The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize is a juried prize that supports artists whose practices address critical intersections in art, architecture, design, climate, conservation, sustainability, and environmental justice.
Funded by philanthropists Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the prize will be awarded by MOCA to an artist every two years from 2024 until 2030, resulting in three prizes over six years. The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize awards a $100,000 unrestricted honorarium as well as institutional support to complete a new project that will be commissioned and presented by MOCA. The winner will also engage and collaborate with communities in Los Angeles and beyond.
Selection Process
A committee of 15 to 20 representatives from diverse fields–ranging from art and architecture to conservation and ecology–will nominate artists from a broad range of disciplines to be considered for the inaugural prize. Nominated artists will then have four weeks to create and submit proposals.
A five-person jury will select the winners of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize. Inaugural jury members for 2024 are: Johanna Burton, Maurice Marciano Director of MOCA; Maria Seferian, President, Hillspire; Dan Hammer, Managing Partner at Ode, Co-founder at Clay, and Advisor to the MOCA Environmental Council; John Kenneth Paranada, Curator of Art and Climate Change, Sainsbury Center; and Carson Chan, Director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment, MoMA. MOCA’s Environmental Council–the first such body convened by a major U.S. art museum–advises MOCA in the administration and execution of the prize.
Presentation
Each winner of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize will offer a presentation at MOCA which may take the form of an exhibition, performance, artist book, public program, or other project to be determined in collaboration with the winner. The winner will also select an advisor with experience in environmental justice, climate science, or sustainable practice to serve as a key collaborator in the conception, contextualization, and realization of the project.
The inaugural winner of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize will be announced in the fall of 2024, and the artist’s MOCA-commissioned project will be unveiled in spring 2026.
