United States Artists 2023 Theater & Performance Fellows: Sharon Bridgforth, Eisa Davis, Leslie Ishii, Cristal Chanelle Truscott, and Kattorris Bang! (Nathalie Nia Faulk and indee mitchell).
CHICAGO: United States Artists has introduced the recipients of the 2023 USA Fellowships. This 12 months’s Theatre & Performance Fellows are author and performing artist Sharon Bridgforth of Inglewood, Calif.; author, composer, and performer Eisa Davis of Brooklyn, N.Y.; theatremaker and social justice activist Leslie Ishii of Juneau, Alaska; ensemble theatre artist and tradition employee Cristal Chanelle Truscott of Chicago, Ill.; and cultural organizers and performers Kattorris Bang! (Nathalie Nia Faulk and indee mitchell) of New Orleans, La. The fellowships are formally awarded in 10 discrete disciplines: Architecture & Design, Craft, Dance, Film, Media, Music, Theatre & Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Art, and Writing, although most of the fellows are multidisciplinary artists and energetic in community-based, socially engaged practices in fields past the humanities. Hailing from 19 states in addition to Guam and Puerto Rico, this 12 months’s 45 USA Fellows span many geographies and profession levels, with recipients starting from ages 25 to 96.
The fellowship goals to offer unconditional assist and higher company to particular person artists. Each honoree will obtain an unrestricted $50,000 money award, accompanied by a 12 months of economic planning and extra artist providers. Funds could also be used at every particular person artist’s discretion for such bills as creating new work, paying lease, lowering debt, acquiring healthcare, or supporting their households.
“We are thrilled to celebrate this remarkable class of artists who reach across disciplines to imagine new forms of artmaking reflecting commitments to care, and kinship,” stated Judilee Reed, president and CEO of United States Artists, in a press release. “As we enter this new chapter of United States Artists, we will continue to expand upon our historic commitment to elevating artists and their essential work, modeling new paradigms of support that can allow artists to truly thrive.”
United States Artists is a nationwide arts funding group based mostly in Chicago that raises and redistributes cash within the type of unrestricted awards to artists and cultural practitioners. Since its founding in 2006, USA has awarded almost 800 people with over $38 million of direct assist by the USA Fellowship. Each 12 months since 2019, United States Artists has additionally offered the Berresford Prize, an unrestricted $50,000 award given to a cultural practitioner who has contributed considerably to the development, well-being, and care of artists in society. USA was one of many core organizers of Artist Relief, an emergency, coalition-led initiative that supported artists going through dire monetary circumstances attributable to COVID-19, and distributed greater than $23.4 million in emergency grants to 4,682 artists over 15 months.
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