Thursday night, the Young Associates program at the Chelsea Art Museum held their second annual Winter Wickedness party at the museum. Keeping the party in full swing from 8 to midnight were three floors of museum mayhem, including an all-night open bar sponsored by Tanqueray Gin. The crowded first floor featured several bars and dance-inducing art projections, while artists from Sound of Art painted on the walls. The third floor offered a less hectic environment with a performance art piece featuring a homemade paint depositing machine, an art exhibition by Sobin Park, and some sweet photo ops courtesy of a shadow-casting light projector. Shannon Gulliver, the co-chair of the Young Associates program, spoke to Joonbug just before the party at CAM was getting ready to head to its after party at Marquee.  

What is the mission of the Young Associates program?

Our mission is to gather young people in the city who are enthusiastic about art in any capacity, whether they are collectors, artists, or people who don't know anything about art but want to learn a little more, and show them the art establishment in both a social and educational context.

Who do the Young Associates seek to target?

Our target it to not have a target. We want lawyers, doctors, businessmen, artists, musicians and dancers. We want everyone. We do a lot of recruiting by word of mouth, by inviting friends. We also offer discounts to students and artists, because we want everyone to be able to afford memebership.

How is the Young Associates program at the Chelsea Art Museum different from similar young adult programs at other museums?

First of all, it's more accessible because it's cheaper than many other museum memberships. I guess what separates us is that we provide very intimate settings that aren't necessarily about art. This is a huge event - there are a thousand people here and obviously it's not intimate at all. We do these types of parties several times a year, but we also offer monthly, tiny, more intimate events. Usually we'll either visit a studio, where we can speak with the artist and they show us some of their process, or we'll go to a gallery after hours and have a tour of their shows. It's very informal. For example we've taken a tour of the Guggenheim after hours, and there were only 20 of us with a curator going around the museum at night. Our goal is to be small, intimate, and make people feel comfortable talking about art, even if they don't know much about it.

What does a membership with the Young Associates provide that regular museum membership doesn't?

The Young Associates is a higher membership level, in that you get all the regular museum membership benefits, but then you also get to come to the tiny events and can attend parties like this one for free. Regular members pay to come to these parties.

Is there anything you'd like to change about the New York art scene?

I'm excited by how much happens online now. For example, there's a girl here that deals in emerging art online only, and doesn't have a gallery space at all. I think that's great, but at the same time, I don't want to see spaces get lost. I believe that having galleries, and physically being in a room with the art, is so important. So that's something that I'd really like to see preserved.

Why was the YA program started?

It was founded to bring a younger market into the museum, and get the word out about the museum. CAM is a fairly young museum; it's only 7 or 8 years old. So the founders of the museum wanted a younger crowd. One thing that's different about YA is that we are completely independent. We are not funded by the museum, we are not staffed by the museum; it's totally a volunteer organization. Luckily, we ended up bringing in a lot of revenue, mostly through these parties, but we're completely independent, and the museum pretty much lets us have free reign. One exception is that, now that our parties are so big, we're not allowed to have them when there is art on the walls. So that's why all the art tonight was curated specifically for this event. Now that the parties are so big, it's become a liability for the art. For example, for Fashion Week next week, all the walls need to be stripped. We have the entire museum to curate, which is really fun, but none of us on the board are trained as curators. So we're just going at it like art enthusiasts.

How did you get involved in the Young Associates program?

I was asked to join about 5 years ago, was when it was just a year old. I had done a master's degree in art history, and then I came back to the city and I was in medical school. Then someone who was on the Young Associates board asked me if I wanted to join. I guess they just thought I was organized and knew I had a background in art. Now this program is like my baby. I love the museum. I love the staff here. The people that run this place are amazing. Some are European, and they're really fun to work with, and all the volunteers are great. So I've just stuck with it. I'm a doctor, so I'm not working here daily, and I don't maintain my art scene connection except through YA. So for me, it's a way to stay involved with art and make it accessible for those who aren't artists or dealers or curators, but just want to understand it.

What is next for the Young Associates program?

Our next party will either be in the spring or summer, when it's warm enough to use our roof. We have an amazing rooftop that offers insane views, so when the weather is warm, we'll open the roof so the party spans all four floors. We try to bring something new in for every party. For example, this is the first time we've had graffiti artists painting on the walls, and next time we're talking about doing a sort of interactive dance thing on the roof. We need to be a little crazier each event.

You put the work of Sobin Park on your event flyer for this party. Why was this chosen to represent the Winter Wickedness event?

Sobin Park is the only currently installed artist. We were allowed to keep that show because it's on the third floor. They are gorgeous, beautiful drawings, and we're very happy to present it tonight. It's not that her work is particularly wicked at all. We started the "wickedness" theme last year. Since we were serving absinthe at the party, we were counting on things getting kind of insane. We all love this museum, but we're not involved in helping to curate the exhibits. But it's all international artists, so there aren't very many American artists in out shows. We've had a lot of East Asian and European shows, and we just had an Iranian one. This year we're doing a Native American exhibit, and although that's obviously American, it's not really mainstream American art. The Whitney is the museum of American art, right? The Chelsea Art Museum is the museum of international art.

Check out photos of the event at Guest of a Guest.

For more information on becoming a Young Associate, click here.