Creative Capital Carnival 2025: Celebrating Artistic Freedom!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2025 Creative Capital Carnival on June 10, 2025—a summer celebration of visionary artists, groundbreaking new projects-in-progress, and our vibrant community!

The festivities began the night before with the 2025 Artist Dinner at Liberty Bistro on the waterfront with our Board of Directors, National Advisory Council, 2025 Creative Capital Awardees, friends, and supporters. Sheryl Oring (2006 Creative Capital Awardee) performed her I Wish to Say Creative Capital project where guests dictate their messages to the President and Oring types their messages on postcards to be mailed to the White House.

Christine Kuan, President of Creative Capital, welcomed guests to dinner, including star alumni Marc Bamuthi Joseph (2006 Creative Capital Awardee) and Founding President Ruby Lerner. Kuan said, “Tonight, we lock arms with all of you on the front lines of supporting artistic freedom—the first principle of our democracy. Now more than ever, we need brave, experimental new ideas. Now more than ever, we need original voices of artists who sing the truth.”

Creative Capital Board Chair Reginald M. Browne honored Lyda Kuth, Executive Director of the LEF Foundation, with an award in recognition of her twenty years of generous support, leadership, and board service.

On day two, the Artist Initiatives team hosted industry roundtables with our new cohort of awardees and leading industry professionals working across the visual arts, performing arts, film, literature, technology, and multidisciplinary and socially engaged forms. Special thanks to all of the industry experts who traveled far and wide to share their invaluable knowledge, experience, and time with Creative Capital artists.

In the afternoon, guests from Honolulu to Brownsville to Miami arrived at the Creative Capital Carnival at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, where Dr. Mariko Silver, President and CEO of Lincoln Center, personally welcomed everyone. We screened original videos by 2025 Creative Capital Awardees introducing their new projects-in-progress. Huge thanks to Kristina Wong (2006 Creative Capital Awardee and Board Member) for kicking off the screening with a hilarious introduction!

The moving new projects span a wide spectrum of ideas: paintings of Chinatown Girl Scouts, fictitious art collectors, one man’s fight for housing, an earth engine video game that plays its players, and a sonic training gym in an empty pool, among many more. Discover dozens of wild, boundary-pushing works that will be realized through Creative Capital grants and services.

Creative Capital Carnival culminated in a reception for our bountiful community at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center. Thank you to Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, Creative Capital Board Vice Chair, who gave inspiring remarks! With balcony views of the sunset over New York City, artists, alumni, industry, friends, and supporters formed bonds and celebrated new friendships while dancing to an electrifying performance by LIZN’BOW (2023 Creative Capital Awardees).

“Everything was lovely! I felt so supported and cared for. Thank you for feeding us, creating all the programming, allowing lots of down time/interstitial time for arrivals and conversations, having the Carnival at Lincoln Center (a dream!), and introducing the cohort to each other and many industry professionals! I am so grateful to attend.”—2025 Creative Capital Awardee

Thank you to all of the brilliant artists, Board of Directors, National Advisory Council, industry friends, staff, and generous supporters for making all of our programs possible!

See more photos: Artist Dinner and Reception