2022 Recipients
NANCY DIAZ ALCALA
2022
Clay and Wildflowers
In this participatory experience, Nancy considers clay and the public as a medium for diffusing Southern California wildflowers into the local Orange County landscape for conservation and land stewardship efforts. The project will increase available flowers for pollinators, insects, and critter biodiversity; increase the availability to plant medicine; reduce erosion; and help revitalize local landscapes negatively affected by unforeseen natural causes and intentional and unintentional human impact.
ABENA ESSAH BEDIAKO
2022
Roundhouse Play
For this event, ‘Sankofa: Queer Pan-Africa,’ Abena will bring Black, Queer and Global Majority communities together to facilitate a safe space to learn, connect, question, and revive our heritage, rich queer history, and spirituality. The whole event will be a communion between collaborators and the audience. The elements such as the Q&A from the audience for the panelists, the call and response song and the open mic will be an opportunity to affirm that ‘Sankofa: Queer Pan-Africa’ is an exchange, a non-hierarchical space where everyone, every story, every person is as important, can share and build.
DEBORAH BOWER/ADAM PHILLIPS
2022
Triangle Kids
The Triangle Park is a modest piece of tarmac with one slide and a climbing frame, but for generations it has provided a place to socialize and come together as a community. Despite this, it was earmarked for demolition by the local council in 2021. The actions to save it came from the families and the children who use the park. Deborah and Adam will celebrate and build upon these successes through the project: Triangle Kids. Triangle Kids will be a series of weekly art workshops for children and their families taking place at the park. Through these workshops, they will create final art works in the format of posters; an accessible, cheap and democratic artform that children can take away and put up where they like – in their homes, schools, mosques, and give to friends.
JOY BRENNEMAN
2022
Blacksmith
Joy Brenneman (Joy Fire) is a blacksmith. Because of the hazards and danger of her work it is rarely demonstrated outside the smithy. This grant will enable Joy to purchase the tools and equipment that would enable her to easily and safely travel to parks, schools, fairs, and other events to demonstrate the art of forging. Second, she will purchase specific tools oriented toward small metal projects that would not necessitate the use of fire. For this second aspect of the project, she developed several variations of a simple curriculum adaptable for different settings where she would teach short classes and workshops where participants would make small metalwork.
WILLIAM CAMARGO
2022
Origins and Displacement
William Camargo addresses issues of gentrification, Chicanx/Latinx histories in a city, and the systemic erasure of Brown people using counter-narratives that amplify and extirpate hegemonic structures in local city narratives. Using photography, installation, public political performances, community archiving, he negotiates the legacies and disempowerment of Brown people in his hometown of Anaheim, California. The work will be collected and displayed in book form in public libraries in the Southern California region.
SAKINA IBRAHIM
2022
Afro-Mexican Dance
Through her ongoing ethnographic exploration in Africanist Aesthetics, Sakina found in traditional and indigenous dance practices, that there are elements that stem from African roots which have been adapted and/or transformed into Mexican art forms. Through Bailar Desde Corazon, Sakina will continue her work in research, service leadership, and performance in the Orange County community. The initiative will consist of additional fieldwork and interviews with scholars and artists in the field as it relates to Afro-Mexican art and dance. She will conduct interactive classes in dance, learning the history of Afro-Mexicans, and learning choreography for the performance. The concluding performance will be held at the Delhi Center located in Santa Ana.
SOL KJOK
2022
Mothership project
Sol is the “captain” of the Mothership Project, a combined live-work space and presentation arena for international artists across multiple disciplines in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, NYC. Aided by a rotating crew of fellow artists, the project serves as a landing platform for colleagues from elsewhere making the leap to NYC. Her aim is to support and promote peers at all career levels through residencies, public programming and collaborative opportunities; build lasting transnational artist networks; and help retain creative forces in New York City. In addition, her aim is to make contemporary art with a relevant message accessible to our local community: everyone is invited to her free, public events.
DIANNE NAVARRO
2022
DTSA Scavenger Hunt
Dianne will utilize the game format of a scavenger hunt to introduce visitors to the city. They will also be able to see how their city has invested to market businesses. Dianne will work with other creatives, either in culinary arts, fashion design, or visual arts to gather their input on how their business can be boosted. Participants will also be exposed to new foods, cultures, and experiences throughout their journey and in the end, will reap the rewards of their dedication.
KYONG BOON OH
2022
Sculpture Process Seminar
“Transcendent end is hidden in our own depths, waiting for the chance to occupy a conscious moment.” Kyong tries to discover the moment and reveal it through her art practice; to share the meditative quality of the practice of three-dimensional art mediums such as stone, clay and metal wire with the community. She provides an opportunity to meditate with the materials and with a notion that we can go further when we go slow in this rush age.