SA: Alena, In the larger scheme of things it’s unique historically for a commercial gallery to have an educational program. When, how, and why did you start Marion Goodman Gallery Education?

Alena Marchak: We started it in 2021 during COVID. We've always had internships, and so students were coming into the gallery space, but we wanted to be a little bit different and reach out to different groups, more diverse groups, younger students, and offer workshops and tours, and just connect with students in a different way than we were. And diversity was really important to us. So we wanted to focus on public schools in the city. We have worked with a number of public school teachers, and it ranges from preschool to high school. We've also worked with students at the university level.

We did our first project with Andrew and the High School of Art and Design in 2021, and we just continued working with him over the years and with different students. But also, we've worked with the same group of students on a couple projects, which is nice because you continue this relationship with the students. Now we also have education programming in Paris. In LA, we're starting to do it in LA as well. It's a bit organic. We try to organize projects and themes around the show that is up currently, but they rotate so quickly, so sometimes it’s based on artists we represent. 

SA: With a gallery like Marian Goodman and the artists that are represented, the students have access to contemporary art in museum collections. There’s a nice kind of intimacy here that one wouldn't necessarily have at a museum.

AM: Yeah. I would also add, because I did grow up in New York, going to a public school, and an art public school, and then even going away to college, I didn't have the experience of going to galleries when I was that age. I think we wanted to open up this space in a way and make sure that people felt welcome kids, students felt welcome. Then also to educate them on the possibilities of this being a career for them. Because you come into a gallery, you don't necessarily see all the people behind the walls, and we wanted to educate them on that as well, that there is a career pathway if you are interested.

SA: Nato, Will you introduce us to your The Alternative Art School? 

NT: I launched The Alternative Art School in 2020. My big goal was that as a curator, particularly one that commissions artists or makes work with artists. I was tired of artists and curators complaining about the institutions, but making work about how bad the institutions are. I thought it was the right time, if ever, to make an alternative institution. It's one thing to complain about art school. It's another thing to make your own art school.