2020 Rubys Artist Grants Announcement

The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation is thrilled to announce the 15 projects that were selected for 2020 Rubys Artist Grants. The artist-grantees represent a wide breadth of materials, messages, and modalities that underscore the critical need to support our art- and culture-makers in both robust as well as dire times. The 2020 Rubys grant cycle had a delayed launch this year, as the Foundation paused to evaluate the program, now in its seventh year, to ensure that it could adequately meet artists’ needs in this moment. The 2020 grant cycle launched with several key updates, including raising the request amount to $15,000, expanding the budget to allow for personal overhead, and making the public component optional.

The 2020 Rubys cohort represents over $175,000 dollars of support. Since its launch in 2013, the Rubys have been established as an important and respected opportunity for artists in the Baltimore region that has, to date, granted over one million dollars to support 122 projects featuring 128 artists. 

The 2020 Rubys Artist Grantees are:

Kibibi Ajanku, Tina Canady, Angela N. Carroll, Marc Cary, Suzanne Coley, Joshua Clark Davis, Jalen Eutsey, Whitney Frazier in collaboration with Kirby Griffin, Trae Harris, Tahir Hemphill, Ebony Jackson, Sara Lautman, Jonna McKone, Amy Reid, and Somayeh Shams

"The arts help people cope in dark times, and in this period of crisis and isolation, the role of the arts has become more important than ever. We are pleased to be able to  provide support to Baltimore’s diverse and distinctive visual, performing, literary and media artists during these challenging times.  Our city benefits when arts and culture, and those who make it, are able to thrive," says Robert W. Deutsch Foundation president Jane Brown.

The 2020 Rubys jury panels were comprised of the following esteemed professionals:

Literary Arts: Elizabeth Evitts Dickenson – writer, journalist, Rubys alum (Baltimore), Jared Jackson – coordinator of literary programs at PEN America (NYC), Chet’la Sebree – poet, director of the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts at Bucknell University (PA)

Media Arts: Ina Archer – filmmaker, multimedia artist, media conservation and digitization specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NYC/DC), Kelly Gallagher – filmmaker, animator, assistant professor of film at Syracuse University (NY), Nehad Khader – filmmaker, curator, program director at BlackStar Film Festival (Philadelphia)

Performing Arts: Tavia LaFollette – interdisciplinary theatre artist, professor at Towson University, Rubys alum (Baltimore), R. Eric Thomas – author, playwright, senior staff writer at Elle.com (Baltimore), Raphael Xavier – dancer, choreographer, professor at Princeton University (Philadelphia)

Visual Arts: Janice Bond – interdisciplinary artist, curator, deputy director at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (TX), Phaan Howng – interdisciplinary artist, Rubys alum (Baltimore), Ernel Martinez – community artist, muralist, founding member of Amber Art and Design (Philadelphia)

 The selected artist-grantees will spend the next twelve months developing their creative projects. Read the full 2020 press release here. More information about the Rubys Artist Grants in general may be found at: https://www.rwdfoundation.org/rubys