We are an art gallery which serves artists first. Anybody can use New Art City for free. Individuals and organizations support us through subscriptions, partnerships and donations. No artist or educator is turned away for lack of funds, and we divert resources to people disadvantaged by structural injustice through free space, individual support, and other programs listed below.

If you have an exhibition proposal and need support to create it, contact us using the form on our homepage.

Residency Program

New Art City's residency program provides virtual space, mentorship and a stipend to artists making work which engages marginalized identity or involves collective or facilitatory practice.

The aim of the New Art City Residency is to offer funding and technical resources to artists with interdisciplinary practices in new and traditional media, for whom showing work on the web presents technical or financial barriers. We are interested in facilitating both virtual-first installations, virtual exhibitions of existing work, and hybrid exhibitions which don’t follow a conventional format.

Accessibility Initiatives

In 2020 we became the first virtual gallery to gain a VPAT certification for accessibility and have always sought to build access into the foundation of our toolkit. Starting in January 2021 we convened an accessibility panel which includes five artists and researchers working in disability arts. This group provides expertise on setting accessibility goals and holds us accountable as we work toward them.

Each artwork uploaded to New Art City has an alt text field and each space has a screen reader accessible catalog view. We also host accessible openings where the artists give tours which include visual descriptions. To see our complete list of accessibility features, web accessibility resources, and future plans, read our access statement below.

Education

New Art City was founded within San Jose State University for use as an educational tool. Since March of 2020 we have partnered with dozens of leading universities around the world. Our toolkit is an accessible solution for students to experiment with creative code, game design, and virtual curation with a low barrier to entry. Educators have used New Art City as a remote crit space during course terms, which seamlessly transitions to an exhibition space when the course term ends. Departments also use New Art City to host degree shows and other exhibitions.

Student Work on New Art City:

Institutional Collaborations

Institutional collaborations have been vital to supporting New Art City’s continued growth. Institutions hire us to plan, design, and curate custom exhibitions which meet their high production standards, which may include custom software development. These collaborations help us push the boundaries of what is possible with our toolkit both conceptually and technically, the benefits of which diffuse to all artists using our toolkit.

Want to collaborate? Reach out through the contact form on our homepage.