2022
In an effort to support innovative artist projects throughout the St. Louis region, The Luminary selected nine applicants to receive grant funding in fourth round of our Futures Fund Grant Program. Supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation For the Arts, a total of $60,000 in grants will be awarded, with individual grants ranging between $2,500 and $8,000.
This year’s cycle of Futures Fund aims to uplift and support projects that embody the ethos of life-sustaining ideas that nourish the cultural ecologies of St. Louis. Futures Fund was founded in 2019 to provide essential support to projects that engage with the city’s past, present, and possible future. Additionally, the Fund was developed as an opportunity for artists with local ties to give life to the St. Louis art community. As the city evolves, the grant will help demonstrate that art within St. Louis can help address pressing issues of our time and be approachable to a broad audience of many publics.
Grant recipients were chosen by a panel of judges, including José Garza (Artist & Educator, Mildred Lane Kemper Museum), Jessica Baran (Independent Curator & Arts Writer), Cierra Rembert (Artist Initiatives Coordinator, SPACES, Cleveland, OH) for final selection.
Awarded finalists and their projects vary in styles and artistic approach and outcomes. The projects occupy locations throughout the St. Louis region including South St. Louis, East St. Louis, North St. Louis, and North St. Louis County, virtual spaces, and other areas.
GRANTEES
Beside Between Beyond | $5000
Sukanya Mani
In Beside Between Beyond, Sukanya Mani will bring awareness to the prevalence of domestic violence(DV), with a focus on immigrant and refugee communities by creating an art installation based on knowledge from data and interviews. Beside Between Beyond utilizes resources from the Futures Fund to support creation of an interactive site specific installation; an educational component through a series of panels and discussions that highlight specific challenges within these communities and illustrate culturally sensitive design solutions; a community project where she will invite victims of abuse, advocates and community members to contribute to a traveling mural that can be displayed at each of the locations; a video documentation that will record the entire process, some interviews, creation of the artwork and traveling exhibit.
Boost the Block | $6500
Destini Clark
Boost the Block is a creative network that highlights and celebrates the creativity of black businesswomen in St. Louis by designing specialized photoshoots for each subject. They focus on highlighting 5 women a year by creating unique visual storytelling to personally boost them, their brand, and income. Clark will use the funds to create an Expo for her project.
Divine Daughters of Dinkanesh (D3) | $8000
Tiara Burtin and Lilja Michaud
The First Generation of The Divine Daughters (or D3) of Dinkanesh is envisioned as a collective for women in St. Louis who are ready to journey into healing for the purpose of moving wounded feminine energy out of the collective body, through research, movement, and visual art.
Four Seasons Mural at 3408 South Compton Avenue | $8000
Edo Rosenblith
In the fall of 2021, the Cherokee Street Community Improvement District selected Rosenblith to create a large-scale mural at 3408 South Compton Ave that honors the diverse artist community that has and continues to enrich the social fabric of Cherokee Street. The area directly surrounding the mural site has played a significant role in the development of many artists of a variety of disciplines throughout the years. This one block was at one time home to many art spaces that housed zine libraries, published books, poetry series, film screenings, symposiums, fundraisers, drag shows, and print fairs. With so much history on this one block, Rosenblith wants to make a mural that honors the very artist and performers who played a part in this collective cultural history. Additional funding from the Futures Fund allows him to retrofit this mural for longevity, pay subjects of the work, and support resources for storage and materials.
Free Press Project | $5000
Brian Lathan
Free Press Project afford affords local artists access to printmaking and distribution of their work without the common barriers of cost, labor, and skill to do so. This year’s continuation has an emphasis on expanding the collective’s techniques and mediums, and to make the project even more accessible by serving the community in several new locations.
Her Eminent Reign (H.E.R) | $3500
Myrina Otey
H.E.R. is a multi-women led visual project series that highlights women of color whose accomplishments and achievements have been forgotten, yet paving the way for women and artists like us to succeed and create today. We curate teams of black women who are experts in their field to execute beautiful visual displays and re-enactments of these figtHERs to honor them. H.E.R. will use the Futures Fund to create a book of photographs that document the project and highlights its mission.
St. Louis Smolnet | $8000
Eden Attar
Attar will use the funds to create the Smolnet, a decentralized, artist-run internet in St. Louis. While the material on the internet is accessible globally, material on the smolnet will only be accessible in a 30-100 foot range. This initial installment of the smolnet will consist of five exhibitions across the city, hosting multimedia and digital artwork. They hope this project will invite people to participate in a non-commercial network and demonstrate the possibilities of alternative and artistic infrastructures.
“The Story of Greenwood Cemetery in St. Louis” | $8000
LaCreshia Griffin-Pope
Griffin-Pope’s feature film, The Story of Greenwood Cemetery in St. Louis, tells the story and significance of one of the oldest Black cemeteries in Saint Louis, the struggle to restore and maintain it, and the importance of preserving its history.
“The Tower” | $8000
Sydney Tischler and Tobi Owolabi
Tischler and Owolabi will use the funds to produce and screen "The Tower," a short film about car theft and community. "The Tower" is a screenplay set to be produced in July 2022 by a 15-person crew of emerging craftspeople from the Metro area. "The Tower" will premiere at the artists’ Friends Festival, a bimonthly opportunity for creatives in St. Louis to share and celebrate video art.