“When it comes to cultural organizations and their critical potential to expand our
experience and understanding of the world, the IAO is in a league of its own.”
– Todd Lerew (IAO Donor; Program Manager, Library Foundation of Los Angeles)

 

WHY SUPPORT THE INSTITUTE FOR ART AND OLFACTION?
I don’t need convincing. I love you guys and I know what you do. Take me to the donation page

The mission of the Institute for Art and Olfaction is to make scent materials and education accessible to the people who have traditionally not had access.  We use the lens of scent, but we believe that through scent you can reach many fields – sociology, for instance, not to mention history, chemistry, technology, conceptual art, social justice and much, much more.

Experimental transmedia art spaces like the IAO encourage connections between disparate concepts, facilitate the exploration of gray areas, support artists and emerging perfumers, and help people engage in science, creativity, curiosity, and good old fashioned experimentation.

As a non-profit, we invest back into the community that we serve. Any income we have at the IAO is paid forward into the programs we develop – programs like the Bienial Scent Fair, the Experimental Scent Summit, Perfume on the Radio, Open Source Smell Culture, our gallery space, and – of course – the Art and Olfaction Awards.  There’s more.

In the past 12 years of activity (and counting!), we’ve hosted hundreds of events to invite visitors into the wild, woolly world of scent. We’ve done this on site at the IAO, and also in partnership with institutions such as Royal College of Art (London), New Mexico Highlands University. Atlas Obscura, Hammer Museum, Craft Contemporary, Getty Institute, Danish Film Institute, the National Media Museum in the UK, and so many more. In this way we promote scent as a viable creative medium, we provide access to the tools and materials and knowledge of scent (and dismantle some exclusionary practices along the way), and we enhance visibility for artists and perfumers working outside the mainstream.

All this, to us, is worth supporting.

 

HOW TO SUPPORT

 

ATTEND A CLASS

The single best way to help us keep going is simply to sign up for as many of our classes and events as you can. With a breadth of programming at eminently reasonable cost levels, online or in person at our Chinatown location, we do our best to give you good reason!
> Check out our calendar, we update it all the time:.

 

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MAKE A DIRECT DONATION

And then, there’s money. We hate it. And we need it. We’ve made it easier to make one-time or recurring donations direct from your credit card or bank account, with our partner at Flipcause. You can visit our donation site, or just use the nice widget, below.

THANK YOU!