New York City's most prestigious cultural institutions are not only home to masterpieces by world-renowned artists, but also serve as workplaces for numerous talented artists who pursue their creative passions alongside their day jobs. Across the city's museums, galleries, and auction houses, staff art shows have become an important tradition, providing employees with opportunities to showcase their artistic work and gain recognition for talents that might otherwise remain hidden.
These exhibitions serve as a form of validation for employees whose creative contributions can often feel overshadowed by the work of faculty, students, and alumni, according to a recent announcement from Parsons School of Design. The prestigious art school will host its inaugural staff art show, titled "Making Time," running from October 16 through November 9 at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center located at 66 Fifth Avenue.
Eleanor Lovinsky, who has participated in the Whitney Museum of Art's staff show for the past two years, explains the significance of these exhibitions. "It makes you realize that people who work at museums, even if they're facility staff or they're not doing anything with art, a lot of them are artists themselves," she said. Lovinsky has exhibited sculptural pieces in both years of her participation, utilizing unconventional materials and media to create her artworks.
Her artistic approach demonstrates the creativity that flourishes among museum staff. In 2023, her work incorporated slides from abandoned buildings and tissue samples, which she assembled into a mobile sculpture. The following year, she recycled a found birdcage, hanging bits of eggshells inside to create another unique piece. Lovinsky plans to contribute work to the 2025 Whitney staff show as well.
The Whitney Museum's staff exhibition, typically held during summer months, will take place this year from October 9 through November 9 at Westbeth Gallery on 55 Bethune Street. According to curatorial assistants Antonia Pocock and Katie Fong, who are organizing this year's show, more than 80 staff artists are submitting their work. The organizers welcome submissions in any medium – sculptures, drawings, paintings, or even performances – as long as the pieces fit within the gallery space. Previous exhibitions have featured an impressive diversity of artistic expression, including collages, poetry, and clothing design.
For Lovinsky, the staff show provides crucial motivation for her artistic practice. She admits that she sometimes struggles to find the drive to begin creating art, but the exhibition offers both inspiration and a concrete goal. "It feels good to see the institution appreciating that people are artistic, or artists, and that's possibly why they work at a museum," she added.
Midrene Lamy, the Whitney's associate manager of community programs and partnerships, has participated in three of the institution's staff art shows, primarily showcasing charcoal drawings. She has submitted multiple works for consideration in the upcoming exhibition. Lamy particularly appreciates how the shows provide her with both motivation to create art and an important deadline to work toward.
The sense of equality and community fostered by these exhibitions resonates strongly with participating artists. Lamy describes the powerful feeling she experiences when viewing everyone's work displayed together on the gallery walls at Westbeth. "It's Heather from Curatorial, her collages; it's Dyeemah, who's the director in education, her photography; it's Carlos the guard, his video media work," she explained. "It's so nice to be able to be amongst my peers and be reminded that in the end, we're all just artists."
Earlier in her career, Lamy also participated in a staff art show at the Brooklyn Museum. Although that exhibition was closed to the public, she valued its on-site location and the equalizing atmosphere it created among colleagues. "That was another moment where it's like, no titles were important," Lamy recalled. "We were all just artists."
The most renowned of New York City's staff art shows belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has provided its employees with opportunities to display their creative work every two years since 1935. The next Met staff exhibition is scheduled for 2026. Daniel Kershaw, the Met's exhibition design manager, describes the remarkable scope and collaborative effort required for these shows.
"Our exhibitors cover a mind-boggling range of nationality, culture, media and topic, but the show is installed in a mere six days and some very long evenings by a team including guards, technicians, curators, machinists, maintainers, designers and conservators," Kershaw explained. He characterized the process as "an exhausting but thrilling adventure."
The most recent Met staff show in 2024 featured artwork by nearly 700 employees, displaying an extraordinary range of creative expression from altar installations to pin-covered busts to tributes honoring William the Hippo, the museum's unofficial mascot. This exhibition marked only the second time in the Met's history that a staff show was opened to the public, as these exhibitions traditionally served primarily as opportunities for employees to showcase their work to colleagues and add credentials to their artistic resumes.
Across the city, other prestigious institutions maintain similar traditions. The School of Visual Arts concluded its 13th annual All-Staff Art Show this past June, featuring diverse media created by the college's administrative staff. The exhibition included photographs capturing classic New York imagery such as yellow cabs and scenes from the New York Botanical Garden, alongside works exploring much broader themes including zines, paintings experimenting with pixel concepts, and multimedia compositions incorporating newspaper and plant materials.
The New York Academy of Art hosted its annual staff art show for nearly two full months, from May 30 to July 27, showcasing the remarkable artistic talents of employees across various departments. Featured works included a charcoal-on-paper piece created by the vice president of sales and marketing, an oil painting on canvas by an operations manager, and an intricate ballpoint pen work by a registrar.
Pace Gallery recently continued its nearly quarter-century tradition with a staff exhibition titled "In No Particular Order," which concluded on August 14. This comprehensive show featured more than 50 works spanning multiple media, including an untitled flameworked borosilicate glass-and-brass-wire piece, paper works, paintings, films, and even a digital gif. The exhibition was accompanied by a specially printed zine, adding another layer of artistic documentation to the show.
The tradition extends beyond major museums to include various other cultural institutions throughout the city. The Brooklyn Museum, Queens' Noguchi Museum, LaGuardia Arts High School, and Sotheby's have all hosted staff shows in recent years. Art storage company Uovo organized an exhibition last year, while Marianne Boesky Gallery hosted one this month. Both Gowanus's new PowerHouse Arts and the City of New York presented staff shows in June, reflecting the popularity of summer scheduling for most of New York's staff art exhibitions.
Christie's auction house concluded its staff show earlier this month, continuing a tradition that dates back to 1984. According to business manager Maya Manaktala, these exhibitions treat staff artists' work with the same respect accorded to any professional artist, displaying pieces on the same walls where perhaps just yesterday a Picasso might have hung.
However, the staff artworks typically carry much more accessible price points than the auction house's regular offerings. This year's staff art show featured works with estimates ranging from $100 to $4,000, presenting a stark contrast to Christie's upcoming South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art auction next month, which carries estimate ranges from $40,000 to $3 million.
Despite the lower price points, these works should not be underestimated in terms of artistic value and significance. Veteran auction correspondent Charles A. Riley II captured this sentiment perfectly in his 2016 review of Christie's staff show, writing: "After this marvelous staff show, never again will I blow by the desk attendants without wondering what they do in the studio on weekends."
These staff exhibitions represent more than simple employee recognition programs; they reveal the rich artistic ecosystem that thrives within New York's cultural institutions, reminding both participants and viewers that creativity flourishes at every level of these organizations.
