About Us

Socrates Sculpture Park is a community engaged New York City waterfront park dedicated to supporting artists in the production and presentation of public art.

Once an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite on the Queens waterfront, Socrates Sculpture Park was founded in 1986 by a coalition of artists and community members working in collaboration with sculptor Mark di Suvero, among the most renowned artists of his generation. Through a radical act of land reclamation, shaped by collective action and shared purpose, they transformed six acres on the East River into a new model for engagement with the arts—a place at once a public park, outdoor studio, exhibition venue, and site for community gathering.

Socrates is the only organization in New York City that collaborates with artists onsite to create public art while simultaneously managing a city-owned park. Known for fostering ambitious and visionary artworks, Socrates has presented more than 1,200 artists, providing them the financial support,  mentorship, materials, equipment, and space necessary to create large-scale works in the public realm.

Annually, the Park organizes a dynamic season of free public programs in collaboration with over 20 cultural partners. These programs — which include performances, environmental celebrations, cultural festivals, art education initiatives, and Healthy Living series featuring yoga, meditation, and kayaking — are designed to reflect the cultural diversity of Queens as well as the themes of the Park’s exhibitions and its ecological focus.

Socrates fundraises 100% of its operating budget— supporting all aspects of running the Park, from maintaining the grounds to programming creative offerings and caring for a place that many call home. With only 3-5% of our budget funded by public grants, Socrates depends on private fundraising, notably from foundations and corporations, as well as individuals who believe in what we do.

The Park is open 365 days a year from 9am to sunset and admission to our exhibitions, programs, and gardens is always free. All are welcome!

Socrates Sculpture Park is on the ancestral land of the Lenape, Carnarsie, and Matinecock Peoples.

Artist Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw-Cherokee) invited the Indigenous Kinship Collective to deliver a Land Acknowledgment at the Park as part of the project  ‘Because Once You Enter My House It Becomes Our House.’

All programming at Socrates Sculpture Park is free and made possible, in part, by support from the AG Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Charina Endowment Fund, City Parks Foundation, Con Edison, The Cowles Charitable Trust, Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Stuart and Maxine Frankel Foundation, Ford Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, The Goldstone Family Foundation, William Talbott Hillman Foundation, Hyde & Watson Foundation, Kite Key Foundation, Lambent Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Mathis-Pfohl Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Molly Blank Fund, Silman, A TYLin Company, Margaret Silva Fund, TD Charitable Foundation, as well as the Socrates Sculpture Park Board of Directors, and our many generous individual donors.

Socrates’ programs are also supported, in part, by public funds from the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards; the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the New York City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts; NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In-kind support is generously provided by Spacetime C.C.

Socrates Sculpture Park acknowledges the generous support provided by the Collaborative Arts Network New York (CANNY). As a coalition of small to mid-sized multidisciplinary arts organizations, CANNY is committed to strengthening the infrastructure of arts nonprofits throughout New York. For more information about CANNY, please visit https://can-ny.org/.