The 2020 pandemic threw us all for a loop, to say the least. We chose to honor our initial project idea and use the funds we had raised up to the point of quarantine to award mini-grants to local artists to work on projects in their own neighborhoods, keeping folks as safe as possible at the time.
WALL\THERAPY is proud to announce the winners of our inaugural Summer Mini-grants! The recipients will be working on ten projects around the city between now and August 18th, and we’ll be sharing progress on all of these projects during the next month and a half.
Congratulations go to (in alphabetical order):
Athesia Benjamin @tisha.b.art – Rachel DeGuzman @artandjusticeroc – Rachel DeVona – Kat Donahue @kat.a.dog – Alexa Guzman @AirTheProject – Carla Halstead @littlewingarts – Jessica Lieberman @jess_liebray – Sophia McRae – Narionna Nunez @Kahzmirh – Delores Jackson Radney
We want to thank EVERYONE who applied, they showed the best of what Rochester can be, and we are stoked you all are a part of our community.
Project Descriptions
Athesia Benjamin is receiving a grant to support the realization of a mural. Inspired by the aesthetics of protest signs, and building on the momentum of the current Black Lives Matter protests, the design of Athesia’s wall will center on a handwritten rendering of the sentence “Black Lives built this country.”
Rachel DeGuzman received a grant to support “Black Lives Still Matter: An Outdoor Long Table Installation.” The 43rd event in a series of public conversation staged by the DeGuzman’s initiative 21st Century Arts: Activating the Intersection of Art and Justice, “Black Lives Still Matter” took place on July 4, in front of a Black Lives Matter mural painted by Nzinga Muhammad, Etana Browne, and Kaori-Mei Stephens for WALL\THERAPY in 2017.
Rachel DeVona will use her grant to populate Little Library’s around the city with books written by BIWOC authors. The books themselves will be embellished with author portraits, painted by Rachel on the cover. This summer project will inaugurate a larger endeavor during which Rachel aims to read, paint, and distribute one hundred books authored by Black/Indigenous/Women of Color.
Kat Donahue will be using her grant toward continuing an ongoing project. While living in the 19th Ward, Kat began making small oil lamps to distribute to her neighbors and area families who were grieving the loss of a loved one. In this current moment, with so many people experiencing loss, Kat is expanding this project to a larger scale. The first part of the project will be creating 100’s of little jar lamps. Once completed, as she describes, “the longer portion of the project would actually be spreading them throughout the city in a meaningful way and I’d like them to spread like COVID-19, from person to person.” Kat will of course be maintaining safe social distancing protocols for the entirety of the project!
Alexa Guzman’s grant will go toward creating a mural that she will invite the community to contribute to, while adhering to safe social distancing practices. This mural will build upon the recent work Alexa has done with her “Project A.I.R.” initiative, and will add to the community conversations around racial justice and policing.
Carla Halstead’s grant will support her #RochesterPeaceCrane project, a participatory effort to create and distribute 1000 cranes in the city of Rochester. Different iterations of the peace cranes (traditional folded origami, wheat paste designs, stencils) will be given to volunteer community members throughout the summer and collectively displayed in a city-wide installation on August 15th.
Jessica Lieberman will be receiving a grant to support her creation of a mural downtown. in honor of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, Jessica will work with youth muralists in painting a sepia toned photographic style image of an 1890’s woman cyclist.
Sophia McRae is receiving a grant to support the commissioning of a garden shed mural for an urban garden in the Beechwood neighborhood: the Denver Street Training Garden, part of St. Mark’s and St. John’s EDEN Gardens. The mural will be painted by Rochester artist, urban farmer, and Beechwood resident Chloe Smith.
Narionna Nuñez is receiving a grant to support her transformation of a BLM photo project into a mural. Narionna will be using photos she has taken of her peers, combined with her own prose, to paint a mural that represents her community and friends, and promotes a more nuanced contemplation of black excellence.
Delores Jackson Radney is receiving a grant to support her live performances of a 1st person narrative of the life of freedom fighter Anna Murray Douglass. In preparation for the centennial of the 19th Amendment, Delores has done a year of extensive research on AMD and written a 20 minute monologue depicting her life, which she plans to memorize. She will also be creating a costume for her performances, which will take place at various locations in Rochester throughout 2020.
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These mini-grants are made possibe thanks to The Avangrid Foundation $5000 grant to support WALL\THERAPY (a Synthesis Collaborative Project), in partnership with RG&E.
Overview of #AVANGIVES
AVANGIVES is the Foundation’s flagship open call for employee-nominated grants, and one of its most uniformly engaging community initiatives. Launched in 2019, the program sought to recognize outstanding organizations our employees dedicate their time and talent to, or are personally touched by, that are making a real difference in our communities. The focus in its inaugural year was on youth, with 10 organizations chosen for $5,000 grants. You can view their stories – and those of the 2019 nominees – here: https://www.avanewsblog.com/avangives.
This year in 2020-2021 series called for nominations of qualified nonprofits working for women, diversity and inclusion – and received response from employees at all levels of the company and across all geographies. In March, the Foundation announced expansion to include 12 nonprofits. Each will each receive a $5,000 gift to further their work to advance equality and serve women, girls, and diverse groups in our communities – spanning from Portland, ME to Portland, OR.
Their stories, which will be told throughout the year, will speak to female leadership, advocacy for women’s rights, health & safety, empowerment – and so much more.
You can find a list of all the AVANGives 2020 grantees (including WALL\THERAPY!) here: https://www.avanewsblog.com/agrfoundation/womens-history-voting-anniversary