For sixteen years, Institute 193 has logged thousands of miles with our collaborators, criss-crossing the nation to seek out and share the most unique, significant, and authentic voices of the contemporary South. From Waxahatchee to West Virginia, Nashville to New Orleans, and Birmingham to the Big Apple and beyond, we’ve helped artists, musicians, and writers continue to redefine what the South looks, sounds, and feels like. With over one hundred exhibitions, dozens of books, and countless events later, we’re still on the move, guided by the same curiosity and conviction that started this whole trip.
As we look ahead to 2026, we are positioned for success after sixteen years of pedal to the metal effort. Our publishing wheels are turning again, with three major books headed your way in the coming year. 193 SHOP, our slowly expanding retail space, is finally hitting its stride, with a full furnishing build-out scheduled for early January. And our events calendar is already filling up, with a diverse suite of concerts, lectures, readings, screenings, and workshops to engage our local community. And of course, our main exhibition programming will continue to challenge, intrigue, and illuminate, helping audiences at home in Lexington and across the country gain new perspectives on the pressing issues of our region.
Your support makes all this possible. Every dollar donated keeps our engine running, helping us stay independent, creative, and community-driven. As we mark our Sweet Sixteen, we invite you to hop in and take this journey with us — to keep this engine humming for another sixteen years of art, collaboration, and discovery.
Please note: in addition to the fundraiser rewards offered here, a number of Institute 193 artists and supporters are offering original artworks for sale with proceeds directed to Institute 193. Please reach out to info@institute193.org to see the full list of works on offer.
Installation view of Casey Joiner,
Housekeeping, 2025.
Digital
rendering of 193 SHOP build-out by friend of the gallery Paul
Masterson,
slated for construction in January 2026.
Installation
view of Susan Te Kahurangi King and Eric Oglander, By
Golly, 2025.
Institute
193 patrons drawing Robert Beatty's display for the Lexington Still
Life Club.
Competitors
ready their dishes at our Salad Cook-Off this summer.
Revelers at the opening reception for Ceirra
Evans' Come Rain or Shine.
Artist
James R. Southard picks out a book while Mammoth Cave II sets the
tone at our event with Jane in October.
Community
members load up on sweet treats at our Bake-Off.
Poets Jonathan Greene, Sophie Appel, Nana
Boateng, and Brandon DiSabatino outside the gallery after their
reading in September.
Perks
Two classic postcard sets from past Institute 193 exhibitions.
Hawkins Bolden's Seated, a 5 x 7 inch, 10 card set with an essay by Maria Owen.
Ed McClanahan's Out of Hand, a 4 x 5 inch, 13 card set with an essay by Elisabeth Glass.
Shot on a variety of mostly pocketable cameras over the course of 4 years, In The Round is a collection of Mahan’s street and domestic photos in and adjacent to Lexington’s not so historic inner beltway, New Circle Road. In The Round was first displayed at Institute 193's gallery in downtown Lexington, Kentucky from August 9 – September 14, 2024. This postcard set contains the 28 images from that exhibition, alongside an additional 12 photographs from Mahan's series.
6 x 9 inches, 41 cards.
Our work will be done when we can give these young ones a new world, a different world. I must be committed to the birth of that new world, which like every delivery will be painful and at the same time joyous, 2025.
Full color print on 118# Savoy Brilliant White 100% Cotton Cover,
printed by Publicide.
11 x 7.5 inches.
Signed and numbered
edition of 100.
At this level of donation, we will be thrilled to thank you by placing your name in vinyl on 2025's additions to our official Bathroom Wall of Honor. Guests will think fondly of your support each and every time they use the services in our downtown Lexington gallery space.
Highlights
See all activity155Activity
Two classic postcard sets from past Institute 193 exhibitions.
Hawkins Bolden's Seated, a 5 x 7 inch, 10 card set with an essay by Maria Owen.
Ed McClanahan's Out of Hand, a 4 x 5 inch, 13 card set with an essay by Elisabeth Glass.
Shot on a variety of mostly pocketable cameras over the course of 4 years, In The Round is a collection of Mahan’s street and domestic photos in and adjacent to Lexington’s not so historic inner beltway, New Circle Road. In The Round was first displayed at Institute 193's gallery in downtown Lexington, Kentucky from August 9 – September 14, 2024. This postcard set contains the 28 images from that exhibition, alongside an additional 12 photographs from Mahan's series.
6 x 9 inches, 41 cards.
Our work will be done when we can give these young ones a new world, a different world. I must be committed to the birth of that new world, which like every delivery will be painful and at the same time joyous, 2025.
Full color print on 118# Savoy Brilliant White 100% Cotton Cover,
printed by Publicide.
11 x 7.5 inches.
Signed and numbered
edition of 100.
At this level of donation, we will be thrilled to thank you by placing your name in vinyl on 2025's additions to our official Bathroom Wall of Honor. Guests will think fondly of your support each and every time they use the services in our downtown Lexington gallery space.
