The Shed NYC

The center is known for its architecture and hosts a variety of artistic performances and art installations. The center operates as a nonprofit that accepted millions in taxpayer dollars from the city government in its founding as well as significant support from donors and foundations. The center has hosted art installations and performances promoting left-of-center political themes and has received funds from many large left-of-center grantmaking foundations such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. ^{1 2}

History

In 2005, the administration of then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg preserved a tract of city-owned land with the intention of using it for a public project. Initially, the land became part of a failed attempt to build a new stadium for the New York Jets in Manhattan with the goal of attracting the Olympics to New York. Daniel Doctoroff, an investor who was a deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, made the plan to attract the Olympics a pet project until the plan to build a new stadium was killed by state officials, ending the city’s Olympic bid. ²

One aspect of the city’s development plan in hopes of attracting the Olympics was to develop what would become the Hudson Yards neighborhood, with one aspect being the construction of a “to be determined” cultural institution on a small parcel of city-owned land that would become the Shed. ²   

Bloomberg arranged for a $75 million city grant to the still-nebulous plans for the cultural center in 2013 and a nonprofit organization was formed to raise additional funds and oversee the center construction. Bloomberg later gave an additional $75 million in personal funds to the project, leading the building housing the center to be named the Bloomberg Building. ²

The Shed hired Alexander Poots as artistic director and CEO in 2014 and the center opened in 2019 after raising a total of $529 million. According to the New York Times, upon opening officials from the Shed were “reluctant to discuss their operating budget or business plan, but said they expect to spend around $50 million in the first year.” ²

Leadership

Alexander Poots is the founding CEO and artistic director of the Shed. Poots is a UK-born performance art director who previously was the artistic director of the Manchester International Festival and the Park Avenue Armory. In 2023, the Shed announced that Poots would step away from his CEO role to act solely as the artistic director. Poots earned over $663,000 in salary from the Shed according to 2021 tax documents. ^{3 4}

Funding

The Shed has received funds from a variety of left-of-center grantmaking foundations and government agencies. Government agencies that have funded the organization include the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Foundations that fund the organization include the Charina Endowment Fund, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, David Rockefeller Fund, Coach Foundation, and Dutch Culture USA. ¹

Corporate funders of the organization include BlackRock, Google, and Warner Media. ¹

The Ford Foundation has provided several grants to the Shed for projects including $500,000 in 2022 for “Core support for the exhibition Particular Matter(s) by Tomás Saraceno addressing the issue of environmental justice and its intersection with race,” $300,000 in core support for the Shed’s “Rope/Fire/Water” exhibition and the film “November,” and $300,000 for core support the Shed’s inaugural exhibition “Soundtrack of America.” ⁵