2021 Rubys Artist Grants Announcement
2021 Rubys Artist Grants Announcement
The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation is pleased to announce the 14 projects that were selected for 2021 Rubys Artist Grants. The artist-awardees represent a wide breadth of messages, materials and modalities that highlight the critical need to support our art- and culture-makers in both robust and challenging times. As the Baltimore region continues to respond to the global pandemic, the quality of the applications received demonstrates the impressive resilience of the local artist community; as artists develop new work and infuse the region with creativity and innovation.
Since its launch in 2013, the Rubys have become a highly valued opportunity for Baltimore area creatives and has supported 144 artists and their projects.
The 2021 Rubys Artist Grantees are:
Hannah Brancato and Sanahara Ama Chandra
Troy Burton
Dave Eassa
Tafisha Edwards
Chung-Wei Huang and Muyu Yuan Ruba
Jaimes Mayhew
Heather McDonald
Susan Muaddi Darraj
Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn
Tarik D. O'Meally
Bry Reed
Edgar Reyes
SHAN Wallace
Savannah Wood
Jane Brown, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation President shared the following statement, following the 2021 Announcement, "As our city continues to respond to the global pandemic, we have seen artists creating new work and using their mediums as a tool for healing, advocacy, and rebirth. We are pleased to support Baltimore’s diverse and distinctive visual, performing, literary and media artists during these challenging times.”
The 2021 Rubys jury panels were comprised of the following esteemed professionals:
Literary Arts
Celeste Doaks - 2017 Rubys Grantee (Literary Arts), poet, journalist, professor of creative writing (Baltimore)
Mina Seçkin - Journal editor & writer. (Debut novel, The Four Humors, is forthcoming from Catapult) (NYC).
Daphne Palasi Andreades - Teacher & writer. (Debut novel, Brown Girls, is forthcoming from Random House) (NYC).
Media Arts
Betty Yu - Socially engaged multimedia artist, photographer, filmmaker, educator, and activist. (NYC)
Lendl Tellington - 2017 Rubys Grantee (Media Arts), filmmaker, journalist, photographer, and Technical Director of the Blackstar Film Festival. (Baltimore)
Carla Brown - 2014 Rubys Grantee (Media Arts), documentary filmmaker, media artist, 2019 awardee from IFP/HBO True Stories Initiative. (Baltimore)
Performing Arts
Phill Branch - 2019 Rubys Grantee (Performing Arts), playwright, storyteller, and professor of Communication and Media Studies at Goucher College. (Baltimore)
Thang Dao - Choreographer, teacher, coach, and Director and Founder of the Thang Dao Dance Company. (LA)
Danielle Drakes - Theatre artist, director, professor of Theater at the Corcoran School of Art & Design at George Washington University. (Washington, DC)
Visual Arts
Jackie Milad - 2019 Rubys Grantee (Visual Arts), mixed-media visual artist, educator, and curator. (Baltimore)
Danni Shen - Curator and writer for Hyperallergic, Brooklyn Rail, and SCREEN, a bilingual journal on contemporary media art. (NYC)
Larry Ossei-Mensah - Curator, writer, founder of ARTNOIR (celebrates artistry and creativity by Black and Brown artists) and co-curator of the 7th Athens Biennale in 2021. (NYC)
The selected artist-grantees will spend the next twelve months developing their creative projects. Read the full 2021 press release here. More information about the Rubys Artist Grants in general may be found at: https://www.rwdfoundation.org/rubys.