Special News Release!
The
Alliance of Artists Communities is pleased to announce the 2012 Midwestern
Voices and Visions awards, presented to eight outstanding Midwestern artists of
color. The artists were selected from an impressive pool of applicants
from Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio,
and Wisconsin. A partnership between the Alliance of Artists Communities
and The Joyce Foundation, the Midwestern Voices and Visions award celebrates,
supports, and promotes the work of exceptional artists of color working in any
visual, literary or performance discipline – artists whose work may still be unfamiliar
but whose compelling visions will define the region and the country in its next
decades.
The Midwestern Voices and Visions award provides each artist with a one- to three-month residency at one of seven participating Midwestern artist-in-residence programs during 2013 and a $4,000 unrestricted grant. The artists and their work will also be featured in a widely distributed publication which will document their residency experiences at the host programs, and will be invited to participate in a group exhibition in the Midwest in fall 2014.
Midwestern Voices and Visions is funded by The Joyce Foundation and is coordinated by the Alliance of Artists Communities, in collaboration with seven Midwestern artists’ residency programs. ‘To many artists, this award offers for the first time an opportunity to explore what it means to be a full-time artist, along with dedicated time and space to create new work, inspiring surroundings, interaction and collaboration with peers, and the financial support to allow the artists to take full advantage of a residency,” says Caitlin Strokosch, Executive Director of the Alliance of Artists Communities. “This initiative has significantly impacted both the artists who receive the award and the residency programs.”
“Artists’ ideas are their currency. Residency programs afford artists the time, space and community in which to bring their ideas to life. At the Joyce Foundation, we focus on leveling the playing field, and in the arts we ensure artists of color have equity in these invaluable spaces. We do this because we know it helps the organization as much as the artist.” Angelique Power, Senior Program Officer, The Joyce Foundation.
The 2012 award recipients with their host residency programs are:
The Midwestern Voices and Visions award provides each artist with a one- to three-month residency at one of seven participating Midwestern artist-in-residence programs during 2013 and a $4,000 unrestricted grant. The artists and their work will also be featured in a widely distributed publication which will document their residency experiences at the host programs, and will be invited to participate in a group exhibition in the Midwest in fall 2014.
Midwestern Voices and Visions is funded by The Joyce Foundation and is coordinated by the Alliance of Artists Communities, in collaboration with seven Midwestern artists’ residency programs. ‘To many artists, this award offers for the first time an opportunity to explore what it means to be a full-time artist, along with dedicated time and space to create new work, inspiring surroundings, interaction and collaboration with peers, and the financial support to allow the artists to take full advantage of a residency,” says Caitlin Strokosch, Executive Director of the Alliance of Artists Communities. “This initiative has significantly impacted both the artists who receive the award and the residency programs.”
“Artists’ ideas are their currency. Residency programs afford artists the time, space and community in which to bring their ideas to life. At the Joyce Foundation, we focus on leveling the playing field, and in the arts we ensure artists of color have equity in these invaluable spaces. We do this because we know it helps the organization as much as the artist.” Angelique Power, Senior Program Officer, The Joyce Foundation.
The 2012 award recipients with their host residency programs are:
- LaMont
Hamilton,
a photographer from Chicago, Illinois – Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in
Omaha, Nebraska
- Eric J. Garcia
a
painter, printmaker, and sculptor from Chicago, Illinois – John Michael Kohler Arts Center
in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
- Diane Ramos, a mixed
media artist from Lorain, Ohio – Anderson
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Red Wing,
Minnesota
- Sayaka Ganz, a sculptor
from Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Jiieh
G. Hurr a sound, clay, and installation artist from
Chicago, Illinois – Art
Farm in Marquette, Nebraska
- C. C. Ann
Chen,
is a painter from Chicago, Illinois – Prairie Center of the Arts in
Peoria, Illinois
- Cristina
Correa,
a creative writer from Chicago, Illinois – Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest,
Illinois
- Maria
Calderon,
a painter, installation artist, and interdisciplinary artist from Kansas
City, Missouri – Ox-Bow
in Saugatuck, Michigan
The competition was judged by a prestigious panel of arts leaders in the Midwest: Mitchell Squire, Iowa based installation artist, sculptor and performance artist, and previous Midwestern Voices and Visions awardee; Paul Tyler, Grants Director at The Art Council of Metropolitan Kansas City; Ra Joy, Executive Director at Arts Alliance Illinois; and Shannon Linker, Director of Artist Services at The Arts Council of Indianapolis.
The seven residency programs <http://www.artistcommunities.org/sites.html> were selected for their commitments to supporting today’s artists, their dedication to addressing gaps in that support, and their interest in working collectively on shared goals. The Alliance of Artists Communities – the nation’s service organization for artists’ communities and residency programs – administers and directs Midwestern Voices and Visions.
“The opportunity to step away from my day job and my responsibilities as a parent allowed me to be a full-time writer for the very first time in my life. And I seriously believe there was no other way to do what I did here. Midwestern Voices and Visions gave me exactly what I needed to travel back to Guinea and remember the paths, stories, and feelings I had when I was there last year…before it was too late.” - Ibrahima Kaba, performance poet
