Announcing Our 2025 Futures Fund Grantees
Announcing Our 2025 Futures Fund Grantees
7.10.2025
“Revealing Revelations,” hand cut fiber by Grant Benoit, project collaborator on Ply.
The Luminary is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025/Cycle 7 Futures Fund Regranting Program, dedicated to supporting innovative artist projects throughout the St. Louis region. With generous support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts, a total of $60,000 has been awarded to nine exceptional projects, with individual grants ranging from $4,500 to $8,000.
This year’s Futures Fund cycle emphasizes life-sustaining ideas that nourish the cultural ecologies of St. Louis. Established in 2019, the Futures Fund aims to engage with the city’s past, present, and future, providing crucial support for projects that foster artistic expression and address pressing societal issues.
The nine selected projects span a diverse range of styles and approaches, reflecting the rich artistic landscape of St. Louis. The selection panel, including Dean Daderko (Chief Curator, Director of Programming, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis), Kimi Kitada (Gallery & Programs Manager, Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City, MO), and Glyneisha Johnson (Artist and Cycle 6 Futures Fund Recipient), selected the winners based on the projects' innovation and distinctiveness.
The 2025 Futures Fund Grantees are:
- PUNKS NOT DEAD! (but my uncle is) ($6,000): Brendan Logan transforms a vintage van into a mobile memorial exploring grief, legacy, and punk history through his uncle, D.H. Peligro—a St. Louis native and drummer for the Dead Kennedys.
- Mangrove ($8,000): Sebastián Llovera and Eva Agüero Benzecri’s project is a new art platform supporting immigrant and first-generation artists through exhibitions and public programs that explore themes of migration, identity, and belonging while fostering inclusive, dialogue-driven community experiences.
- Continuing the Chain of Love ($8,000): Jorden Latson and Camryn Daniels bring the Black community a fiber arts–based project rooted in intentional community building, offering accessible workshops that use creativity as a tool for liberation.
- Five Dolla Cam Public Programming ($4,500): Malik Fabian-Mahmud and Ryan Gipson II’s community arts initiative offers free, inclusive programs like chess club, figure drawing, and zine-making workshops that engage marginalized communities.
- Forging Black Joy ($8,000): Amina Taylor and Naysa Adams’ project is a festival and arts exhibition in North County St. Louis that uplifts local Black artists and affirms the area as a vital space for artistic growth.
- Riverlands video project ($8,000): Coco Liao, Moira Smith, Vincent Stemmler, and Elior Berkowitz are artists, activists, researchers, and storytellers documenting the Mississippi-Missouri confluence through interviews, video, and water sampling, culminating in an experimental film.
- Queer Fight Club ($5,000): Mad Green organizes an ongoing social practice that offers Queer people a joyful, communal space to share knowledge, release rage and grief, and build safety and solidarity through weekly self-defense classes.
- DEAR MAMA Curated Art Experience ($4,500): Niger Dermonee Moore’s project is an annual art gallery that honors mothers and Womxn through art and community healing, with each year focusing on a different aspect of shared experience.
- Ply ($8,000): Artists Taylor Yocom, Erin Luna, and Grant Benoit will create an artist book highlighting and archiving work by St. Louis-based fiber artists.
The selected projects will be realized between June 2025 and May 2026, with various installations and events planned throughout the region. For more information about the Futures Fund and updates on the grantees' progress, please follow @theluminaryarts on Instagram and visit theluminaryarts.com/programs/futures-fund.
Join us in celebrating these visionary artists as they bring their projects to life, enriching the cultural fabric of St. Louis and addressing critical contemporary issues through art.