Support us on Giving Tuesday

There are lots of ways to support Open Source and KoKo this Giving Tuesday:

• Buy tickets to our Gala, and bid on artwork and experiences.
  • Can’t make it to the Gala but still want to bid on fantastic art this December? You can also participate in the auction by proxy by filling out this form. (View artworks that will be in our auctioned here)
• Donate directly on our website.
• Ask if your employer has a matching gift program and donating through them
  • If you make a matched donation of at least $200, we will give you a free Gala Ticket!
• Become a Monthly Patron, starting at just $5 a month

In 2025, Open Source received 91% less government funding than in 2024, including a substantial grant from the NEA that was recommended and then withdrawn under the current administration. We also received more individual donations and direct support from our community than ever before, though not nearly enough to make up the difference.

We make it work; we will always make it work. This year, we still hosted our usual 5 exhibitions by incredible social practice and conceptual artists, and we still paid them fairly. We also hosted our first ever Performance Festival, which was a phenomenal and inspiring process, and has resulted in beautiful new relationships and additions to our ever-expanding community. Through KoKo NYC, we served more youth throughout NYC in 2025 than we have ever served before, and our team of brilliant Teaching Artists continues to grow.

We have so many ideas, ideas that are born and developed through direct collaboration with artists and parents and kids and neighbors. In 2026, in addition to our regular exhibitions, storytelling series, educational programming, workshops, and community events, we also want to:

• Paint a new mural on 17th Street with Sáandlaanaay Kimberly Fulton Orozco and the 5th Avenue BID.
• Develop our Counselor-In-Training program to help teenagers gain more leadership, employment, and building skills.
• Expand our tiered tuition and scholarship programs for kids who can’t afford the full tuition for our workshops.
• Host more events with our exhibiting artists, pay them more, and give them more production support.
• Develop partnerships with schools that allow us to give our Teaching Artists more robust work schedules while still maintaining flexibility for them to continue their own art practices.

These are just a few of the needs that we have worked with our community to identify. These things take time, work, and importantly, money. Through last year’s Gala fundraiser, we raised $36,000. That’s good, but if we want to continue to thrive and meet the needs of our community in the current political economy, we need to do better. There are lots of ways to contribute:

• You can buy tickets to our Gala, and bid on artwork and experiences.
• If you can’t make it yourself, you can also sponsor a ticket for an artist.
• You can make a one-time donation or become a Monthly Patron, and you can ask your employer if they have a matching gift program.
• Even spreading the word helps, attending our events helps, leaving reviews and sending testimonials helps.

We need you.