NEW YORK CITY: The Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have launched Disability Futures, a new fellowship which, 30 years after the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, will become the only national award for disabled arts practitioners. The fellowship will directly support the work of 20 disabled artists, actors, dancers, and more across the country, with each receiving a $50,000 grant administered by United States Artists. The goal of Disability Futures is to increase the visibility and elevate the voices of disabled creators and artists across disciplines and geography.
The inaugural Disability Futures fellows are:
Navild (niv) Acosta (he, him, his)
Multimedia – dance, music & sound, visual art
Brooklyn
Patty Berne (she, her, hers, they, them, theirs)
Artistic director, filmmaker, and writer
Berkeley, Calif.
Eli Clare (he, him, his)
Poet and essayist
Burlington, Vt.
John Lee Clark (he, him, his)
Writer
Hopkins, Minn.
Sky Cubacub (they, them, theirs)
Garment maker
Chicago
Jen Deerinwater (Jen, Jen Deerinwater)
Journalist, non-fiction creative writer, memoirist, and photographer
Washington, D.C.
Rodney Evans (he, him, his)
Filmmaker
Brooklyn
Ryan J. Haddad (he, him, his)
Playwright and performer
New York City
Jerron Herman (he, him, his)
Dancer
New York City
Christine Sun Kim (she, her, hers)
Artist
Orange County, Calif.
Carolyn Lazard (they, them, theirs)
Interdisciplinary artist
Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
Jim LeBrecht (he, him, his)
Film director and producer
Berkeley, Calif.
Riva Lehrer (she, her, hers)
Painter and writer
Chicago
Tourmaline (she, her, hers, they, them, theirs)
Filmmaker
Brooklyn
Jeffrey Yasuo Mansfield (he, him, his)
Designer
Boston
Mia Mingus (she, her, hers)
Writer and journalist
Oakland, Calif.
Perel (they, them, theirs)
Performance artist, dancer, choreographer, and writer
New York City
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
(they, them, theirs, she, her, hers)
Writer and performance artist
Seattle
Alice Sheppard (she, her, hers)
Choreographer
Los Altos, Calif.
Alice Wong (she, her, hers)
Journalist
San Francisco
