Louisville Visual Art’s Curatorial and Art Purchasing Program to benefit
local artists and non-profits

In spring 2022 Louisville Visual Art (LVA) initiated a new program to support Louisville’s artists, curators, and organizations by placing original art in accessible spaces at local non-profits. Curate Purchase Inspire (CPI) is an exciting opportunity to support the city’s entire visual arts ecosystem and is made possible by a generous $1 Million gift from local artist and philanthropist, Clare Hirn. The first year's exhibits were a great success and Louisville Visual Art (LVA) is excited that for 2024 we have selected two individuals for the 3rd cohort: Lindsey Cummins and Anne Borders. Look for updates on their projects as they develop.

Learn how to craft a successful application CLICK HERE to watch an interview with Shauntrice Martin & Ada Asenjo about their completed projects from 2022.

Each year, LVA will work to build a diverse committee of community arts leaders to choose two emerging local curators to spend six months working with a non-profit or public partner to identify local artists’ work for purchase and installation in publicly accessible spaces. For the purposes of this program, the “curator” applicants are not limited to formally trained or self-taught curators, but could also include artists, designers, writers, or others who are engaged in a creative practice. CPI will set Louisville apart from other cities by providing several unique benefits:

The local artists whose work is selected will benefit from the sales and be invited to participate in LVA’s professional development workshop series (ARS) that teaches fundamentals of art-related business practices. The non-profit partner will receive the art on permanent loan, with the provision that it must remain on display in a place where the public can view it and create a healing, contemplative, or inspiring space for visitors. LVA will also create a web-accessible catalog of the CPI artworks that can be viewed by the entire community. This catalog will provide viewers with further information about the art and the artist. To further increase the community impact, LVA will ask that program participants give a curator talk on their experience and the process behind their selections.