About Open Invitational

Open Invitational is an international exhibition platform dedicated to progressive art studios and artists with disabilities.

Founded by gallerist David Fierman and arts patron Ross McCalla, Open Invitational was created to expand visibility, access, and cultural recognition for artists working within progressive studios, open studios, Living Museums, and socially engaged art environments.

Open Invitational presents this work within the context of the contemporary art world — not as charity, therapy, or outsider novelty, but as urgent, original, and culturally essential art.

Through exhibitions, fairs, partnerships, public programs, and international collaborations, Open Invitational supports artists, strengthens studios, builds new audiences, and creates pathways between artists, collectors, institutions, and the public.

The project began in Miami in December 2024 and has since grown into a multi-city platform with presentations in New York, Basel, Miami, and San Francisco.

At its core, Open Invitational exists to bring artists from the margins into the center of contemporary art.

Open Invitational creates visibility and market access for artists working within progressive studio communities.

• Exhibitions & Art Fair Presentations Presenting artists and studios in highly visible cultural contexts.
• Studio Partnerships Working directly with progressive studios, Living Museums, and nonprofit art programs.
• Collector & Institutional Engagement Connecting artists and studios with collectors, curators, museums, advisors, and cultural institutions.
• Public Programming Creating talks, performances, tours, and conversations that broaden public understanding of the field.
• International Collaboration Building bridges between studios and audiences across cities, countries, and cultural systems.

Progressive studios are among the most important creative ecosystems in contemporary art. They support artists with disabilities, neurodivergent artists, self-taught artists, and artists working outside traditional academic and commercial structures.

Yet many of these artists remain underrepresented in galleries, museums, collections, and art history.

Open Invitational was created to change that.

We believe this work belongs in the center of contemporary culture — seen, collected, exhibited, studied, and supported at the highest level.

Open Invitational is guided by openness: openness to new artists, new systems, new audiences, and new ways of understanding artistic value.

We work across the boundaries of art fair, nonprofit platform, cultural network, and public exhibition.

The goal is not simply to show art. The goal is to build infrastructure — a lasting platform that helps artists and studios gain visibility, income, recognition, and long-term cultural support.

Open Invitational was founded by David Fierman and Ross McCalla.

Together, Fierman and McCalla created Open Invitational to expand the field, build new audiences, and create a more open contemporary art world.