Andy Horwitz is a critic, curator and creative producer with over twenty years of experience in the for-profit and not-for-profit creative sectors.  He is the founder of Culturebot Arts & Media, Inc., publisher of Culturebot.org, the web’s foremost thought-leading arts and culture magazine and is a 2014 recipient of the prestigious Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for his research project, Ephemeral Objects: Art Criticism for the Post-Material World.

From 2011 – 2013 he curated and produced Manhattan’s free, outdoor, multidisciplinary arts festival, The River To River Festival, for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council where he was previously the Director of Public Programs.  As Director of Public programs he worked with neighborhood stakeholders such as American Express, Goldman Sachs, The Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, the Alliance for Downtown New York and the New York City Economic Development Corporation to develop and implement cultural strategies for the continued revitalization of Lower Manhattan.

From 2002 – 2004 he was the Marketing Director at Performance Space 122, one of NYC’s most prestigious venues for contemporary performance. Here he developed organizational strategy and re-branded the institution, repositioning it in the national cultural landscape, revitalizing the brand and growing audience. In 2005 he became Performance Space 122′s first full-time producer where he introduced new programs and produced international festivals including Buenos Aires In Translation, Norway in New York and PS122′s programs for Act French.

From 2007-2009, he curated the PRELUDE Festival at the Martin E. Segal Theater Center at the Graduate Center at CUNY. With his colleagues he grew the festival into one of New York City’s most highly regarded festivals of new work and works-in-progress; PRELUDE is now a significant opportunity for artists and curators alike to get a preview of the upcoming season, to share knowledge and best practices and build community.

Other curatorial projects include “The Future At The End Of The World” at the Farley Post Office (December 2012) and “Ephemeral Evidence” at Exit Art Gallery (May 2012). He has also worked as Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Andy has advised countless artists and served on numerous panels for arts organizations and funders including the Mellon Foundation, United States Artists, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s Philadelphia Music Project, New Music USA, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, the National Performance Network, The MAP Fund, Here Arts Center, Dixon Place and more.

Prior to becoming an arts administrator in 2002, Andrew worked as an interactive producer and brand strategist at ad agencies such as Fallon Worldwide (NYC office), iDeutsch and Margeotes|Fertitta + Partners, working on such accounts as ABC Sports, About.com, And1 Shoes, Bank One, Brink’s Home Security, Comedy Central, CondeNet, Domino’s, Georgia-Pacific, MTV Networks, Timberland, Time Magazine, Stolichnaya, Sotheby’s and Zyrtec.

Even prior to that Andy was a writer & performance maker. He has performed at PS122, HERE, Dixon Place, the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, The Knitting Factory, CBGB and countless other venues in NYC and nationally. From 1990-1995 he lived in Seattle where his work as a spoken word performer and activist led to his involvement with the artist-run women’s self-defense collective Home Alive. His spoken word piece “4th of July” was released on the Epic CD  Home Alive: The Art of Self-Defense alongside such rock luminaries as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Jello Biafra and Lydia Lunch. In 2005 he ran for Mayor of New York City – AndyForMayor.org – a performance project documented in the film The Promise of New York, by director Raul Barcelona. In 2006 he appeared as a Demon Tour Guide in Les Freres Corbusiers’ production of Hell House at St. Ann’s Warehouse, directed by Alex Timbers. His writing has been published on Nerve.com, Seattle’s The Stranger, Heeb Magazine and various anthologies.

Andrew has a B.S. in Speech from Northwestern University.