The Cohort Program

at Drawing Room

A creative multi-media cohort experience. Go on a learning journey with new friends!

Photo by Alejandro Leon.

Remember the feeling of starting a new semester? A season of learning, growing, and stretching outside of your comfort zone?

Meet your BFFs, pick your classes, see each other regularly, then show-and-tell and sign yearbooks! Come experience the cohort program at Drawing Room.

2025 Cohorts

The theme for this year is “Transformations”

Winter 2025
(Jan-Feb)
"Self-Reflection”

$740

$695 Early Bird Deal

for the entire cohort
(originally a $1,335 value)

Interest-free payment plans available via Klarna.

We’re about halfway full!
Cohorts sell out - don’t wait!

Winter-Spring 2025
(March-April)
"Gardens & Growth”

Stay tuned - enrollment opening soon!

Spring-Summer 2025
(May-June)
"Myth & Magic”

Stay tuned - enrollment opening soon!

Summer-Fall 2025
(late-Aug-Oct)
"Rhythms & Cycles”

Stay tuned - enrollment opening soon!

Fall-Winter 2025
(Oct-Dec)
"Milestones & Celebrations”

Stay tuned - enrollment opening soon!

What’s included in a cohort

A shared but flexible schedule

Photo by Alice Plati.

Each cohort runs around 2.5 months, and is designed to be flexible. Work late on Mondays? Have a trip coming up in the middle of the cohort? You have the freedom to select a schedule that works for you. You’re not committing to the same day for 8 weeks.

At the same time, the program includes an Orientation Night, exclusive cohort gatherings, and a Showcase Night for structure, so we all have opportunities to share a cohesive journey together.

Intentional gatherings and connection

Each cohort gets a private discord channel. Connect with your group, share inspiration, ideas, and plan get-togethers.

We’ll also organize some additional exclusive moments for your group to connect throughout the cohort program, including:

  • A Cohort BYODinner Party

  • Cohort Coffee Meets

Skill-building workshops

Select 8 workshops over the course of the cohort program, to fit your schedule and interests, including clay, drawing, painting, writing, textiles, and more! Learn new skills and mediums from our professional artist instructors. Events are thoughtfully distributed across weeknights and weekends.

Plus, select up to 2 community events such as Charm Meet, Collage Potluck, Book Talk & Trade, and more.

Scroll down to learn more about each.

Drawing Room as your campus

Cohort enrollment includes the Membership Lite, plus 4 days of Art Library access. Show your digital membership card to pop by during any Open Hours. Use the space to continue practicing what you learned, meet up your cohort members/friends, or even co-work!

Get 15% off everything else with the membership, too, so you can buy from our shop, add more of the Art Library, or even book more workshops with an exclusive discount.

Open Hours includes unlimited tea, coffee, wifi, and Featured Gatherings are included throughout the week. Read more about how the Art Library works here.

Workshop supplies

All materials and supplies needed for your workshops are provided on-site. Take home the pieces you create. You’ll also get to paint your very own ceramic nametag during Orientation!

Utilize the Art Library on 4 days of your choosing, during any of your unlimited Open Hour visits with your digital membership card.

Customized merch

Each cohort member gets a hand-printed, one-of-a-kind Drawing Room tote bag and sketchbook during orientation. Use both throughout your cohort program and beyond!

Our Catalog

Pick 8 workshops and up to 2 community events from any of the below to attend during your cohort program. Many workshops and events may feature different projects, depending on the cohort theme, and are likely available on more than one date.

All workshops and events take place Sat/Sun morning or Mon/Tues/Wed evening, and we do our best to distribute them so that each event type happens on a weeknight/weekend at least once!

Workshops

Ceramics

Claydate
A playdate, with clay

Drawing

Drawing from the Body
Figure & gesture drawing

Painting

Writing

Color in Flow Watercolor multimedia

Pen to Paper
Open-level writing

Carve & Print
Design and blockprint your own stamps

Knitting
Learn to knit various projects

Field Trip
Visual journaling on the go

For the Love of Drawing
Multimedia drawing

Textile & Fiber Arts

Community Events

Charm Meet
Select charms and assemble jewelry

Collage Potluck
Potluck gathering of collage supplies

BYODinner Party
A candle-lit community dinner

Book Talk & Trade

Recommend and swap books!

Orientation Night

Meet and greet our instructors and the rest of your cohort! Then, design your schedule with the workshops of your choice. Dates released in advance, but cohort members get first dibs and signup happens during Orientation Night. Come prepared with your calendar!

If you are not able to join us for orientation, no problem! You can simply submit your enrollments virtually.

Showcase Night

Bring and show off any works you made during the cohort program over beverages and snacks. Mingle with your cohort and instructors.

Sign each other’s sketchbooks (like yearbooks)!! Each cohort member can bring a plus one to share in the celebrations!

Cohort-specific dates and projects:

Many workshops and community events feature various projects, depending on the cohort theme, and are likely available on more than one date.

COMING SOON: Winter-Spring 2025 (March-April)

COMING SOON: Spring-Summer 2025 (May-June)

COMING SOON: Summer-Fall 2025 (late Aug-Oct)

COMING SOON: Spring-Summer 2025 (Oct-Dec)

Why join the Cohort Progam at Drawing Room?

Learn new skills

Experiment with and try new mediums! Deepen skills in mediums you’ve tried. Stretch your creative brain. Become your best creative self this year.

