History of CURATE THIS!:

For the first CURATE THIS! exhibition held in 2008, then BECA gallery directors, Melissa Roberts and Kurt Schlough, enlisted the input of art enthusiasts from around the world via an online juried event which allowed anyone from anywhere in the world with an internet connection and email access to select 10 artists from the compilation of submitted works.  From June 18-21, 2008 over 400 art enthusiasts from around the world viewed the works submitted by artists from all corners of the globe and voted to choose the top 10 artists of CURATE THIS! 2008.  From the top 10 artists chosen, the TOP 4 artists who received the highest number of votes had their works exhibited during ‘FOUR’ which opened August 2, 2008 at BECA gallery.  The opening of ‘FOUR’, coincided with White Linen Night, the largest annual visual arts event in New Orleans.  The original goal of CURATE THIS! was to add something interesting and participatory to what had become a somewhat predictable annual, large scale art event in New Orleans.

Following the CURATE THIS! 2008 public vote, a similar but larger event/exhibition experiment took place at The Brooklyn Art Museum titled, 'CLICK! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition'.  Thereafter, Roberts and Schlough felt like they were in great company and that their CURATE THIS! idea might deserve to be expanded upon.  The planning for the expansion of CURATE THIS! thus began culminating into both a physical and online global event involving multiple locations around the world and hundreds of participating artists, architects + designers from around the world.

If you'd like to collaborate in the future or have a question, please email: mail@thebecafoundation.org

BECA History:

BECA is an acronym for Bridge for Emerging Contemporary Art. The BECA Foundation evolved during 2008 when artists, designers and then BECA gallery Directors, Melissa Roberts and Kurt Schlough, began to see firsthand that their gallery program was far too small to address the broader needs of emerging artists and designers.  Between January 2008 - June 2009, BECA gallery existed as a rare gallery space focused on introducing both emerging contemporary art + emerging contemporary design.  Assisting collectors, who were seeking leading edge, innovative new works and new artists, while simultaneously assisting emerging artists and designers with their professional development became the cornerstone of the gallery program.

Along with the success of the gallery program came the realization of how much truly innovative emerging work was not being given a public audience.  No gallery or art space can be everything to every artist and while exhibition opportunities for emerging artists and designers do exist, many deserving artists and designers aren't at the receiving end of that opportunity pool.  Many emerging artists will argue that although there are many exhibition opportunities for contemporary artists, the pool of opportunities dedicated to emerging art + design is just too small.  Thus, both the public and the artists miss valuable opportunities to engage in dialogue with one another while Roberts and Schlough argue that global society in general loses out on the enrichment and advancement that a broader expanse of emerging contemporary art + design offers.

"New art and design fuels the best of what's yet to come on this planet so we wanted to create an avenue where these benefits could be realized in an expanded and evolving format unrestricted by commercial constraints. Is it going to satisfy all of the exhibition wants and desires of every emerging artist + designer? Probably not. Will the BECA Foundation use everything at its disposal to create new, exciting, experimental, exploratory, interdisciplinary, adventurous and challenging opportunities and programs for both the participating public and emerging artists and designers most efficiently and effectively? HELL YES!" – Melissa Roberts and Kurt Schlough, Co-Founders/Directors

About the Directors:

Melissa Roberts and Kurt Schlough have partnered their diverse backgrounds as artists, designers and former gallerists to create several diverse arts related projects, including The BECA Foundation.  Kurt Schlough has been a nationally exhibiting sculptor and painter for 14 years while he simultaneously served as the Senior Vice President of Design and lead project manager at an award-winning New Orleans architectural firm.  Melissa Roberts is both an artist and activist with an academic background in fine arts, biology and communications who creates work in a variety of mediums including sculpture, installation, textiles, and digital art.  She also has a professional design background in graphic arts and textile design and has exhibited her works both nationally and internationally.  In addition, she has over 15 years of experience in project management and administration. 

All content © The BECA Foundation, Inc. and respective artists. All rights reserved.