FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Anna Van Lenten
anna@cpw.org
347-254-0009
Center for Photography at Woodstock Announces New Arts Award:
The Saltzman Prize, a prize for Emerging Photographer of the Year
New York, NY, September 9, 2023–The Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) is proud to announce that it is partnering with the Saltzman Family Foundation to establish a major new arts award: The Saltzman Prize, a prize for Emerging Photographer of the Year. Created by Lisa Saltzman in honor of her parents, this annual prize will honor an emerging photographer with a $10,000 award, and give additional funds to CPW to support a solo exhibition of that photographer’s work at CPW’s galleries in Kingston, NY.
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with the Saltzman Family Foundation on this major new award for emerging photographers,” said Brian Wallis, Executive Director of CPW. “We share a strong commitment to providing direct support to artists at all stages of their work, and we are deeply grateful to Lisa Saltzman for her vision and leadership in establishing this opportunity.”
Each year, in October, CPW will select and convene a group of five nominators who will put forward two photographers each to create a shortlist. Then, CPW will convene a panel of three photography experts who will select that year’s emerging photographer from the shortlist. Emerging photographers will be defined as lesser-known artists who have made a significant impact on the field of photography. Within one year of the award ceremony, CPW will present a solo exhibition for The Saltzman Prize recipient.
The announcement of this award will take place on Saturday, September 9, at 1:00 pm, at PHOTOFAIRS NY, a new art fair being held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. As a programming partner of PHOTOFAIRS NY, CPW will present an exhibition of photography by three former participants in its renowned Woodstock AIR program: Cheryl Mukherji, Elias Williams, and Genesis Báez. CPW will also present a panel discussion with three emerging photographers about their work and how it addresses current social issues around identity, place, and cultural inheritance. The Saltzman Prize will be first awarded in April 2024 at the annual CPW Vision Awards in Kingston.
“I can’t think of a better way to honor the legacy of my fabulous parents, Ralph and Muriel Saltzman,” stated Lisa Saltzman of the Saltzman Family Foundation. “They were both passionate art collectors, art patrons, and committed philanthropists who taught me the value of supporting emerging artists.”
About Ralph and Muriel Saltzman
The Saltzman Prize pays tribute to Ralph Saltzman (1928-2020), cofounder and president of the innovative textile and wallcoverings company Designtex, and his wife Muriel Saltzman (1931-2022), a design collaborator, arts patron, and crossword puzzle aficionado. They fostered a very close family and a large circle of friends. One of their great joys was traveling, and philanthropy was very important to them. Founded sixty years ago, Designtex is now a leading manufacturer of sustainable textiles, wallcoverings, and applied materials for corporate, government and private institutions, education, retail, hospitality and healthcare environments, as well as entertainment and sporting arenas in the United States and around the world. Its first product was a flame-retardant drapery knit called Varel, created for the Seagram Building on Fifth Avenue. Via Designtex, the partnership that emerged between William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, won First Prize in the International Design Sense competition at the Design Museum in 2000. Saltzman, a Bronx native and graduate of New York University, often credited his family with the success of Designtex, noting, “My wife typed sample cards, describing the fabric and my mother, grandmother, and her sister stapled sample tickets at the kitchen table.”
The Saltzman Family Foundation has created two other major arts awards: The Ralph Saltzman Prize, in partnership with the Design Museum in London, which celebrates emerging product designers, and the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Ralph Saltzman Prize Student Contest, which challenges students to design fabric that incorporates characteristics of alternative work spaces and meets aesthetic and functional aspirations of today’s employees all while preserving the boundaries of the corporation.
About CPW
Founded in 1977, the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) is a not-for-profit arts organization with a two-fold mission: to support artists working in photography and related media; and to engage audiences through creation, discovery, and learning. At the heart of CPW’s mission is programming that is community-based, artist-centered, and collaborative. To foster public conversation around critical issues in photography, CPW provides exhibitions, workshops, artists’ residencies, and access to a digital media lab. In 2022, CPW relocated from Woodstock to Kingston, NY, where it operates galleries at 474 Broadway and 25 Dederick Street.
Press images and interview requests
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