Stik Street Art Show Raises $12.5K For Immigrants

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — An exhibit of work by the street artist Stik raised $12,500 for a Tenement Museum initiative that funds English-language education classes for immigrants, according to the museum.

The London-based street artist also painted a new seven-story mural on a building in the Lower East Side featuring one of his famous street figures. The mural is located at the intersection of Delancey and Orchard streets, located just around the corner from the museum. The mural is titled "Migrant," and it depicts Stik's iconic stick figure peeking onto Allen Street, which is also known as the Avenue of the Immigrants. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"I am delighted to be invited back to the Lower East Side to celebrate and enjoy the diverse cultural heritage here," Stik said in a statement. "To be able to share my art on such a big platform in New York City whilst helping facilitate the Tenement Museum’s Shared Journeys program makes me very proud."

Along with the mural, which will survey Allen Street indefinitely, Stik provided a number of smaller artworks for display in the Lower East Side gallery Fat Free Art, which is also located on Allen Street. The gallery is dedicated to displaying street artists from around the world. The proceeds of Stik's show there were donated to the Tenement Museum's Shared Journeys program, which provides free English language classes for adult immigrants to the U.S.

Evan Salton, the gallery's co-owner, said Stik's exhibit closed on Wednesday night after the artist presented his donation to Tenement Museum officials.

"The Lower East Side, and in particular Allen Street, is a very important part of New York City," Salton said. "The Lower East Side was one of the major geographic places where street art started."

This is Stik's third mural in New York City, with two earlier works near Union Square and Tompkins Square in Manhattan.

Lead image courtesy of the Tenement Museum.