Center for Cultural Innovation Grants Artistic Innovation Awards to Bay Area Performing and Media Artists San Francisco.
The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) today announced six new grantees of the Investing in Artists program. Awards of $8,000 each were granted for Artistic Innovation projects proposed by performing and media artists to create new work that pushes the envelope of their creative process. The program is made possible with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The Investing in Artists grants program is designed to support diverse working artists in the 11 counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Grant funds support awardees in pursuing new collaborations, creative growth, and artistic experimentation that extends the boundaries of their art-making.
2020 awardees include Leila Weefur (Media), Maddy Clifford (Dance), Marga Gomez (Music), Robert Moses (Theater), and Vanessa Sanchez (Dance). A group of panelists reflecting a diverse range of knowledge and perspectives assisted CCI in reviewing the Investing in Artists applications, including: Jenay “ShinobiJaxx” Anolin of Mix'd Ingrdnts Dance Company, Jennifer Crystal Chien of Re-Present Media, Thomas Robert Simpson of AfroSolo Arts Festival, and Wisa Uemura of San Jose Taiko.
Leila Weefur received funding to support their project “PLAY/PREY,” a four-channel video installation and publication series that explores the complexities of playful impulses, innocence, and the underlying violence implicated in harmless fun while analyzing the structures and rules imposed on Black frivolity and sexuality from childhood to adulthood.