NEW YORK CITY: Twenty-five artists have been granted Art of Change Fellowships by the Ford Foundation, which supports works of art that address freedom, justice and inclusion, and democracy.
Among the 25—which span music, visual art, dance, and film—seven have worked in the theatre: playwright Luis Alfaro, dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, HowlRound director P. Carl, documentary theatremarker Ping Chong, playwright Dominique Morisseau, the performance duo Las Nietas de Nonó (made up of sisters Lydela and Michelle Nonó), and AlternateRoots executive director Carlton Turner.
“This fellowship recognizes an extraordinarily diverse group of brilliant artists and innovators whose works embody social justice, and enables them to come together and collaborate toward a more just and inclusive future,” said Elizabeth Alexander, the Ford Foundation’s director of Creativity and Free Expression.
Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $50,000 for individuals, and $75,000 for collaborative groups. Each fellow will have the opportunity to showcase their work towards the end of 2018. The other notable recipients this year is the Emmy-winning director Ava DuVernay, and musician Esperanza Spalding.
The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For 80 years, it has been dedicated to working with the social change movement worldwide to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and to advance human achievement.
