If you were to catch a glimpse of a Codify member’s Google calendar, you’d see nestled in all the color blocks one small marker in October: “CODIFY BIRTHDAY”

We’re closing out 2019 as a five-year-old organization (accepting birthday gifts here!). As much as we’re pumped to share all the things we have planned for this milestone year, first we want to take a look back at the exciting turns and developments of the last 12 months. Some highlights for the busy:

Codify co-founders Jon Key and Jarrett Key, as well as Codify artist Ilana Harris-Babou, are in Forbes 2020’s Art & Style picks for 30 under 30!
We built a new partnership with New Alternatives, a non-profit that works to increase the self-sufficiency of LGBTQI+ homeless youth, for the first Codify Art Supply Drive. With a van full of donations, we ran a workshop at New Alternatives exploring art as a vehicle for personal narratives.
We launched our Microgrant initiative and awarded our first grant of $100 to artist Nafis White.

Read on for details and a full 2019 review:

Unity Week at the Horace Mann School

We returned to the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, where Jon Key and Jarrett Key gave keynote speeches at the high school’s Unity Week, a four-day extravaganza of sessions that explored the intersection of art and justice. The keynote and talkback highlighted Jon and Jarrett’s work, as well as Codify's journey from founding to today. After the talkback, we led a mark-making workshop for middle school students, introducing a range of gestures, materials, and techniques for personal expression. Altogether, we worked with approximately 800 middle and high school students.

Codify Art ReConnects

After taking the summer to recharge, we came back in September to host CodifyConnects at Prospect Park. We spent the afternoon in the glorious end-of-summer sun, holding space for our community to reunite and spend some quality leisure time together. We were astounded and inspired by the response — over 25 people joined us over the course of the day! In the days following, we received messages from attendees expressing how rejuvenating the event was. We’ll definitely be planning more of these in 2020!

Art Supply Drive

This year, we were thrilled to build a new partnership with New Alternatives, a non-profit that works to increase the self-sufficiency of LGBTQI+ homeless youth by enabling them to transition out of the shelter system to stable adult lives. We started the Codify Art Supply Drive to empower LGBTQI+ housing insecure youth to share their personal stories and to inspire creativity by ensuring access to the necessary tools. We believe that personal narratives drive empathy, and that art is the perfect vehicle for sharing and forging meaningful connections.

BRIC and the Public Theater generously acted as donation sites to collect the brand-new or gently-used art supplies that were given to New Alternatives. We collected a van filled with over 15 canvases, gallons of paint, hundreds of markers, pencils, pens, paper, yarn and so much more during the course of the drive. Afterwards, Codify led a workshop with the New Alternatives youth using the donated supplies, and were blown away by the amazing works of art they created! Thank you to everyone who donated.

Microgrants

Since our founding in 2014, one of our dreams was to support QTPOC artists through grants. In October, the seed of our dream sprouted. Congratulations to Nafis White, our first Codify Art Microgrant recipient! Nafis used this grant to support her residency at MASS MoCA this fall. Nafis White is a multidisciplinary fine artist who creates her work from objects commonly found in beauty supply stores; natural, industrial, and irrigation components; and the seemingly limitless horizons of our global and political landscapes.

Be on the lookout for our next email with full guidelines on how to apply to the $100 Codify Art Microgrant. And don’t worry, the application form will be quick and easy!

Forbes 30 under 30

This year, Forbes 30 under 30 for Art & Style selected three of Codify’s very own. Congrats to Codify co-founders Jon Key and Jarrett Key, as well as artist and sculptor Ilana Harris-Babou, who showed with us in Codify’s 2017 summer show THRESHELD at Underdonk. Codify Art is so pleased to be represented on this list amongst some of the nation’s most exciting emerging talent! Congratulations to all who are featured.

Thanks again from all of us at Codify Art for supporting us this year. We do this work for our community. Have a very happy and safe New Years.