After receiving nearly 4,000 applications, 35 projects have been selected as the 2021 winners of the Creative Capital Awards. The awards highlight and support the work of “risk-taking, adventurous artmaking” through a long-term partnership with Creative Capital offering career development and monetary awards totalling $1.75 million (£1.3 million).
In all, 42 individual artists make up the 35 projects spanning mediums and genres and the artists are as diverse as their projects. Hailing from 12 different US states and territories, 96 percent of the 2021 recipients identify as people of colour, 55 percent as female, 10 percent as having a disability, and the artists range in age from their 20s to their 70s.
Selecting the 2021 recipients was a panel of eight including: Naomi Beckwith, Manilow Senior Curator for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; writer Ken Chen; Ryan Dennis, Chief Curator and Artistic Director for the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Center for Art and Public Exchange; Karen Farber, Vice President for External Affairs, Buffalo Bayou Partnership; Curator of the Wexner Center for the Arts Film/Video Studio Program Jennifer Lange; George Lugg, CalArts Center for New Performance Consulting producer; Ali Momeni, 2013 Creative Capital Awardee and Senior Principal Scientist, AI and Robotics, Shield AI; and Lucy Mukerjee, Tribeca Film Festival Senior Programmer and Co-Founder of the Programmers of Colour Collective.
“We are thrilled to honor these brilliant artists and the powerful, boundary-pushing work that they are creating,” Creative Capital’s Interim Executive Director Leslie Singer said in a press release. ”We look forward to seeing these projects grow to make their mark on the world, in spite of the tremendous challenges this year has posed for so many artists.”
Since its founding in 1999, more than 780 artists have been supported through Creative Capital, which has invested much time and over $50 million (£37.4 million) in innovative artists working on groundbreaking projects. “The goal,” states the organization, “is not just the successful development of the project, but more stable and sustainable practices, on which artists can build.”
The following are the 2021 Creative Capital Awardees:
- Suha Araj
Brooklyn, NY
Pickled (Khsara)
Comedy, Narrative Film - People’s Kitchen Collective
(Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, Jocelyn Jackson, Saqib Keval)
Oakland, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Mexico City, Mexico
Earthseed
Artistic Activism, Social Practice - Wafaa Bilal
New York, NY
In a Grain of Wheat: Cultivating Hybrid Futures in Ancient Seed DNA
Bio Art, Sculpture - Shirley Bruno
Brooklyn, NY
Just Come/Been To
Experimental Film, Narrative Film - William D. Caballero
Los Angeles, CA
TheyDream
Animation, Documentary Film - The Black School (Joseph Cuillier III, Shani Peters)
New York, NY
The Black Schoolhouse
Social Practice, Cultural Organizing - Reid Davenport
Oakland, CA
I Didn’t See You There
Documentary Film - Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Terence Nance
Brooklyn, NY; Los Angeles, CA
Kiara Daja Diamond and the 777 Satisfactions
Graphic Novel, Animation - Anne Finger
Oakland, CA
Wheeling in Berlin
Literary Nonfiction - Shana M. Griffin
New Orleans, LA
DISPLACED
Social Practice, Multimedia - Mitchell S. Jackson
Chicago, IL
John of Watts
Literary Fiction - Lars Jan
Los Angeles, CA
ROAM
Multimedia Performance, Augmented Reality - Meng Jin
San Francisco, CA
Mothers and Girls: A Fake Memoir
Literary Fiction - Crystal Kayiza
Brooklyn, NY
The Gardeners
Documentary Film, Experimental Film - Adam Khalil, Bayley Sweitzer
Brooklyn, NY
Nosferasta
Video Art, Narrative Film - Jenny Lion
Minneapolis, MN
untitled (Nevada, Utah)
Documentary Film, Video Art - Marie Lorenz, Kurt Rohde, Dana Spiotta
New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Syracuse, NY
Newtown Odyssey
Opera, Sculpture - Sabrina Orah Mark
Athens, GA
Happily: Essays on Motherhood and Fairytales
Literary Nonfiction, Digital Media - Derek McPhatter
Chicago, IL
NightQueen Performance Suite
Theater, Musical Theater - Julian Terrell Otis
Chicago, IL
Resolved: Critiquing Contemporary Music Through Improvised Performance
Music Performance, Artistic Activism - Will Rawls
Brooklyn, NY
[siccer]
Dance, Animation - Tomeka Reid
Brooklyn, NY
Women of the AACM
Artistic Activism, Music Performance - Marc Anthony Richardson
Philadelphia, PA
The Serpent Will Eat Whatever is in the Belly of the Beast
Literary Fiction, Poetry - Sandy Rodriguez
Los Angeles, CA
Book 13: After the Conquest – Codex Rodriguez Mondragon
Painting, Installation - Sherrill Roland
Durham, NC
The Jumpsuit Portal
Social Practice, Multimedia - Bayeté Ross Smith
New York, NY
Art of Justice
Artistic Activism, Installation - Jules Rosskam
Philadelphia, PA
Desire Lines
Documentary Film - Legacy Russell
New York, NY
BLACK MEME
Literary Nonfiction, Digital Media - Elaine McMillion Sheldon
Knoxville, TN
King Coal
Documentary Film, Experimental Film - Débora Souza Silva
Oakland, CA
Black Mothers
Documentary Film, Artistic Activism - Martine Syms
Los Angeles, CA
Dumb World
Narrative Film, Video Art - Anna Tsouhlarakis
Boulder, CO
Indigenous Absurdities
Social Practice, Installation - Jessica Vaughn
Brooklyn, NY
Working Procedures
Sculpture, Installation - Jordan Weber
Des Moines, IA
4MX Greenhouse
Artistic Activism, Architecture and Design - Simone White
Brooklyn, NY
or, on being the other woman
Poetry, Multimedia Performance
