Past
Grantees

Saint John’s Pottery (fiscal sponsor St. John's University), Collegeville, Minnesota, received a one-year grant of $25,750 to support two early career artists based in Minnesota or New York City with one-month residencies to develop and create new work.

The artist will travel to Port-au-Prince, Haiti for 60 days. Saintonge’s trip will be a investigation of the punk kids of Port-au-Prince as research for the upcoming feature film Erzili. The film, titled after the voduo spirit family of Loa, will be an exploration of young Haitians as they embark on a road trip looking for one of the group’s mother, who is hiding somewhere in the north.

The artist will travel to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands for 8 days. Sealey will visit the places of her childhood and take notes towards a series of prose poems inspired by those places as she remembers them and as they currently are, in the wake of hurricanes Irma and Maria.

The artist will travel to Buffalo, New York for 9 days to study the natural systems of an urban farm and to explore the migration history of African Americans to and through the Western New York region.

Smack Mellon Studios, Brooklyn, New York, received a one-year grant of $25,000 for the Artist Studio Program in 2019, providing studio space and career building opportunities to six early career/emerging New York City-based artists.

Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York, received a one-year grant of $25,000 for the Emerging Artist Fellowship program, serving 15 New York City-based artists through summer studio residencies and a culminating fall exhibition.

Soho Rep, New York City, received a two-year grant of $70,000 to support the commissioning and development of new work by 18 New York City-based early-career playwrights in the Writer/Director Lab and the Studio program in 2018–19 and 2019–20.

St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN), St. Paul, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $60,000 for Doc U Fellows, a 7-month fellowship for six Minnesota-based early career/emerging artists to create new documentary works in 2018–19 and 2019–20.

STREB Inc., Brooklyn, New York, received a one-year $23,000 grant for the 11th round of GO! An Emerging Artist Commissioning Program in which six New York City-based early career movement artists receive commissioning support, technical assistance and production opportunities to develop and create new work at the company’s home space, the STREB LAB FOR ACTION MECHANICS (SLAM).

Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, received a one-year grant of $25,000 for the Artist-in-Residence program, providing three emerging artists year-long residencies to research, develop and create new work in 2019–20.

The artist will travel to Santa Marta, El Banco, Santa Cruz Mompox and Barranquilla, Colombia for 15 days. Tavera will travel the Magdalena municipality in Colombia to study, document, conduct interviews and capture the migration of Cumbia music and the culture of this region. Tavera is working on a new project about the Cumbia rhythm, a blend of African, Spanish and Indigenous sounds, which transcends Colombia as it has immigrated to Latin America and the world.

Textile Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $54,000 for early career/emerging Minnesota-based fiber artists to receive mentorship, support in creating new fiber art, and public exhibitions of their works in 2018–19 and 2019–20.

Theater Mu, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a one-year grant of $27,000 to support new play development and production by Minnesota-based early career Asian American playwrights Katie Ka Vang and Jessica Huang in 2019–20.

Tofte Lake Center, Ely, Minnesota, received a one-year grant of $31,000 for the Emerging Artists Program, supporting up to 13 NYC and MN-based early career/emerging artists (7 for a two-week residency and 6 artists for a one-week residency) of all disciplines to develop new work through residencies in 2019.

VocalEssence, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $30,000 for VocalEssence ReMix, supporting two early career choral composers for a year-long mentorship with an established composer to create two new choral works in 2018–19 and 2019–20.

The artist will travel to Nong Khai, Thailand and Luang Prabang, Laos for 15 days. As an essential part of the refugee healing process, Vongsay will travel to Nongkhai, Thailand and Vientiane, Laos to retrace, reimagine, and record her family’s journey after the Secret War.

VSA Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a one-year grant of $21,000 for the Early Career Artists with Disabilities Grant Program for six Minnesota artists with disabilities to create new work.

The artist will travel to Minneapolis/ St. Paul, MN, Madison, Wisconsin, and the Lost Forty Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) of the U.S. Department of Natural Resources located in Itasca County, MN for 23 days. Yang plans to conduct creative research into the biodiversity, geopolitical history, and record sensory and memory experiences at the Lost 40, 114 acres of old-pine growth within the Chippewa National Forest. Research of this unique borealis forest area will support her development of a new site-specific performance work.

Zeitgeist, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a one-year grant of $16,500 for ZEITGEIST/COMPOSER WORKSHOP, a 5-day workshop that will give three Minnesota-based early career artists a stipend and the opportunity to develop new musical ideas in collaboration with Zeitgeist in 2019.

Zenon Dance Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a one-year grant of $28,000 to support the commissioning and performance of new dance works by three early career/emerging choreographers from Minnesota and/or New York in 2018–19.