WHO WE ARE
Launched in 2023, Threads: The Art Exchange is a global artist-development platform and curatorial initiative elevating artists through strategy, story, and expansive reach.
Originally founded by Sydney Frakes and Alea Brown as a podcast spotlighting artists and creatives from different backgrounds, Threads has further expanded into a full-scale artist development firm offering a multidisciplinary framework of practice-centered engagement, visual storytelling, and creative exchange spearheaded by Frakes.
At its core, Threads operates as both an emerging artist incubator and dialogical space, merging curation, narrative-based storytelling, and process-oriented support to nurture the next generation of artists. Through strategic artist cultivation, concept-led artist features, digital initiatives, and global visibility, Threads fosters the structure, language, and tools to amplify artist’s presence in today’s art sphere. As a site of artistic exchange and curatorial intervention, Threads engages creative voices across disciplines, geographies, and identities whether they are emerging, mid-career, or established. It is a space where strategy meets intuition, and where artists are not only seen but deeply supported in the evolution of their practice and positioning within the contemporary art landscape.
With an unwavering commitment to collaboration, access, and international growth, Threads: The Art Exchange builds a nurturing architecture amplifying the voices of artists for long-term visibility and cultivating lasting influence.
SYDNEY FRAKES
CREATOR + DIRECTOR
Sydney Frakes is the Creator and Director of Threads: The Art Exchange. With a multidisciplinary approach, Frakes blends artist development, creative consulting, and digital initiatives to help artists craft tailored narratives, build long-term visibility, and create sustainable pathways to success.
Her approach is both intuitive and strategic, grounded in dialogue, shaped by lived experience, and attentive to the long arc of an artist’s practice rather than its momentary visibility. Through tailored writing, curatorial frameworks, and digital initiatives, she operates Threads as both a platform and a philosophy: a space where art, identity, and transformation remain in active conversation. Centered on process, Threads emphasizes refinement and long-term positioning meeting artists where they are and as their work unfolds.
In addition to her work with Threads, Frakes serves as an exhibitions committee member at the Detroit Artists Market, contributing to exhibition review, artist selection, and programmatic direction. She is currently preparing to curate her first exhibition at Detroit Artists Market, The Intimacy of Memories, exhibiting in October 2026.
Prior to founding Threads, Frakes earned her BA in Urban Studies (2014) and Art History (2017) from Wayne State University and gained extensive experience working across commercial, academic, and residency-based art spaces. These roles shaped her nuanced understanding of the contemporary art landscape and continue to inform her commitment to ethical representation, narrative integrity, and artist-centered growth.
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Photo credit: Ken Taylor Creative