Carolyn Hall and Clarinda Mac Low are artists and organizers that brought their creativity and community-building skills to Genspace’s arts-science programming. Their goals were to increase the visibility of artist-scientists (bioartists) already engaged at Genspace, to create new or deepen relationships with local organizations in Sunset Park, to introduce their own art-science network to Genspace’s community, and to start an Artist-in-Residence program. They successfully strengthened Genspace’s relationship to Green-Wood Cemetery by twice co-hosting the City Nature Challenge, including the creation of an interactive, time-traveling walk about trees and climate change. They further developed a key relationship with BioBAT by co-curating a bioart exhibit in their Art Space with bioartists from Genspace, MakerSpace NYC, and NARS Art Foundation and also contributed to Sunset Park Open Studios. They facilitated new partnerships with the Billion Oyster Project and Apex for Youth that expanded Genspace’s sites for research and youth programs. They taught youth program classes and facilitated collaborative events to introduce new biocurious people to the lab. And finally, they successfully launched a three-month Artist-in-Residence program and will continue on as consultants to run a second cohort in the fall of 2024.

Genspace is the world’s first community biology lab—a place where people of all backgrounds and identities can learn, create, and grow with the life sciences. Our mission is to foster a safe and inclusive community where all people—including those from non-traditional and underrepresented backgrounds—can experientially learn, boldly create, and meaningfully grow with the life sciences.