Jul 9, 2020 | Fellowships and Artist Residencies, Press
I am ecstatic to be awarded SPACES’ Urgent Art Fund. With the support I will present GROUNDED: an ambient, experimental film series and audio-visual installation based on meditation.
We are grieving on a global level. The purpose is to help find peace in the present moment and offer kindness and healing through difficult times. Modulated nature footage will show the powerful effects of nature’s everyday occurrences. While other meditations focus on relaxation, this series cycles through emotions sonically. It is a journey that pierces the audience’s attention throughout the process, creating an engaging experience that will remain with the viewer for a long time.
The series will be accompanied by a soundtrack composed specifically for this project. The music will feature vocal harmonies, field recordings of nature sounds, theremin, singing bowls, bells, and synths sprinkled throughout. Some songs are lyricless, ambient, and the visuals will be abstract – others pieces feature natural sounds and have breathing exercises intertwined. Mindfulness segments hope to depict short attention spans and share methods that can retrain focus.
Music is a community building art form. Recent BBC article, “The world’s most accessible stress reliever,” touts the positive, healing effects of music and how singing is meditative and mood boosting. The video will feature a continual stream of songs, providing a sonic narrative to accompany the visual segments.
There will be a free virtual viewing of the film. Guests who register will receive a download of one of the songs featured in the film. An audio release will be produced. Details will be shared later in the year as the project develops.
Congrats to the other awardees: Amanda D. King, Anna Tararova, and Mourning [A] BLKstar Collective! I have so much love and respect for your art and am looking forward to seeing what you create.
SPACES has one Urgent Art Fund grant left to award in 2020 and artists are encouraged to apply. Applications are judged by three external jurors based on feasibility, public accessibility to the project, artistic quality, and timeliness. Interested artists may contact the program coordinator, Cierra Rembert (cierra@spacescle.org) with questions about applications and requirements. The Urgent Art Fund is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a Support for Artists grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. (more).
In the theme of transparency and in hopes to help someone else with their proposal, I am sharing my application materials.
Thank you residents of Cuyahoga County and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture for your support. I am looking forward to giving back to you through my art.
Jul 9, 2020 | Fellowships and Artist Residencies, Press
Christa Ebert, Grounded, self portrait (2020)
July 8, 2020 CLEVELAND, OH – SPACES established The Urgent Art Fund in 2019, with funding from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture to support creation of artworks that are socially, politically, or culturally responsive. The Urgent Art Fund will support FIVE artist projects in 2020. Selected projects receive $5,000 each, plus additional resources including staff support, access to tools and studio space, and an annual SPACES membership.
We are pleased to announce the first four awardees of 2020: Anna Tararova, Mourning [A] BLKstar Collective, Christa Ebert, and Amanda D. King.
- Anna Tararova will publish five risograph and screen printed books by artists of color through her project, Empress Editions. Artists will be selected through a call for proposals and interested artists are encouraged to apply online (link below). The five selected artists each receive short-term access to studio space in Midtown Cleveland in addition to design and layout assistance, printing, and binding services. The artist books will be released online, at art book fairs, and during a public event at Outlandish Press. Apply to Empress Editions HERE
- Mourning [A] BLKstar Collective will present a series of online experiences filmed in culturally significant locations throughout Northeast Ohio. These Mourning [A] BLKstar Residencies, developed by James Longs, Theresa May, William Washington, LaToya Kent, Kyle Kidd, Dante Foley, Pete Saudek, and RA Washington, provide a gesture of fellowship and song while dealing with a global pandemic threatening the livelihood of hourly workers, teachers, artists and others. A premiere is expected online in September of 2020 via //BLK//BLUR, a POC founded and curated streaming platform.
- Self-trained musician and activist, Christa Ebert, performs as Uno Lady and composes songs with her voice, electronic effect pedals, and unconventional instruments. For her UAF project, Uno Lady will present Grounded, an ambient, experimental film series and meditation-based audio-visual installation as a means to find peace in the present moment. This work is in development and will be presented online, free of charge., later this year.
- My GOD is ANTIRACIST is a multi-layered, multimedia meditation on GOD as the embodiment of antiracism. Amanda D. King interweaves photography, text, video and installation with Black liberation theology, Black church aesthetics and recollections of Sunday service to invoke the viewer to perform antiracism as a spiritual practice. This work is in development for a public premier in the fall of 2020.
SPACES has one Urgent Art Fund grant left to award in 2020 and artists are encouraged to apply. Applications are judged by three external jurors based on feasibility, public accessibility to the project, artistic quality, and timeliness. Interested artists may contact the program coordinator, Cierra Rembert (cierra@spacescle.org) with questions about applications and requirements. The Urgent Art Fund is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a Support for Artists grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
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