{"id":9291,"date":"2026-08-18T02:50:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T02:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/?page_id=9291"},"modified":"2026-08-18T02:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T02:56:19","slug":"aliveatsocrates","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/aliveatsocrates\/","title":{"rendered":"Director\u2019s Note: Alive at Socrates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Director\u2019s Note: Alive at Socrates <\/h1>\n\n \n <\/header>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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by Shaun Leonardo
Executive Director, Socrates Sculpture Park<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the pandemic, I have found myself thinking less about how to defend art, and more about how to point to the ways it has always sustained us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There had never been a moment in my lifetime when creative expression was so deeply relied upon to help people move through uncertainty, loss, and profound change. And yet, in the years since, art has again been spoken of as if it were a luxury, rather than something essential to our collective wellbeing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I stepped into the role of leadership at Socrates last year, amid shrinking public funding and shifting philanthropic priorities, I knew I was arriving at another moment of scarcity in the arts sector. It forced me to ask a simple but clarifying question: what does it mean to be a steward of this place at a time like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past year, Socrates\u2019 staff and board have returned to an articulation that reflects both the history and the present-day promise of the Park\u2014that our work lives at the intersection of artistic production, ecological stewardship, and community engagement. For shorthand, I often describe this as a unique balance of creativity, care, and belonging; the creativity of artists working in public, the care required to sustain this land as a shared commons, and the sense of belonging that grows from the ongoing involvement of our neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in this balance that I understand my role, and that of the role assumed by our founder Mark di Suvero forty years ago, as one that is less formulated around directing an institution, as it is facilitating an ongoing experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mark and a group of artists and neighbors first transformed this abandoned industrial site along the East River into an open studio for artists, they were not building a conventional arts organization. They were creating a democratic space grounded in trust \u2013 trust that artists, when supported, would produce work that expanded public life; trust that people, when given access to creative process, would engage with one another differently; and trust that the land itself could be cared for collectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark once described Socrates as \u201ca vision of what the productive energy of people could do if they were allowed to work in a way that was creative, open, and supported.\u201d That emphasis on labor, freedom, and relational support remains central to our work today. Supporting artists here has never been transactional. It is, at its core, a relational practice built on sustained trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Socrates is unique in its conditions and history, it is also part of a broader lineage of artist-founded organizations that emerged in New York during the 1970s and 1980s\u2014places like Performance Space New York, Creative Time, and Franklin Furnace, many of which are now marking their own 40- and 50-year anniversaries. What unites these institutions is not only their origin stories, but their shared commitment to working deeply with artists, prioritizing process over product, and sustaining long-term relationships over short-term visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an arts landscape that increasingly rewards scale, speed, and polish, these artist-centered models continue to offer something essential: continuity, trust, and depth. Socrates stands as living evidence that such an approach is not only viable, but enduring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of that endurance is belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belonging is the lifeblood of this Park. It is what makes an open studio thrive in public. It is what allows artists to take risks in full view of their audiences. And it is what distinguishes artist-centered organizations that support work in the public realm. They do not simply present art; they create the conditions for people, place, and creative energy to exist in ongoing relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What this produces is not an abstract idea, but something tangible and observable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Socrates is, quite literally, alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The land is alive. Restored wetlands, shifting shorelines, and a landscape that changes season by season through careful stewardship. The trees, grasses, and pollinators that now thrive here speak to decades of environmental care. The artworks are alive\u2014built on site, evolving through weather, time, and public interaction. And the community is alive\u2014visible in the daily rhythms of neighbors walking the grounds, children encountering art for the first time, and artists working in dialogue with the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This aliveness is not metaphorical. It is the defining condition of the Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also what sustains it\u2026 and us. It is an unnameable feeling that washes over you; a communal energy that reminds us of our shared humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we mark Socrates\u2019 40th anniversary, we are not simply celebrating longevity. We are recognizing a record of resilience built on this aliveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This recognition takes shape through Begin Again<\/em>,<\/a> a framework that looks forward by returning to the Park\u2019s first principles. Begin Again<\/em> is not about starting over. It is about renewal, asking how a place grounded in experimentation, care, and trust continues to evolve in response to changing cultural, environmental, and economic conditions.. It calls us to re-center artists, deepen our stewardship of the land, and strengthen the relationships that sustain this shared public space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year also marks a moment of transition and renewal within our own team. We are pleased to welcome two new staff members Jonathan Gardenhire,<\/a>Deputy Director, and Andrew Rebatta<\/a>
Director of Exhibitions. And two new board members, Solana Chehtman, Director of Artist Programs, Joan Mitchell Foundation, and Lisa L.W. Schermerhorn, Interim President, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, whose work will help carry forward Socrates\u2019 commitment to artists, the environment, and the public. Their arrival reflects an ongoing process that has been part of this Park since its founding: the continuous infusion of new energy into an enduring structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forty years on, the belief that brought Socrates into being remains unchanged. That art, when supported in the open and shared freely, strengthens our social fabric and expands what is possible for all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Begin Again<\/em> is our invitation to carry that work forward, together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider making a gift to support Socrates today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n