Art21, the nonprofit documentary platform behind the PBS series *Art in the Twenty-First Century*, is celebrating its 25th anniversary and the 12th season of its Peabody Award-winning series. In an interview with *CULTURED*, Executive Director and Chief Curator Tina Kukielski discusses how the organization has evolved from its early days in 2001 to embrace digital platforms like YouTube and TikTok, producing over 575 films featuring more than 300 artists. The organization also offers educational programming through Art21 Educators and makes its archive freely available to a global audience of five million.
This milestone matters because Art21 has fundamentally shaped public understanding of contemporary art by providing intimate, narration-free access to artists at work, demystifying the creative process for a broad audience. Its extensive archive, which tracks artists like Kerry James Marshall over decades, serves as a modern-day historical record of early 21st-century art. As the media landscape rapidly changes, Art21's ability to adapt and find audiences where they are ensures its continued relevance in making contemporary art accessible and engaging.