The New Museum is starting up an interesting technology project right next door to its home base in Manhattan. A tech incubator.
The museum-led incubator, the first of its kind, is both a development program for entrepreneurs in tech, art, and design, and a shared workspace for them. It’s highly selective, however, only allowing 100 artists to attain a year-long residency.
NEW INC will be based on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a nineteenth century structure that was formerly a studio for artists, next door to the museum itself.
Providing a safe space for artists to combine different art forms is the goal of the new art and tech incubator.
“Creatives today are working in unique ways that are cross-disciplinary, collaborative, leveraging technology, and increasingly straddling the line between culture and commerce,†said Julia Kaganskiy, Director of NEW INC. “For those exploring new modes of cultural production, the professional landscape in which they work is still undefined, and few resources and systems exist to support these enterprises, or to address the unique challenges they are encountering.”
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The incubator is encouraging technological breakthroughs in various art forms, and suggests fields of focus such as web and mobile development, wearable tech, game development, and tech startups.
NEW INC will provide its residents with various levels of training ranging from business training to skill development. The project will also receive leadership support from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.
The New Museum has been a leader in the city for works of contemporary and groundbreaking art and ideas. The museum was founded in 1977.
Support for the incubator project has come from the Ford Foundation, Deutsche Bank, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. You can check out the application at NEW INC’s site.