NYPOP

Today I am going to do a little shout out to a program at my grad alumni called NYPOP, an acronym for New York Outreach Program. This has been a program for quite a long time at UMASS and really was one of the number one reasons I chose UMASS over the 6 other schools I got into (plus they gave me a TA, aka money.) But seriously this program is amazing and is all credit to the incredible professor that runs it artist and teacher Jerry Kearns.

Jerry is getting to the time in his life where he is thinking about what will happen after he retires and since this is his legacy at the school he went all out and has managed to get approval, money, and increased staff to expand the program into a national program where classes from schools all over the country can get the NYPOP experience. What is that you ask?

an old school image of me and my NYPOP crew in Chelsea.

NYPOP brings students to NYC 4 times a semester for the weekend. We would then get the opportunity to have a one on one intimate conversation with a working artist, curator, gallerist, etc... Through this class we were able to get first hand knowledge and information on what it is like to be working in the arts in NY. The idea of the class is to better prepare students for the transition of moving to NY and/or simply navigating the NY art scene. As a graduate student you are allowed to take this class every semester so I did, giving me 3 years of it.

a shot from the annual alumni exhibit in Chelsea.

I am so happy for the program and Jerry for its expansion and am super excited to see there new website which celebrates the program, informs schools about its possibilities for them, and shouts out to the awesome alumni that have walked through it. So please go take a visit especially if you are a professor as you can take your class to NYC for an invaluable art filled weekend.

You can see my alumni page where I shout out my appreciation here.