The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded $75,000 to The Carnegie to support exhibition programming over the next two years.
“The Carnegie is an important platform for artists in Covington and Greater Cincinnati,” says Rachel Bers, Program Director for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, “We are pleased to support its programs that connect local artists to curators, writers, and opportunities for creative growth beyond the region.”
Following Andy Warhol’s will, the mission of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is the advancement of the visual arts. To date, the foundation has given nearly $300 million in cash grants to over 1,000 arts organizations around the country and abroad and has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide.
“What is so exciting about this news from The Warhol Foundation is that it feels like both a recognition of what we have done in our recent past and what lies ahead of us.” says Matt Distel, Executive Director at The Carnegie, “This honor only happened because of what Sso-Rha Kang, Carnegie Curator, is planning and the partnerships she is forging. I cannot imagine a better way to kick off the Sso-Rha era of programming.”
The first project that the two-year grant will support is the 2025 spring exhibition, Notations on Ritual curated by Sso-Rha Kang. The exhibition runs March 14 through August 16 and includes artists Erika NJ Allen, Rachael Banks, Brett Davis, Ceirra Evans, Calista Lyon, Hannah Parrett, Dianna Settles and Aubrey Theobald. The exhibition broadly explores the theme of ritual—from objects that hold reverence, to superstitions that dictate behavior, and systems that maintain or subvert expectations.
The Andy Warhol Foundation will also support The Carnegie’s upcoming collaboration with KADIST, a non-profit contemporary art organization with local hubs in Paris and San Francisco, focused on organizing exhibitions, physical and online programs, and hosting residencies.
KADIST stays apprised of developments in contemporary art via a global advisor network, and develops collaborations internationally, including with leading museums, fostering vibrant conversations about contemporary art and society.
The collaboration, Portals, Pathways, and the Space Between Us, features works selected by Sso- Rha Kang that explore placemaking, shapeshifting, and temporalities of Kentucky through the Ohio River. The river is a point of study and departure, its historical significance rooted in division and symbols of freedom. The river acts as both a border and a point of shared connection—the complexities of this contradiction are uniquely Kentucky that reveal the nuances of placemaking and identity.
The pop-up programming will travel to six venues in Kentucky including Institute 193, KMAC Contemporary Art Museum, Josephine Sculpture Park, Bernheim Forest and Arboretum, The Carnegie, and EKU Giles Gallery.
Portals, Pathways, and the Space Between Us is co-organized by The Carnegie and KADIST.
Future programming in 2025 and 2026 features the return of the Cincinnati Art Book Fair and an exhibition curated by Monique Long, an independent curator based in New York who has developed projects with The Mattress Factory (Pittsburgh, PA), Portland Museum of Art (Portland, ME), and Studio Museum in Harlem (Harlem, NY).
The Carnegie is Northern Kentucky’s largest multidisciplinary arts venue providing theatre events, educational programs and art exhibitions to the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati community. The Carnegie facility is home to The Carnegie Galleries, the Otto M. Budig Theatre, and the Eva G. Farris Education Center.
The Carnegie is supported by the generosity of tens of thousands of contributors to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. The Carnegie receives ongoing operating support from the Kentucky Arts Council, City of Covington, Kenton County Fiscal Courts, Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and Cincinnati International Wine Festival.