The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Announces Spring 2022 Grantees
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has announced the recipients of its Spring 2022 grants. A total of $3.9 million will be awarded to 50 organizations from 18 states and the District of Columbia to support visual arts programs, exhibitions, and curatorial research projects that contribute to artistic flourishing around the country. As social, political, and economic uncertainties unleashed by the turbulent events of recent years continue unabated, institutions and organizations are finding innovative and resourceful ways to respond to the needs of artists and their communities.
The Spring 2022 grantees, including 19 first-time recipients, feature organizations notable for their creative and collaborative approach to working with artists. The Foundation will continue to acknowledge the financial challenges faced by arts institutions large and small by permitting up to 50% of each grant to be used for administrative expenses, a pandemic-era allowance that contributes to long-term recovery and stability in the field, which ultimately benefits artists.
“Artist-centered organizations are tasked with finding new, forward-thinking ways to present artists’ perspectives to regional, national and international audiences,” states Joel Wachs, President “The Foundation’s support for these organizations helps to open pathways for artists to make meaningful contributions to conversations about the pressing issues of our time.”
In the past few years, arts organizations of all sizes have been taking a critical look at the oppressive power dynamics that structure daily living and are fine-tuning their programs to better support artists engaging with questions of racial inequity, indigenous land rights, environmental sustainability, and accessibility. Many institutions have forged partnerships both inside and outside the art world to share resources, expand their communities and activate new publics for their work. New grantee Franconia Sculpture Park (Franconia, MN) for example, is organizing a multi-state biennial of newly commissioned land art projects representing the collective work of more than twenty-five different non-profit organizations, tribal groups, and government agencies while Public Art Saint Paul (Saint Paul, MN – also a new grantee) will present the Saint Paul-Minneapolis Triennial Art Festival, a multi-site exhibition supporting Minnesota-based artists through new commissions of both public and gallery-based artwork. Black Cube (Englewood, CO) is a nomadic visual arts organization that works directly with emerging and mid-career artists to facilitate ambitious new works in the public realm with upcoming projects and artist-led public programs in Mexico City, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Death Valley. In addition to its two residency programs situated in unique locations – Storm King Art Center and Governor’s Island – Shandaken Projects’ (New York, NY) public art initiative 14×48 presents artists with the opportunity to have their artwork featured on commercial billboards throughout New York City.
Several new grantees are caretakers of inspiring archives that influence their programing and highlight the contemporary relevance of past artistic voices. The programs of Alice Austen House (Staten Island, NY) engage directly with the legacy of Austen who was an early street photographer and an openly queer woman at the turn of the twentieth century; its commissions, research opportunities, publications, and exhibitions focus on contemporary artists whose work has been marginalized or overlooked. The Rosine Association—established in 1847 to help “females who have wandered from the path of virtue”— is the inspiration for Swarthmore College’s Rosine 2.0 that will activate the Association’s historical materials to set forth its mission to heal and empower women in the 21st century through collaboratively conceived and executed public artworks. Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center supports artists whose work builds on the progressive values Black Mountain College is known for through exhibitions that stage conversations between the work of legacy artists and contemporary practitioners as well as through programs such as the Active Archive Residency.
Other Spring 2022 grantees employ curatorial models that incorporate diverse perspectives such as Alabama Contemporary Art Center (Mobile, AL), Atlanta Contemporary (Atlanta GA), and Bidoun Projects (Brooklyn, NY). The importance of providing artists support to develop new work at all stages of their careers is recognized by grantees such as Charlotte St. Foundation (Kansas City, MO), Hallwalls (Buffalo, NY), Chicago Artists Coalition (Chicago, IL) and new grantee Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art (Buffalo, NY).
Film, media, and performative arts are supported in this grant round at Anthology Film Archives (New York, NY) which, in addition to restoring classic avant-garde films, will present a program that reflects the diversity of contemporary filmmaking culture, and new grantee Cucalorus Film Foundation (Wilmington, NC) which produces a variety of festivals, programs, and workshops that encourage experimentation within a context of community care. Another first-time recipient Indexical (Santa Cruz, CA) is dedicated to the intersection of experimental music and contemporary artistic practices with a focus on lesser-known and historic figures. Additionally, The Lab (San Francisco, CA) and Human Resources (Los Angeles, CA) continue to support artists who challenge traditions through experimental and performative work.
“The Spring 2022 grantees are notable for their resilience, ingenuity, and dedication to supporting artists at every stage of their careers,” says Rachel Bers, Program Director, “As the culture shifts, they work side by side with artists to find ways to critically and creatively engage the forces that shape our world...