2019 Rubys Grantees - Closing Thoughts

At the same time as the Foundation announced the 2020 Rubys cohort, our 2019 grantees came to the close of their official grant term. As can be imagined, the 2019 cohort’s grant term was anything but typical. Their 2019 Rubys-supported projects were drastically shifted, edited, or put on indefinite pause. How one operates as an art + culture maker and the process of creative work were questions in sharp focus for many. While the times are still radically changing, the 2019 cohort concluded their grant term with thoughtfulness and openness and, perhaps, an unexpected milestone. We are pleased to share their updates and links, and hope that you are inspired to follow along their continued journeys.

• Safiyeh Cheatum and Adetola Abdulkadir: The duo’s afrofuturistic podcast Obsidian celebrated its first birthday with four completed episodes, launch of a new collection, and nomination for Best Fiction Podcast award. Listen and learn more at: https://www.obsidianpodcast.com/

• Abdul Ali: Ali shifted his process to include a series of quarantine poems as well as had an article published in the Boston Globe. Learn more at: https://abdulali.net/

• Kevin Blackistone: Blackistone was able to complete the code and most of the physical VR elements for Extensions of the Self, however a public exhibit was limited to an invite-only demonstration at Gallery 4 in October. Learn more at: http://blackistone.com/installation.html

• Precious Blake: Blake’s visual journalism project, Celestial Beings, launched its website (or CB Archive) this summer featuring drawings, words, poems, performances, video, and audio clips of the five pilot narrators. In the future, the CB Archive will be brought into the physical realm with printed zine editions and more featured narrators. Learn more at:  https://www.celestialbeings.co/

• Phill Branch: Branch’s original project was a live theater performance, which morphed into a storytelling podcast. With 23 episodes available, Isolation Be Like uses humor and insight to make sense of 2020. Listen and learn more at: https://www.phillbranch.com/

• Caitlin Carbone and Josh Thomas: Carbone and Thomas hip hop adaptation of Julius Caesar is postponed until schools (where they tour the program) return to session. In the meantime, they finished writing the script and recording the songs, and assembled a team of artists for when the time is ready. Learn more at: https://www.foolsandmadmen.org

• Rachael Uwada Clifford: Clifford made headway on What The Year Will Swallow, a collection of short stories exploring coming-of-age, identity, and place. Learn more here: https://www.rachaeluwadaclifford.com/

• Shannon Leah Collis: Collis was able to complete her project, Strata, remotely with the help of collaborators in Alberta, Canada. The resulting work will be exhibited at the Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, PA in January 2021. Learn more: https://www.shannoncollis.ca/

• Chelsea Lemon Fetzer: Fetzer spent the grant term completing the manuscript for The Shape of a Boat, a novel that weaves parallel stories between Sophia, a biracial fifteen year old living in a small Minnesota town in 1990 and Samuel, a southern U.S. born enslaved man brought by his owner to the same landscape in the 1840s.  Learn more here: https://littlepatuxentreview.org/2020/08/04/welcome-to-our-new-editor/

• Anna Fitzgerald: In January, Fitzgerald performed her project When You Make A Broken Heart for four sold out audiences at the 2020 Crankie Fest at the Creative Alliance. Learn more at: https://www.instagram.com/life_of_objects/

• Helen Glazer: Project travel to Greenland to gather images and data for her sculpture project was put on hold until summer 2021. In the meantime, Glazer continues to research and make connections with art professionals and climate change scientists. Learn more: https://helenglazer.com/

• Jamar Jones: Jones’ finished the next phase of 1111, an experimental short film that employs elements of magical realism and Afrofuturism to explore near death experiences, precarious lives, mortality, and celestial bodies on earth and other planes. Learn more at: https://www.instagram.com/jamarjonesdp

• Travis Levasseur: An exhibition of Levasseur’s new media installation, Fine Company, was postponed to 2021. He is taking the extra time and space to strengthen the research, scripts, and sculptures of his project. Learn more: http://travislevasseur.com/pagecv

• Jackie Milad: It Means Desert, Desert, was Milad’s solo show of artwork created with Rubys grant support, held at the Julio Fine Arts Gallery at Loyola University Maryland in March. Learn more here: https://jackiemilad.com/section/490382-It-Means-Desert-Desert.html

• Michele Minnick: Minnick is in the research phase for House Calls, a performative response to the climate crisis. Learn more at: https://www.micheleminnick.com/

• Lisa Moren: The work in progress phase of Under the Bay was exhibited at the IMET Open House in May 2019 and a large-scale variation at Light City in November 2019. Moren is now working on an expansion of the project, to include a composer, editor, and more in depth programming and data research. Learn more at: https://www.lisamoren.com/shapeofwater

• Clarence Harlan Orsi: Despite not being able to conduct immersion journalism as planned, Orsi wrote deeper into a novel and published two nonfiction pieces in the Indiana Review and Catapult. 

• Candace Scarborough: While in-person progress and collaboration for her dance project velvet pony is on hold, Scarborough has focused on developing the music and animation portion of the work. Learn more at: https://www.instagram.com/candances/

• Jung Yun: Yun’s novel O Beautiful is in its final stages and will be published by St. Martin’s Press in November 2021. Learn more at: www.jungyun.co