Art competition in support of fellow artists during the COVID-19 crisis.

Meryl Cohen has been the Chief Registrar at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since July 2019. Prior to that, Meryl was the Exhibitions Registrar at The Met for ten years, in which she skillfully managed the logistical arrangements for more than seventy Met exhibitions—including, Armenia! (2018-19) Visitors to Versailles (1682-1789) (2018), Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven (2016-17), and Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World (2016). Prior to joining The Met, Meryl served as the Director of Registrar at the Guggenheim, and also held registrarial posts at The Museum of Modern Art, The Drawing Center, and The Neuberger Museum in Purchase, NY. She received her MA in Art History with a concentration in Museum Studies from George Washington University and, in 2015-16, participated in the Columbia Business School Metropolitan Museum of Art Executive Development program. In addition, she has served on panels at museum conferences, speaking on topics such as “How to Bring an Exhibition to China,” “How to Bring an Exhibition to the U.S.,” and “Living with the TSA.” She also published a blog on The Met’s website, “Solving the Puzzle of the Installation Schedule for Visitors to Versailles.”

Yukie Kamiya is Director of Gallery, Japan Society, New York. Formerly, Kamiya was Chief Curator of Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (Hiroshima MoCA) and Associate Curator of New Museum, New York.

She has curated numbers of exhibitions internationally and co-curated ProRegress, the 12 th Shanghai Biennial (2018-19). She also served for cultural institutions including the Japan Foundation, Goethe Institute as a guest curator and served for Discordant Harmony: Critical Reflection of Imagination of Asia (toured to Seoul, Hiroshima, Taipei and Beijing, 2015- 2018) and Re:Quest Japanese Contemporary Art since the 1970s (Seoul, 2013) and others. In 2011, Kamiya received the Academic Prize from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo for her curatorial achievement in Simon Starling: Project for a Masquerade (Hiroshima).

Her writings have appeared in publications including Hiroshi Sugimoto: Gates of Paradise (Skira/Rizzoli, 2017), Ravaged – Art and Culture in Times of Conflict (Mercatorfonds, 2014), California-Pacific Triennial (Orange County Museum, 2013) and Creamier: Contemporary Art in Culture (Phaidon, 2010). Kamiya has served on selection committees including for Tokyo metropolitan government, DAAD, and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé International Program. 

Michael Royce is the executive director of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), a national arts service organization that helps artists in all disciplines, arts administrators, and arts organizations. In 2020, both The New York Times and Forbes cited NYFA for its actions in addressing the needs of artists in response to COVID-19. Michael is a recipient of the Alan Cooper Leadership in the Arts Award presented by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and served as a juror for the CODA Awards.

He co-chaired the Grantmakers in the Arts’ Individual Artists Group Steering Committee, and served as a trustee on the New York Council of Nonprofits, the Jersey City Museum, the Art Directors Club of New York, and the Rebecca Kelley Ballet. He currently serves on the New York State Education Department’s Arts Blue Ribbon Commission, and the Fine Arts Federation of New York.

Michael has designed programs for emerging artists, mid-career, and aging artists in the US. In 2017 he launched programs for immigrant artists in Detroit, Newark, Oakland and San Antonio. Michael has partnered with international organizations in China, Guatemala, Ireland, and others.

Past senior positions included President: Moynihan Station Development Corporation; Director of Programming: Theatre Development Fund; Deputy Director: New York State Council on the Arts, and Director of Marketing: Creative Arts Team.

Published works include co-editing The Profitable Artist/Second Edition, Allworth Press, NY; 2019 The Arts and Hurricane Sandy, Grantmakers in the Arts/GIA Reader, Vol 24 No2 Summer 2013; Forward for Basil Alkazzi: An Odyssey of Dreams: A Decade of Painting 2003-2012, Scala Arts Publishers.