Joel Wachs, President of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, explains that “The Warhol Foundation aims to support the full range of artistic activity in America—from exhibitions at major museums to neighborhood projects by artist collectives. Arts writers, through the range and specialization of their individual interests, touch upon all of this activity—illuminating and interrogating it and bringing it into conversation with the public. Support for artists is not complete without support for the circulation and serious consideration of their ideas. The Arts Writers Grant program keeps artists at the center of cultural dialogue and debate—in our opinion, right where they belong.”

“We are proud to partner with the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Arts Writers Grant Program to administer these grants, and excited to see what comes next from this accomplished group of writers,” said Suzy Delvalle, President & Executive Director of Creative Capital. “These writers exemplify the importance of thoughtful writing to the arts ecosystem.”

In its 2019 cycle, the Arts Writers Grant Program has awarded a total of $680,000 to 19 writers. Ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 in four categories—articles, blogs, books and short-form writing—these grants support projects addressing both general and specialized art audiences, from scholarly studies to critical reviews, and self-published blogs.

“The terrific range of project proposals we received this year speaks to the mobile and porous boundaries of contemporary art practice and the richly inventive ways in which writers are approaching art today,” says Program Director, Pradeep Dalal. “Concerns with gender and race remain urgent: Ari Heinrich will use interdisciplinary methods to look at how trans artists like Jes Fan use biochemical agents like melanin and estrogen as artistic mediums; Jillian Steinhauer will probe the many facets of late-life success and attention that older women artists like Lorraine O’Grady, Mary Beth Edelson, and Cecilia Vicuña are receiving; Patricia Failing will resurrect the seminal yet forgotten curatorial and activist practice of Henri Ghent, the founding director of The Brooklyn Museum’s Community Art Gallery; and Mimi Wong will focus on the imprecise ways artists of Asian descent are too often lumped together by proposing alternative interpretive frames that exist outside of Western formulations. This snapshot only partially represents this year’s remarkable pool of 19 new grantees. We are pleased to say that the program now has provided support to over 290 arts writers, with funds totaling $8.6 million.”

The 19 grantee projects are listed by category as follows:

Articles
Patricia Failing—”Remembering Henri Ghent (1926-2009)”
Nicole L Woods—”Acid Visions: Bob Thompson, Abstract Figurative Painting, and the American Neo-Avant-Garde”

Blogs
Paul Schmelzer and Nicole J. Caruth—The Ostracon: Dispatches from Beyond Contemporary Art’s Center

Books
Nora M. Alter—Harun Farocki: Forms of Intelligence
Leticia Alvarado—Cut/Hoard/Suture: Aesthetics in Relation
Jace Clayton—Behold the Monkey
Ari Larissa Heinrich—Decolonial Melanin: Jes Fan’s Contagious Xenophoria (A Glossary)
Robb Hernández—Alien Skins: Speculative Arts of the Americas
Jean Ma—At the Edges of Sleep
Prudence Peiffer—The Slip

Short-Form Writing
Hakim Bishara
Paul Michael Brown
Sean J. Patrick Carney
Aruna D’Souza
Tess Edmonson
Alan Gilbert
Jillian Steinhauer
Elvia Wilk
Mimi Wong

The Arts Writers Grant Program was founded in recognition of both the financially precarious situation of arts writers and their indispensable contribution to a vital artistic culture. It is funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and administered by Creative Capital. Read more about Arts Writers.