Deutsche Bank sponsors enhanced Frieze New York Education program

Art professionals and art enthusiasts flocked to Randall’s Island Park from May 9–12 for the Frieze Art Fair New York, sponsored by Deutsche Bank. A complement to Frieze’s London and Masters editions, which Deutsche Bank also sponsors, this annual event offers a cross-section of global contemporary art practice under one iconic, quarter-mile-long tent.

For the second consecutive year, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation worked with Frieze staff to develop meaningful education programming for underserved youth. Professional art educators led tours of the fair for several groups from public schools in East Harlem and the South Bronx, two districts adjacent to the fair’s site.

Additionally, the 2014 Education program at Frieze New York featured Frieze Teens, a series of workshops for a cohort of 14 high school students already engaged in the study of art. Participants were selected from the youth programs of Foundation partners: the Brooklyn Museum, the Queens Museum, the Bronx Museum and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Over the course of two months, these young artists gained exposure to the commercial art world and the many career options it offers.

The teens visited the studio of artist Florian Meisenberg and learned about his background and creative process, as well as the paintings he produced for his solo installation at Frieze Frame, the section of the fair that highlights up-and-coming galleries. The group met with Meisenberg’s dealer, Simone Subal, in her Lower East Side gallery, and learned about the role and day-to-day responsibilities of gallerists. They also met with the graphic designers tasked with creating a young people’s guide to Frieze and were moved when the designers sought and incorporated their feedback.

Throughout the workshops, the teens shot footage documenting their experiences and insights. On the Sunday of the fair, the group screened the final cut of their video to their parents and members of the public. The video, which appears on this page and is being made available to arts educators, celebrates the teens’ increased confidence and newfound knowledge of this often inaccessible field.

The Foundation also arranged for Frieze Education programming for two of its other cultural grantees. Members of the Bronx River Art Council’s Teen Project Studio created digital guides of the fair, incorporating images of artwork and artist and curator interviews as well as their own reviews. The Brooklyn-based organization 651 Arts, another Foundation grantee, brought its New Media & Arts Fellows to Frieze to study the work of five artists featured at the fair. The Fellows created a blog that profiles these artists with multimedia and interpretive text.

Related content:

• Digital Frieze guides created by participants in the Bronx River Art Council’s Teen Project Studio
• Deutsche Bank Education Space at the 2013 edition of Frieze New York

Watch this video, which highlights one component of the 2014 Frieze Education program, Frieze Teens.

Frieze Teens photograph by Marco Scozzaro. Courtesy of Marco Scozzaro/Frieze.