Be a part of something bigger

Our Cohort Program is all about learning and growing, with an emphasis on community-building. Participating is supporting our mission for strengthening community in NYC, and celebrating creativity in its many forms!

Structure & accountability

Need a little accountability? Join the cohort for that extra push! Doing things with other people who have the same goals is always more fun.

Get the best value

Because you’re buying in bulk, you know you’re getting the best deal! Not only are you getting the steepest discounts, but the cohort program structure offers so much more, too!

Treat (and care for) yourself!

Creativity is self-care; being creative regularly can help you solve problems more openly and effectively, relieve stress and anxiety, and even improve cognitive function. The only downside is having too much fun!

Ready to enroll for the Cohort Program Drawing Room?

Whether you’re an actively creative person or you want to tap back into your creative energy and don’t know where to start, our cohort program is for you.

Learning new things and trying new creative mediums is like learning a new language – a new way to express yourself in the world and connect with other humans…plus a new way to get off our screens and get lost in a meditative flow.

We’ve found that many creative workshops and studios just aren’t designed with community-building at their core. But at Drawing Room, we believe that creativity is an amazing common thread by which to build connection–perhaps because it requires open-mindedness, by definition. So, everything we do here is about deepening connections within the community through our shared love of – or curiosity for – creativity in its infinite forms.

Take a leap and come experience the magic of Drawing Room in 2025!

Enrollment closes at 11:59pm the day before each Cohort’s Orientation Night, OR when all available slots are filled. Cohorts sell out - don’t wait!

Looking for info about the Fall 2024 Cohort? See this page here!

Photo by Alejandro Leon.

FAQs

  • Yes, of course! Please use the same exact email we have on file for your membership.

    If you are already a member with a payment method on file:

    Drawing Room Membership Lite:

    • The Membership Lite is included in our cohort program, so you won’t be charged for renewal until the end of the cohort. You’ll be prorated for any days not covered by the cohort program; these will be added to the end of the cohort after Showcase Night.

    • You retain all the benefits of the Membership Lite (like unlimited Open Hours, 15% discount, guest passes) from the day you sign up, through to the end of the cohort.

    Drawing Room Membership:

    • The same thing applies to you, except you retain the one guest pass per month with the Art Library, and even the two (additional) workshops per month. (You can take more workshops on top of the cohort, or use them for a friend to join you).

    • Please note that you have to have paid for at least one month of this Membership tier before your cohort enrollment in order to qualify to retain your benefits.

    • For example, if you signed up as a member on Dec 1, and the cohort runs Dec 16-March 2 (from Orientation to Showcase), you will retain Membership privileges until March 17th, which includes prorated days from your signup date. You’ll be scheduled and charged for renewal on March 17th.

    • If you sign up for a cohort after that, you will remain on the same Membership tier until the second cohort is over, and prorated days added after that one is over.

    • This means you can’t upgrade your membership from the Lite tier during your cohort.

    • Note that this option gets you a discount – you’re effectively getting the regular Membership at the price of the Lite tier!

    Please reach out to our team at info@nycdrawingroom.com to enroll.

  • Our Back to School series is designed to be flexible so you can book classes according to your schedule. We have a series of classes with dates and times listed, and you will choose which you'd like to attend.

    We know emergencies happen, so we accommodate one class reschedule from your original schedule booking made during orientation. Reschedule requests must be made no fewer than 24 hours prior to the event start time. Sorry, no exceptions!

  • That's ok! For Orientation Night, we'll have you select your classes virtually and send us your selections.

    Orientation Night is also a chance for you to meet the rest of your cohort, but we'll have plenty of other opportunities to mingle and meet your classmates :-)

  • Yes! We offer interest-free payment plans via Klarna. Simply select that option on the payment page.

  • All the workshops and events are also open to the public, but you're getting an unbeatable, exclusive deal when it comes to price and cohort programming. You can expect to see the familiar faces of your cohort classmates in each of these classes, and you'll get first dibs and get to sign up together before its opened up to public registration.

    As a part of this series, we are also hosting several activities throughout the semester that are exclusive to the cohort members, including the Orientation Night, Showcase Night, BYO Dinner Party, coffee meets, private discord channel, etc.

    We want this to feel like you are growing through a creative learning journey, together!

  • All enrollments are final. However, if you find you are unable to join us for the progra for whatever reason after booking, you can let us know at least 7 days before Orientation Night to get credits. This will allow you to use the dollar value as credit towards other events or a membership. They can also be (partially) transferred to a friend.

  • Absolutely!

    There’s so much variation and novelty from cohort to cohort. This is by design – our various themes and related projects offer so many new, fun, and intentional ways to explore. We’re always developing new projects.

    Plus, each cohort is a new opportunity to make new friends and share an experience with a tight knit group of people!

    If after a cohort experience (or two) you find you’re ready to dive deep into a single medium, we’ve got you covered, too. We’re currently building intensives for many of our existing workshops. Stay tuned!

About the theme of the year…

Our cohort program is designed for a breadth-focused exploration of the many ways of creating. It’s a great way to push yourself out of your comfort zone to try new things, but we also wanted there to be a common thread between the workshops to help ground us as we explore. How might your interpretations of various themes differ in clay versus paint versus writing?

“Transformation,” our overarching theme for 2025, is something we’ve been talking a lot about at Drawing Room. When do you know when its the right time to make a leap? When something is no longer suiting you? When to recognize you have grown and evolved? How do you nurture growth? So much about life is about transformations, let’s celebrate and experiencing them with our community. We can’t wait to explore this theme with you throughout 2025!