The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Announces Fall 2021 Grantees and New Website
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has announced the recipients of its Fall 2021 grants. A total of $4.1 million will be awarded to 49 organizations to support the vital work of artists in communities around the country. Grant recipients will be profiled on the Foundation’s new website, which was developed by multidisciplinary design firm Wkshps to bring greater visibility to the Foundation’s philanthropic work and its stewardship of Warhol’s legacy.
The Fall 2021 list, which includes 20 first time grantees, features organizations notable for their innovative and enduring support for artists through exhibitions, residencies, commissions, publications, and a wide range of public programs that engage critically with artists’ ideas. Their flexibility, creativity and collaborative approach to working with artists help artistic practice to flourish during this protracted period of instability and uncertainty in the art world and in the world at large. Acknowledging the financial challenges faced by arts institutions large and small, the Foundation is continuing to permit up to 50% of each grant to be used for administrative expenses.
“The Fall 2021 grantees are adapting and inventing new ways to meet the needs of artists as they persevere in the face of obstacles that surface every day in these unpredictable times,” states Joel Wachs, President, “Artists are at the heart of the Foundation’s work, and it is more important than ever to shore up the organizations that sustain and empower them as they evolve their practices.”
Two groups in particular embody the Foundation’s commitment to the principle of freedom of artistic expression. First time grantee Artistic Freedom Initiative (Brooklyn, NY) protects and champions at-risk artists throughout the world by providing pro-bono immigration services, resettlement assistance, and presentation opportunities to artists who have been persecuted for their work, while the National Coalition Against Censorship (New York, NY) which has provided targeted assistance to artists and arts presenters facing censorship pressure for over 20 years, has developed a suite of advocacy and education programs to promote public access to artists’ work and support their ability to freely express views, no matter how controversial or unpopular.
Several first-time grantees will focus on providing artists the space, time, resources, and in some cases, peer and mentor support to nurture their creative practices through a variety of residency programs. Indigo Arts Alliance (Portland, ME) serves Black and Brown artists in New England by providing a supportive environment in which to make new work, receive critical feedback and build lasting relationships across generations; CALA Alliance (Phoenix, AZ) a multidisciplinary Latinx arts organization, hosts residents from Arizona, Mexico and Latin America and secures opportunities for them to exhibit work and connect with scholars, curators, and gallerists. Baxter Street at The Camera Club of New York (New York, NY), whose program was established over a century ago, offers residencies to early-career lens-based artists who benefit from professional development, mentorship, and a culminating exhibition; and Pike School of Art Mississippi (McComb, MS), invites artists for long term, flexible residencies to pursue projects that engage with local history as well as contemporary issues that affect its rural, southern community...