Dear Kolaj Supporter,
Kolaj Institute is going strong.
We are working to raise $10,000 to support general programming in 2026. If you receive our weekly eNewsletter, have attended a Kolaj LIVE Online, have participated in a project like Big Orange Monster, have visited an exhibition, or just believe, like we do, that there should be an organization dedicated to documenting and promoting collage as a 21st Century Art Movement, then we need you to BE THE GLUE that keeps the work of Kolaj Institute going into the next year.
When I co-founded Kolaj Magazine nearly 15 years ago, I quickly came to see the medium as key to understanding how art history has unfolded since the advent of Modernism. I also came to believe that when we turn the axis of art history from painting and sculpture to collage, we open up the canon of art to all sorts of people who were not previously represented. More importantly, we illustrate clearly how art can help us make sense of a complex and sometimes difficult world.
More recently, I have been thinking about collage as a 21st Century Art Movement that challenges ideas of what an “Art Movement” is. It’s not four men creating a new style of artwork, rather it is a vast, international network of living, breathing, active human artists working together, exchanging ideas, and collaborating on projects. It’s not a branding exercise; it’s a real movement of people doing culture. In a brand-driven, hierarchical, gatekept Art World, that is unique and special.
The International Collage Community routinely impresses me with its emotional depth, talent, kindness, and community spirit. Kolaj Institute exists to support artists, curators, and writers who seek to study, document, and disseminate ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement.
The thinking is simple: If we bring together the community, share knowledge, and support one another in the making and diffusion of collage art, we can raise collage’s standing in the art world and deepen the appreciation of this art form. I am proud to say that we are making some real gains:
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE YEAR
We exhibited the work of 75 artists at Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans. That number doesn’t include the 126 artists in the “Big Orange Monster” exhibition.
The sixth edition of Kolaj Fest New Orleans in June welcomed 150 artists from the US and Ireland, who took part in 40 symposia, workshops, artist talks, roundtable discussions, museum tours and more. In October, Kolaj Institute presented COLLAGE::BOOKS: A Symposium on the Role of the Book in Collage as part of Volume 8 MTL in Montreal, which featured 24 speakers from Canada, Belgium, and the US.
We hosted 64 artists in group residencies, 23 artists as solo residents, and enrolled 66 artists in Kolaj Institute’s Artist Development program.
We reviewed and revitalized a number of projects: We launched the Folklore Collage Society with a new journal. Through the Politics & Collage project, we published The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide and hosted the “Big Orange Monster” exhibition. We also expanded the project with Trash as Material. Collage in Motion grew to include the “Dancing Pixel“, an online exhibition of animated gifs, and a screening of the travelling program in Montreal at COLLAGE::BOOKS. We also published Gain of Function: New Mutations/Old Traditions/Collective Effervescence with Emily Denlinger, the Locative Collage Zine with Special Agent Collage Collective, and the World Collage Day 2025 Special Edition.
MORE WORK TO DO
In the coming months, we will release Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf; two books related to the “Big Orange Monster” exhibition: A Book of Big Orange Monsters and Please Do Not Feed the Monsters; Folklore Collage Society Volume 1; PoetryXCollage 8; Kolaj 43; the World Collage Day 2026 Special Edition; and a book related to the Photography & Collage Project, among others.
We are planning a full calendar of exhibitions at the gallery in New Orleans that will touch on projects such as Photography, Folklore, Poetry, and realize the Castles as Buildings, Metaphors, and Systems of Power work that was made in the last two years.
In 2026, we hope to bring on a full-time Managing Director who can support and guide the organization and pursue grant funding for projects. Having a Managing Director on staff will also allow us to better prepare Kolaj Institute’s Archive, Book, and Art Collections so they are more accessible to the public.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
I often hear from folks, “You guys do a lot.” We can only do that with the support of the community. Every artist that contributes to a project–every person that joins a residency or takes a workshop–makes this work possible. If you can forgive the metaphor, donations to Kolaj Institute are the glue that makes it all stick together.
Donations are how we pay for things like frames and shipping for an exhibition and help cover rent, internet, and supplies at the gallery. Donations allow us to send comp’d books to contributors and offer financial aid to artists who can’t afford a residency or workshop fees. Donations support paying for the technology to produce Kolaj LIVE Online. As we invest in building a strong organization and caring for the archive and collection, donations are what will allow us to take steps forward. This demonstration of community support goes along with institutional funders and grantmakers.
Please consider making a donation to support Kolaj Institute’s work in the coming year. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to support 2026 programs and activities. (See below to make a donation by check or money order.)
THANK YOU
This is a deeply personal project for me. Your support means a lot to me. To those who make a donation of $100 or more before the end of the campaign, I will mail you one of my original, signed, 8″x10″ collages as an expression of deep gratitude for your support.
I believe in this community and I believe the work Kolaj Institute is doing is important to creating a historical document of this community that will be an invaluable tool for understanding what the International Collage Community is doing in the decades to come. Together, we can show the world how awesome collage is and foster a deep appreciation of the medium.
Ric Kasini Kadour
Director, Kolaj Institute
To make a donation by check or money order, make your check out to Kolaj Institute and mail it to: Kolaj Institute, 2374 Saint Claude Avenue, Suite 230, New Orleans, LA 70117 USA.
Kolaj Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit registered in the State of Louisiana, USA. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Kolaj Institute’s tax identification number is 88-2857040.