The Alliance of Artists Communities is the service organization for the field of artists’ communities and residencies – places that provide artists of any discpline with dedicated time and space for the creation of new work.
The Alliance is a collective voice on behalf of artists’ residency programs, leveraging support for the field as a whole, promoting successful practices in the field, and advocating for creative environments that support the work of today’s artists.
Believing that the cultivation of new art and ideas is essential to human progress, the Alliance’s mission is to advocate for and support artists’ communities, in order to advance the endeavors of artists.
The Alliance includes more than 250 members from across the U.S. and in more than a dozen countries worldwide.
For more information, visit:
www.artistcommunities.org
The Joyce Foundation supports efforts to protect the natural environment of the Great Lakes, to reduce poverty and violence in the region, and to ensure that its people have access to good schools, decent jobs, and a diverse and thriving culture. The Foundation is especially interested in improving public policies, because public systems such as education and welfare directly affect the lives of so many people, and because public policies help shape private sector decisions about jobs, the environment, and the health of our communities. To ensure that public policies truly reflect public rather than private interests, the Foundation support efforts to reform the system of financing election campaigns.
Since its founding in 1948, the Foundation has made grants of more than $600 million to groups working to improve the quality of life in the Great Lakes region.
For more information, visit:
www.joycefdn.org
The Project
Seven artist residency programs, led by the Alliance of Artists Communities and The Joyce Foundation, set out to identify strong voices that represent today’s most promising and provocative talent and that reflect the rich diversity of the Midwest – artists whose work may as yet be unfamiliar but whose compelling visions help define the region and the country.
Midwestern Voices and Visions celebrates, supports, and promotes the work of highly talented, yet under-recognized artists of color and broadens awareness of and support for the opportunities available at Midwestern residency programs for artists of diverse backgrounds.
“Communities like these are an extremely valuable resource for working artists, giving them time, space, and support to pursue their art. Too often in the past artists of color have not known about or been able to take advantage of such opportunities; we’re delighted to help make the connection,” says Michelle T. Boone, Program Officer for The Joyce Foundation.
This project was modeled after Visions from the New California, a partnership between the Alliance of Artists Communities and The James Irvine Foundation, and reflects The Joyce Foundation’s commitment to encouraging a diverse and thriving culture in the
The Process
The selection of the seven 2007-2008 resident artists was the culmination of an intensive, deliberative, and carefully constructed process. In an effort to identify a broad range of under-recognized artists of color doing outstanding work in the
A selection panel identified 17 semi-finalists who exhibited the highest quality of work and represented a diversity of backgrounds and art-making approaches. From this short list, seven artists were selected by the participating residency programs to be awarded The Joyce Foundation Midwestern Voices and Visions award and fellowship: a one-month residency at one of the participating programs and a $4,000 stipend to be used at the artist’s discretion.
Through the initiative of the
in December 2008, the Alliance of Artists Communities published a book featuring the artists, sites, and stories of Midwestern Voices and Visions. [download the publication]
The Joyce Foundation renewed its funding commitment in April 2009, to support another class of artists for the 2010-2011 Midwestern Voices and Visions. Seven artists were selected in the fall of 2009 to complete residencies in 2010 and participate in an exhibition in Chicago in 2011.
The Team
The following individuals and organizations are integral to the success of Midwestern Voices and Visions:
- The Joyce Foundation, for the partnership and full support of this project – in particular, Michelle Boone and Joyce Foundation President Ellen S. Alberding
- Our selection panelists – in 2006: Kimberly Cridler, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Gustavo Leone, Lia Rivamonte, and Therman Statom; and in 2009: Esther Grimm, Robert Farid Karimi, and Tom Schorgl.
- The directors and staff of the participating residency programs – Robert Hedin, Heather Johnson, Mark Masuoka, Michele and Joe Richey, Beth Lipman, Amy Horst, Jason Kalajainen, Sarah Workneh, Susan Page Tillett, Regin Igloria, and Ed Dadey – who have demonstrated equal parts selfless flexibility for collaborative work and unbending commitment to the greater goals of the project
- The Alliance of Artists Communities staff: Carla Wahnon, Director of Operations, who has served as liaison to the artists and residency directors and managed all the details of the project with incredible patience and grace; and Executive Director Caitlin Strokosch
- The
- and most of all, the artists – for whom this initiative exists: Francisco Aragon, Reginald Baylor, Willy Chyr, Theaster Gates, Ibrahima Kaba, Robert Farid Karimi, May Lee-Yang, Adolpho Martinez, Cecil McDonald, Tomiko Pilson, Linda Rodriguez, Artur Silva, Mitchell Squire, and Thu Tran.