PRIZM 2024 Recap: The Architecture of Liberation

2024 was an amazing year for Prizm Art Fair. We're grateful for the outpouring of support for Prizm's vision. We built partnerships that gave our artists and community the event and experience it needed during Miami Art Week. We welcomed our arts community to our new location at Ice Palace Studios, joined forces with REVOLT to elevate our vibes and broaden our reach to not just the art community but our community at large, partnered with the City of Cleveland - City Hall, Mayor Justin Bibb with the advisement of Rhonda K. Brown, the Assembly for the Arts, the Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland Institute of the Arts and the Arora Family Foundation to share the work of 8 talented multi-generational artists from Cleveland, welcomed actor Lamman Rucker for a private tour of the Fair thanks to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, hosted 4 brilliant panels of emerging and established arts practitioners carefully and intentionally curated by Thomas James and coordinated by Heike Dempster, and presented a screening of Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters

in partnership with the AHF HEALTHCARE FOUNDATON and AARP, followed by a Q&A with Rosalynde LeBlanc, the film's award winning Co-Director.

We welcomed approximately 15,000 guests during Miami Art Week with the support of Path to Hip Hop and their team who provided careful concierge support for our guests, supported 5 museum acquisitions by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Detroit Institute of Arts and ended Art week with the unforgettable Revolt House party (no one stopped dancing).

I was featured in Essence as one of nine women to watch in the art world, and Chance the Rapper made a last dash over to say hello before the Fair closed. Truly, the Architecture of Liberation.

I have the unique privilege and challenge of managing the only Art Fair in the United States founded and operated by an African-Caribbean American woman since Prizm's inception in 2013. The last three years have been particularly challenging as we navigated a post-pandemic landscape that saw an increased reduction in funding and support for many organizations led by diverse leadership. Recent years were marked by the earthly transition of a few juggernauts in the arts, all liberation forces in the Black Arts Movement: Dr. David C. Driskell and Faith Ringgold, both poignant supporters and influences in my work as an arts practitioner, and more recently Lorraine O'Grady, whom, sadly, I never had the pleasure of meeting in person but whose impact resonates with me through her storied arts practice and the guidance and mentorship she imparted to close peers in curatorial practice. Each transition is a reminder that my generation is called to bear the careful continuance of our predecessors' work.

Our 2024 partnerships are laid on the building blocks of 11 editions of Prizm, presenting over 1,500 visual artists from Africa and its Diaspora during Miami Art Week, many of whom are now essential art canonical fixtures in the art world, a qualifier we are proud of as an organization. I'm grateful that 2024's partnerships created a foundation for what will be a fortuitous second decade in Prizm's tenure, a sincere acknowledgment of the critical role Prizm has played in the arts ecosystem for over a decade.

We remain deeply thankful for our exhibiting artists, the ongoing support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Omni CRA, the Knight Foundation, the Miami DDA, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Sugarcane Magazine, Prizm's indefatigable Board and our global Prizm Family.

If you could not visit Prizm 2024 in person, you can still acquire artwork from the Fair at Prizm online. Wishing you all a blessed and beautiful 2025 ahead. ??

With Kind Regards,

Founder | Director, Prizm

Mikhaile Solomon

Photo credits: Rod Deal