Mass Cultural Council is honored to announce the 2020 Artist Fellowship awards in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Painting. The awards include 18 fellowships of $15,000, and 16 finalist awards of $1,500. See a list of this year's fellows and finalists, to date. The awards are anonymously judged, based solely on the artistic quality and creative ability of the … [Read more...]
Shilpi Suneja: Writing a Silent History
Shilpi Suneja's (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow '18) novel-in-progress A House of Caravans remembers a history that's often been silent. The story is inspired by Suneja's grandfather's experience during The Partition of India in 1947, when the British Indian Empire was divided into India and Pakistan. Suneja says the disruption it caused still shapes the sociocultural … [Read more...]
Alexis Ivy: What Counts
Alexis Ivy (Poetry Fellow '18) can't get away from poetry. It informs her work in social justice, working with homeless populations. Even when she writes in different literary forms, the focus and specificity of poetry carries over. In this audio clip, Ivy reads her poem Taking the Homeless Census. She also discusses the poem's origin as well as the way creativity, social … [Read more...]
COVID-19 Arts News Round-Up Mar 30
We'll continue to do periodic round-ups of news of interest to artists, related to the COVID-19 crisis. The image posted above is Watermelon by Zach Horn (Drawing & Printmaking Finalist '20). It struck the ArtSake staff as particularly appealing right now with its suggestions of summery socializing, picnic cuisine, and an all-around warmth and vibrancy (even in graphite, … [Read more...]
Anna VQ Ross: Poetry in an Apprehensive Climate
Anna VQ Ross (Poetry Fellow '18) writes poems that confront our current climate of apprehension and disconnection in an effort "to pierce it and understand it." In this audio clip, Ross reads her poem Almost a Mothering. She also discusses the poem's origin as well as the questions that drive her work. (Though Mass Cultural Council interviewed her long before the COVID-19 … [Read more...]