Past
Grantees

Soho Repertory Theatre (Soho Rep), New York City, received $40,000 over two years in support of new play commissioning, development and production for emerging New York City-based artists in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

 Monica Sok, New York City, received $2,000 to research spiritual life during the Khmer Rouge regime by visiting Angkor Wat and working on her full-length poetry manuscript about the Cambodian genocide.

Emily Strasser, Minnesota, received $2,000 to travel to Oak Ridge, Tennessee to research the mercury contamination caused by Cold War era nuclear weapons production, a process overseen by Strasser's grandfather, and to travel to Radford, Virginia to visit the St. Alban’s sanitarium where he spent several extended periods in treatment for severe mental illness.

Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, Brooklyn, New York, received $46,000 over two years to support Streb Lab for Action Mechanics' GO! Emerging Artist Commissioning Program in 2017 and 2018.

Studio Museum in Harlem received $38,000 ($19,000 per year for two years) to support the Artists-in-Residence Program for 2017 and 2018.

Springboard for the Arts, as fiscal sponsor for SuperGroup, received $12,500 to support the development and production of HOT LIQUID CONTAINERS.

KIRSTEN TAN was awarded $25,000 in support of the narrative project POP AYE. On a chance encounter, a disenchanted architect bumps into his long-lost elephant on the streets of Bangkok. Excited, he takes his elephant on a redemptive journey across Thailand, in search of the farm where they grew up together–only to discover the truth about himself and the life he callously left behind.

Alanna Morris-Van Tassel, Minnesota, received $3,700 to travel to Trinidad to participate in the New Waves! Institute to study traditional and contemporary Afro-Caribbean dance and culture among an international pool of artists, teachers and students.

The TEAM received $24,000 ($12,000 per year for two years) to support the development and production of Primer For A Failed Superpower.

The Textile Center of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $37,000 in support of the Jerome Fiber Artists Project Grant Program and General Services for Emerging Artists.

Threads Dance Project, Golden Valley, Minnesota, received $10,000 to support the creation and production of Uncertain Reality (working title) in 2017.

Reilly Tillman, Minnesota, received $4,476 to travel to Los Angeles, California to attend Film Independent’s annual independent filmmaker conference (FIND Forum); spend time with FIND staff to debrief the Forum and learn more about their cutting-edge education programs; reconnect with Los Angeles-based film producers who’ve participated in IFP MN’s Filmmaker Conference; and form new alliances with other champions of independent film.

Tofte Lake Center, Ely, Minnesota, received $53,800 over two years in support of the participation of New York City and Minnesota artists in the Emerging Artist Residency Program in 2017 and 2018.

Michael Torres, Minnesota, received $4,860 to travel to Jalisco, Mexico to explore his fathers's homeland with the hope of growing as an artist with a better sense of his heritage.

Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang, New York City, received $5,000 to travel to Bucharest, Romania to conduct research for a feature-length essay film about pop culture under totalitarian rule; gather newsreel, television, and movie footage from the National Film Archives; and interview people involved in the original productions.

Imani Uzuri, New York City, received $20,000 to do research and compose a multi-voice piece with instrumentation focused on the iconography of black womanhood, traveling to Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean to research the various altars and cathedrals dedicated to the Black Madonna; further develop and compose a children's musical; and study piano, guitar and Sibelius software to deepen her compositional practice.

Penumbra Theatre Company, as fiscal sponsor for Imani Uzuri and Zakiyyah Alexander, received $20,000 to support the creation and production of GIRL Shakes Loose Her Skin.

VocalEssence received $60,000 ($30,000 per year for two years) to support VocalEssence ReMix.

VSA Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $42,000 over two years in support of the 2017 and 2018 Minnesota Emerging Artist Grant program.

Xuan Wang, New York City, received $5,000 to travel to China to conduct ethnographic research for a novel in progress.