Futures Fund 2021 Awardees Announced

Futures Fund 2021 Awardees Announced

04.09.2021

The Luminary awards Futures Fund Grants to ten artist projects in the St. Louis region for the 2021 cycle.

In an effort to support innovative artist projects throughout the St. Louis region, The Luminary has announced the grant winners of the 2021 round of our Futures Fund Grant Program. Out of a number of rigorous and competitive submissions, 10 applicants were selected to receive grant funding. 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.

The panel of judges included Marina Peng (artist & co-founder of PSA STL, a past recipient of futures fund), Wassan Al-Khudhairi (chief curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis), and Roya Amirsoleymani (artistic director & curator of public engagement, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art) and The Luminary staff members for final selection. Winners were selected based on their project’s innovative perspective and distinctiveness.

Awarded finalists and their projects vary in styles and artistic approach and outcomes. The projects will 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.

Chine Collabs Collective (Brian Lathan & Amanda Attarian) introduces their Free Press Project which aims to collaborate with local artists to produce a series of print works as a way of creating revenue to support local organizations specializing in mutual and charitable aid.

WORK/PLAY will produce a two-color risograph zine specifically targeted for BIPOC that offers an array of suggestions to help an individual establish their own personal sanctuary of peace through imagery, meditative prompts, and wellness tips.

Simiya Sudduth proposed an ecological public art project that is at the intersection of visual art, design, landscape architecture and social practice.

Occupy Vacancy (André Fuqua & Brianna McIntyre) will use city owned vacant lots to install public art with the aim to acknowledge the collective loss of St. Louis’s disappearing neighborhoods while envisioning new futures for the Northside.

Tara Mahadevan will produce Search Party Magazine, a collaborative, artist-led print and digital publication that foregrounds the voices of Black and POC creatives through art and cultural curation.

Treasure Redmond and collaborator Dail Chambers will use the funds to support The Fannie Lou Hamer House, a socially just, urban oasis that provides retreat and short term creative stay space for single Black mothers.

Wyndi DeSouza is creating an interactive website where people in the St. Louis area can share their trauma and become a part of a virtual network called “the experience of living and the connection of experience”.

The Travel Agency (Rick Boling and collaborators) will use the funds to produce a virtual residency featuring livestream Twitch and YouTube programs including "Art Brunch" and “Two Black Artists in Conversation” featuring interviews with local and national artists and “Club Stars Align,” an astrology-themed, DJ-led dance party.

Preserve is an explorative agency that plays with sensory healing to create abstract and reflective experiences. With this fund, more time will be allotted to research, development and materials needed to complete another community focused experience.

Eugenia Alexander will use the funds in support of The Indigo Garden Project, an artist-run compound that focuses on creating a safe green space for the purpose of art education, food justice, and community involvement.

Please join us in congratulating these artists and their collaborators, and follow along with us throughout the year as we watch them develop their visions into reality. Artist projects will commence in April and conclude in January 2022. We will share more information on each project as it develops, and hope to see you at the various installations, virtual pop-ups, and more across the St. Louis region. For more information about Futures Fund, please visit theluminaryarts.com.