NEW YORK, NY.- New York Gallery Week, a new initiative organized collectively by 50 Manhattan-based contemporary art galleries and 7 notfor- profits – spanning Chelsea, SoHo, the Lower East Side/Bowery, the Upper East Side, and 57th Street – will launch its pilot program in May 2010.

With a shared desire to refocus the art world’s attention toward the city’s longstanding exceptional gallery programming, a group of emerging and established galleries have come together with a mission to put the spotlight back on the galleries and the artists.

At its core, New York Gallery Week (NYGW) 2010 is a presentation of over 50 solo gallery exhibitions, along with an unprecedented concentration of scores of free events and programs, the majority taking place inside the galleries themselves. With NYGW’s members organizing themselves to offer this ambitious, simultaneous programming, NYGW offers unique access to a wide range of special gallery produced artistic experiences in one concentrated period of time.

Solo exhibitions recognize and celebrate that singular moment in time when an individual artist’s vision is cohesively presented in one gallery space, prior to when the works are sold and redistributed to collectors, museums, and elsewhere. By showcasing 50 major solo exhibitions, NYGW encourages visitors to frequent these shows multiple times throughout the weekend, for various viewings and different perspectives.

Complementing these exhibitions will be intimate, informal talks by artists; guided gallery tours by artists, curators, art historians, gallery staff; panel discussions; film screenings; book signings; performances; special artist receptions; and more.

The inaugural year’s NYGW is actually a long weekend (kicking off on Friday, May 7 and ending on the evening of Monday May, 10). Galleries are normally closed on Sundays and Mondays, yet NYGW’s participants will be open throughout the weekend with extended hours. NYGW will become an annual event, and expand to a full week in future years.

Often acknowledged for mounting innovative and influential museum-quality shows – all free and open to the public, and changing every 4 to 6 weeks – these internationally renowned and respected galleries have catered both to longtime art collectors, and the general public alike. Expected at NYGW are art world enthusiasts from around the globe, such as individual art collectors; members of museum boards and collecting groups; museum directors, curators and staff members; cultural journalists and critics; art dealers; and of course artists.

In addition to the international, national, and local communities and audiences, outreach is being made in conjunction with tourism and travel organizations. NYGW offers something original not just to the art world and local residents, but to NYC visitors, as well. In the long-term, these galleries plan to become must-see cultural destinations similar to the city’s museums, theaters, and other customary tourist attractions.

Regionally, NYGW is working directly with some of the city’s schools, organizing gallery events and tours with teachers and students from the local universities, art schools, high schools, grade schools, kindergartens, and other youth groups. Often referred to as “mom-and-pop shops,” the majority of NYGW’s galleries are individually owned, yet collectively make up a diverse and cohesive community and expansive industry. These relatively small businesses not only produce world-class exhibitions, but altogether they employ a wide range of companies and hundreds of individuals around the city, including shippers, framers, conservators, foundries, architects, contractors, photographers, website designers, among many others.

Started by Casey Kaplan, the founding committee members of NYGW include Jane Hait of Wallspace, Anton Kern, Friedrich Petzel, Jason Murison of Friedrich Petzel, Andrew Richards of Marian Goodman Gallery, Pascal Spengemann and Kelly Taxter of Taxter & Spengemann, David Zwirner, Angela Choon and Julia Joern of David Zwirner.