Two recent announcements reflect a steadily growing landscape of support for artists in Boston.
Brother Thomas Fellowships
Congratulations to the ten artists named as 2015 Brother Thomas Fellows – a list that includes four past Mass Cultural Council awardees. The Brother Thomas Fellows receive unrestricted grants of $15,000 through a fund established at the Boston Foundation in 2007 to honor the legacy of Brother Thomas Bezanson, a Benedictine monk and world-renowned ceramic artist.
The 2015 Brother Thomas Fellows
- Nicole Aquillano, ceramics
- Halsey Burgund (featured on ArtSake), sound art
- Raúl Gonzalez III (Drawing & Printmaking Finalist ’12), visual art
- Napoleon Jones-Henderson, visual art
- Masako Kamiya (Painting Fellow ’06, ’10), painting
- Balla Kouyaté (Traditional Arts Fellow ’10), traditional balafon
- Danielle Legros Georges (Poetry Fellow ’14), poetry
- Sandrine Schaefer, performance art
- Michelle Seaton, literature
- Jae Williams, film
Boston AIR
Last week, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) announced that 11 artists (including four past Mass Cultural Council awardees) were selected for the City of Boston’s first artist-in-residence program, Boston AIR.
Funded in part by an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Boston AIR will allow the artists to “expand their own civic and social practice, alongside a group of liaisons from city agencies, including: Public Works, Property and Construction Management, Parks and Recreation, Veterans’ Services, Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Education, Policy, Neighborhood Development, Women’s Advancement, Elderly Commission, and the Boston Police Department.” The artists will work City liasons to co-design proposals to work with a city department.
The 2015 Boston Artists in Residence
- Peter DiMuro (MCC Choreography Fellow ’90), dance
- Rashin Fahandej, film
- Pat Falco (featured on ArtSake), visual art
- L’Merchie Frazier, textiles
- Georgie Friedman (Sculpture/Installation/New Genres Fellow ’13), video installation art
- Shaw Pong Liu, performance art
- Roberto Mighty, film
- Caleb Neelon (Sculpture/Installation/New Genres Fellow ’07), murals
- Melissa Nussbaum Freeman, photography
- Liz Nofziger (Sculpture/Installation/New Genres Fellow ’05), mixed media
- Juan Obando, time-based media
Image: Nicole Aquillano (2015 Brother Thomas Fellow), sushi set featuring Tobin Bridge.
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