Artistic Assistance 2022 Professional Development Grant Recipients

Images from the Spring 2022 Professional Development Grantees, L-R from top: Yvette Angelique Hyater-Adams, Monica Villavicencio, Jeff Mather, Sheila Gaskins, Carolina Quiroga, Sage Crump, Jayeesha Dutta, Dawn Dreyer, Daniel Arite, Rodrigo Dorfman, Ariel Baska.

 

Congratulations to these 12 Alternate ROOTS members who received Artistic Assistance: Professional Development Grants of up to $2,500 to build new skills, purchase equipment, work with mentors, and take their creative work to the next level:

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  • Daniel Arite will create a Professional Work Sample Video that represents his latest jazz compositions and arrangements (Nashville, TN)
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  • Ariel Baska will be training in captioning and audio-description to make their media artwork more inclusive (Centreville and Richmond, VA)
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  • Sage Crump will participate in the Coaching for Healing Justice and Liberation certification program housed within the Rockwood Institute (New Orleans, LA and virtual)
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  • Rodrigo Dorfman will purchase equipment, travel, and pay a stipend to a Latinx intern (Durham, NC)
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  • Dawn Dreyer will hire a story consultant for the animated documentary feature Bipolar Girl Rules the World (Durham, NC)
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  • Jayeesha Dutta will take embroidery classes at Tatreez and Tea and study with Wafa of the Museum of the Palestinian People (Port St. Lucie, FL)
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  • Sheila Gaskins will manifest workshops in puppetry, mask making, and crankie making in the DC/MD/VA area (Baltimore, Maryland)
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  • Yvette Angelique Hyater-Adams will upgrade the technology and equipment they use in their artistic practice (Jacksonville, FL)
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  • Jeff Mather will purchase a Lightform device that enables projection projects to be created for public spaces (Atlanta, Decatur, and Savannah, GA)
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  • Vicki Meek’s team will develop their interviewing skills for their Urban Historical Reclamation & Recognition Project (Dallas, TX and virtual)
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  • Carolina Quiroga will do dynamic and comprehensive redesign of an artistic website (Richmond Hill, GA)
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  • Monica Villavicencio will attend the weeklong video storytelling course through Western Kentucky University’s Mountain Workshops (Leitchfield, KY)
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ROOTS member Vicki Meek is engaged with the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, TX as their first Fellow. She will use Artistic Assistance: Professional Development funds to develop her team’s interview skills in order to deepen her work with the Urban Historical Reclamation & Recognition Project. Photo by Vicki Meek of the Tenth Street Historic District Freedman’s Town Historical Marker, Oak Cliffs, TX. 

About the Artistic Assistance Grants

Artistic Assistance is a partnership between Alternate ROOTS and individual artists/cultural workers in the US South. This grant program allows ROOTS to invest in our members’ creative and community-building work. We do that by providing money, publicity, connections, and other forms of support. Two Artistic Assistance funding cycles are offered each year: Project Development in the fall and Professional Development in the spring.

Alternate ROOTS supports the creation and presentation of original art that is rooted in communities of place, tradition or spirit. We are a group of artists and cultural organizers based in the South creating a better world together. As Alternate ROOTS, we call for social and economic justice and are working to dismantle all forms of oppression—everywhere.