May 16, 2019

SPACES AWARDS THE FINAL URGENT ART FUND GRANT OF 2019, SUPPORTED BY CUYAHOGA ARTS & CULTURE

SPACES AWARDS THE FINAL URGENT ART FUND GRANT OF 2019,  SUPPORTED BY CUYAHOGA ARTS & CULTURE

(Cleveland, OH) – In 2019 SPACES created The Urgent Art Fund to offer support to five Cuyahoga County artists in the creation of new artworks that are socially, politically, or culturally responsive. Since opening the application process on January 2, 2019, SPACES has received nearly 50 applications.

Jurors Archie Green (musician, MOCA’s Community Engagement + Programs Manager), José Carlos Teixeira (artist, Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Christina Vassallo (curator, SPACES Executive + Artistic Director) have concluded the process by selecting the final grantee, M. Carmen Lane, to present RE:CLAIM Let Us Meet At The River, a group exhibition featuring contemporary Indigenous artists addressing themes of identity, water, Indigenous womxn, racism, intergenerational/historical trauma and traditional and contemporary stories associated with Indigenous communities within the Great Lakes region. Participating artists include: Onaman Collective artists Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch (Anishnaabe), Jodi Lynn Maracle (Mohawk), Karalyn Reuben (Oji-Cree), M. Carmen Lane (Mohawk/Tuscarora) and Moira Garcia (Chicana/Irish). The exhibition will be on display Summer 2019 at Akhsotha Gallery, an artist run space in the Buckeye-Larchmere neighborhood.

Urgent Art Fund applications were accepted on a rolling basis and were judged on the projects’ feasibility, artistic quality, ability to create an exchange of ideas, and alignment with the purpose of The Urgent Art Fund. Previous 2019 grantees include:

Cigdem Slankard’s Breaking Bread is a virtual reality documentary exploring the multifaceted stories of refugee communities who have recently arrived in Cleveland. The film will feature four vignettes, in which a traditional meal with different refugee families serves as the backdrop for discussions centered around food, family, community, and experiences before and after resettlement. Breaking Bread will premier at the Crossing Over Symposium, Oct 4 - Oct 5, 2019, at Cleveland State University.

Akron’s Homeless Children, by Kevin Naughton, is a documentary that explores why roughly 1,800 of the 23,000 students in Akron’s public school system experience homelessness every year—a rate that far exceeds the national average. The film is currently in production and is scheduled to debut in September 2019.

Rickey Lewis’ I care about my life & I care about your life is an interactive project designed to help heal relations between polarized groups in East Cleveland, including teens, police officers, and patients from the Rosary Hall Treatment Center. Join him at SPACES on June 15, from 3 - 6 PM, during a celebration of the collaborative artwork.

Black Buckeyes: Tale of Two Cities, by Leah Lewis & Rian Brown Orso, examines the long, storied, and conflictual histories that African Americans have with Cleveland and Cincinnati. The film is currently in production and so far includes interviews with with poet Ali McClain-Black; activist Yvonka Hall; social entrepreneurs Evelyn Burnett and Mordecai Cargill; artists Donald Black, Gwen Garth, and Vince Robinson; and STEM Educator Sonya Pryor-Jones.

The Urgent Art Fund is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a Support for Artists grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

Image: Cigdem Slankard, Breaking Bread (2019)

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