Now entering its third year, the New Museum's incubator NEW INC today announces its incoming class of new and returning members. The incubator program brings together a cross-disciplinary community of artists, designers, filmmakers, curators, computer scientists, data scientists, and entrepreneurs working at the intersection of art, design, and technology to experiment with new models and modes of cultural production. While this new class continues to produce creative work and products inspired by, responding to, or leveraging the tools of emerging technologies like 3-D printing, virtual reality, and Artificial Intelligence, among others, they are distinguished by doing so with a greater focus on social impact.
Projects this year tackle a range of pressing issues related to pressing social issues such as income inequality, privacy, diversity, the refugee crisis, climate change, and disability, among others. Many of the new ventures take the form of social enterprises, non-profits, and public benefit corporations, and several have a strong focus on serving communities through education.
NEW INC has also introduced a new residency program designed to bring additional expertise to the community and engender a culture of peer-to-peer mentorship. Residents are seasoned artists, entrepreneurs, and researchers who are embedded within the NEW INC cohort. While they develop ventures of their own, they will also serve as in-house mentors and community catalysts, hosting office hours, organizing programs, and contributing content to NEW INC's digital channels.
NEW INC, the first museum-led incubator, was conceived by the New Museum in 2013 and launched in September 2014. NEW INC's aim is to support innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship by offering a 12-month professional development program, mentorship, shared resources, and an 8,000 square foot shared workspace on the Bowery, next door to the New Museum.
Over the past two years, NEW INC has incubated 70 creative practitioners, studios, and start-ups who have launched new initiatives in such fields as wearable technology, blockchain systems, countersurveillance, virtual reality, augmented reality, 3-D printing, experiential design, new musical interfaces, and much more. Their companies have raised more than eight million dollars in funding from venture capital, crowdfunding, and grants, and have created more than 160 new jobs in the local creative economy.
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