Ann Hirsch, Playground (2013). Photo: Oresti Tsonopoulos

Your Gift Means Rhizome Can Commission Artists - Donate Today?

A message from Ann Hirsch, 2012-13 Commissions Awardee:

When I received a Rhizome commission, it gave me what it has given so many others: a truly unique opportunity to realize an otherwise-unlikely, ambitious artwork. Donating to Rhizome during its community campaign sustains its commitment to emerging artists, ensuring that others will find meaningful support for their work when it matters most.

New York City can be a challenging home for an artist. There's a lot of competition, exorbitant living expenses, and hardship. For me, financial pressures meant that I could only afford to do small-scale projects, essentially making work at the same level at which I had been operating since receiving my MFA.

A Rhizome commission changed all that. It gave me the funds and, importantly, the institutional support to pursue my largest project to date, Playground, a two-person play. Working with actors, choreography, stage lighting, creating a set and a full artistic vision truly helped me develop and grow as an artist. When the project was ready to be premiered, Rhizome's sponsorship enabled me to debut the work in the New Museum theater.

For artists like myself who do not make gallery-ready work, it can be impossibly hard to get someone to take a chance, believe in you, and fund a project. Rhizome did this for me, as it has for many other artists I admire. A gift today will give Rhizome the ability to support artists as significantly as they supported me.