Abrons Arts Center’s Curatorial AIRspace Residency annually supports one New York City-based curator.

Abrons Arts Center’s Curatorial AIRspace Residency, presented in partnership with Artists Alliance Inc (AAI), will provide one New York City-based curator with an honorarium, production budget, materials budget, and office space to support the curation of one exhibition responding to the 2025 curatorial focus of Transformation. The exhibition will be hosted at both Abrons Arts Center and Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space.

2024–25 Curatorial AIRspace Resident

May Makki

May Makki is a curator based in New York. As an independent curator, she has organized exhibitions, performances, and discursive events at Spectacle, Sweet Pass Sculpture Park, and the Center for Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. Currently, she is a Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Media and Performance at the Museum of Modern Art, NY, where she has supported the realization of over 40 performances. In 2020, she co-ran RISO BAR, a horizontal publishing collective and workspace. She received her MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.

Funding

The 2025-2026 Curatorial AIRspace Residency is co-presented by Abrons Arts Center and Artists Alliance Inc.

Abrons Arts Center’s Curatorial AIRspace Residency program is made possible through the generosity of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation. This program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Artists Alliance Inc. (AAI) is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization located on the Lower East Side of New York City. Programming support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Further exhibition programming is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank the New York City Economic Development Corporation, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, and individual supporters of Artists Alliance Inc for their continued support. Special thanks go to our team of dedicated volunteers and interns, without whom this program would not be possible.

About Organizational Partners

Abrons Arts Center is a home for contemporary interdisciplinary arts in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood. A core program of the Henry Street Settlement, Abrons mobilizes communities through performances, exhibitions, arts education programs, and residencies.

Artists Alliance Inc (AAI) is an artist-founded and artist-centered non-profit that provides a free and accessible platform to produce, experience, and understand contemporary art in the Lower East Side–a longstanding epicenter for creative experimentation and cultural diversity. AAI fosters forward-thinking and experimental practices of emerging and underrepresented artists and curators with funded residencies and paid exhibition opportunities, and advocates for art-making that challenges how we experience ourselves and our communities.