The Menendez Institute for Divergent Practice was founded in January 2026 on a simple conviction: material support gives artists the time and stability to make consequential work.
Its founding grew from the experience of artist Justin Menendez, whose own practice has been sustained in part by federal disability support during periods of mental-health challenge. That support made it possible to meet daily needs and devote sustained time to artistic work. The Institute begins as an effort to extend that possibility to other artists: to turn practical support into time, and time into work.
With the encouragement of a mentor and the guidance of a trusted advisor, those conversations became an institution—one built around a belief that artists working outside conventional expectations deserve not only appreciation, but real support, recognition, and opportunity.
“Divergent Practice” does not describe one medium, diagnosis, or aesthetic. It names work that is non-standard, exceptional, novel, esoteric, or difficult to categorize: practices shaped by singular ways of seeing, making, and thinking.
The Institute is intentionally beginning at a modest scale. Its first planned initiative, the Menendez Institute Studio Award, will provide direct unrestricted support to an artist and establish the foundation for a lasting record of recipients. From that beginning, the Institute intends to grow carefully toward expanded grants, residencies, and a major award of genuine cultural significance.
The Menendez Institute exists to recognize and sustain artists whose work needs to be seen—and to make support for ambitious, singular practice both real and durable.
WHERE WE ARE HEADED
The Institute is beginning with direct support for individual artists, but its long-term purpose is larger: to create meaningful opportunities for work that deserves greater visibility, recognition, and material support.
THE STUDIO AWARD
The Institute’s first step is the Studio Award: a recurring unrestricted grant intended to give an artist practical support and time to continue their work. It is the foundation on which the Institute will build its record of support.
BE SEEN NYC
Be Seen NYC grows from a public intervention already undertaken by founder Justin Menendez during Frieze week in Chelsea: a rented glass-box truck used as a street-level exhibition space.
The Institute intends to develop this idea into a public-presentation initiative for artists whose work demands to be encountered. Be Seen NYC will bring selected work outside conventional exhibition settings and into the visibility of the city itself.
THE MENENDEZ PRIZE
Over time, the Institute intends to establish the Menendez Prize as its flagship award: a major recognition for an artist whose practice is singular, ambitious, and consequential.
The Prize will be the culmination of the Institute’s evolving work—built through direct grants, public presentation, thoughtful selection, and the growing history of the artists it supports.
The path is deliberate: support an artist, make their work visible, build a record, and eventually create an award whose name carries real cultural weight.