Pivotal Fund launches 2021 Project Grants for Artists
2021 Project Grants for Artists
The Pivotal Fund is offering $5,000 grants to five artist-organized projects that serve artists and communities in nine North Carolina counties: Alamance, Chatham, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Orange, Randolph, and Wake.
These grants will support the creation of significant creative projects and prioritize fair pay for artists’ time and talent. The cohort of funded applicants will receive ongoing support from the Pivotal Fund team and panelists during and after the funded project, including resources for hosting a culminating exhibition or printed publication, the presentation of finished projects on the Pivotal Fund website, and inclusion in creative, networking, and professional development opportunities through Pivotal Fund partners.
The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM on October 25. Applicants should expect to be notified by the end of day on December 1.
The Pivotal Fund is a partnership between VAE Raleigh and Elsewhere Museum, with financial support provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts.
Questions? Email info@pivotalfund.org or call 336.907.3271 and ask for Matthew.
WHAT WE WANT TO FUND
The Pivotal Fund seeks to fund artist-organized projects of high artistic merit and community impact. Ideal candidates will use grant funds to further their artistic practice, create opportunities for other artists, engage the broader community, and contribute to racial, disability, and queer justice.
Examples of eligible projects:
exhibitions
workshops or public programs
the creation of care, activity, or supply packages to be disbursed within the community
platforms for artists and community members to share their stories, process the current moment, and generally be heard
performance work that is rooted in the visual arts
other activities that meet at the intersection of community and the visual arts
TOWN HALL
Join us on Zoom, October 6, 6-7 PM, for our virtual town hall and we’ll provide more insight into why we created this grant opportunity and what we are looking to fund. Our staff and a tax professional will also be answering all of your questions.
MEET THE GRANT PANELISTS
Daniel B. Coleman (he/they) is an artist-scholar-activist currently living in Greensboro, NC. Daniel has been living and moving between the U.S. South and the Mexican South for the last decade. Daniel is currently an Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As an artist-scholar, Daniel is currently writing a book and in ongoing performance inquiry about possibilities for re-imagining transgender embodiment for Afro-descendant, Native/Indigenous and mixed-descent peoples outside of colonial and white-supremacist exclusionary/inclusionary logics of personhood.
Megan Bostic is an artist and arts administrator in Durham, NC. Megan has worked in the worlds of visual arts, arts education, community outreach, nonprofits and their overlaps for the last decade. Her mixed-media fiber work focuses on the intersections of loss, grief and identity. Megan's work is driven by concept, material exploration and textile techniques. In her work, she strives to evoke empathy and a shared understanding of loss, putting her work into the community with the intention of increasing the conversation that surrounds grief. She currently serves as the Programs Manager at Arts Access, Inc, working to make the arts accessible to people with disabilities. She holds a Masters of Art + Design from North Carolina State University and Bachelor of Fine Arts in both Studio Art and Art Education from East Carolina University.
Rese Cooley is a disabled visual artist and native of Boston Massachusetts. Currently residing with his wife and two daughters in Greensboro N.C. He has been creating works of art since 1986. Rese enjoys working with various mediums such as acrylics, oils, pen, ink, graphite, and charcoals. His art is not confined to one specific genre. Although primarily self-taught, he has received training from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts programs. He is a current student of Anne Kiefaber based out of Greensboro. He credits organizations such as Arts Access and VAE for helping him to be able to continue creating his work and participating in other aspects of the arts.
Lana Garland is the festival director and curator of the Hayti Heritage Film Festival. She has worked also as a creative director, director, writer/producer, and educator in television and film in the U.S., Europe, and Africa. Lana has created content for HBO, BET, PBS, and ESPN in America, and TV2 in Denmark. As a filmmaker her creative practice centers on cultural memory restoration in the lives of African Americans. She has been commissioned to make films for multimedia live performances such as Blues Women, which presents the female progenitors of blues music. Lana is a Fulbright Specialist, having taught at Makerere University in Uganda. Currently, she is a producer on an award-winning documentary about the waning presence of Black funeral homes in America, The Passing On. She is a member of the North Carolina Governor’s Advisory Council on Film, Television, and Digital Streaming.
