On March 17, 1972, the original meeting to form A.I.R. Gallery took place, with artists organizing what became the first not-for-profit, artist-directed and maintained gallery for women artists in the United States. A.I.R.'s own history records Howardena Pindell proposing the name "EYRE Gallery" at that meeting, before the group settled on A.I.R., shortened from Artists in Residence. The founders had been responding to the exclusion of women from New York's commercial gallery system and to the need for artists to control their own exhibitions. After renovation of the 97 Wooster Street space, the gallery opened in September 1972 and became a durable feminist art institution, hosting exhibitions, programs, internships, and later international women-artists projects.
A.I.R. provided an influential cooperative model for feminist art spaces and artist-run alternatives to commercial galleries.
