Mickalene Thomas received the Creative Capital Award in 2024. Mickalene Thomas was born and raised in New Jersey and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. One of the most influential artists in the world today, her innovative practice has yielded instantly recognizable and widely celebrated aesthetic languages within contemporary visual culture. She is known for her elaborate paintings composed of rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel. Not only do her masterful mixed-media paintings, photographs, films and installations command space, they occupy eloquently while dissecting the intersecting complexities of black and female identity within the Western canon. Outside of her core practice, Thomas is a Tony Award nominated co-producer, curator, educator and mentor to many emerging artists. Apart from her own monumental solo shows, she simultaneously curates exhibitions at galleries and museums and collaborates with corporations and luxury brands. Thomas is also the Co-Founder of SOULAS House, a cultural hub and retreat for Black women, the Co-Founder of Pratt>FORWARD and founder of Art>FORWARD Artist in the Market incubator for post-graduate students.

The Dream Machine Experience is a collective of multidisciplinary artists working at the intersection of art, technology, and music. With a series of projects incorporating Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality, they are working collectively to create accessible experiences that center BIPOC voices at the forefront of the developing creative technology fields.

Nona Hendryx received the Creative Capital Award in 2024. Nona Hendryx is an African American Multidisciplinary Artist, Hendryx is notably known for being one-third of the music trio Labelle. Hendryx is an Ambassador for Artistry in Music for Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory. Hendryx has curated and performed in a production of Refrigerated Dreams at Joe’s Pub, Theaster Gates’ 3 day Black Artists Retreat, mounting a celebration of the iconic singer and artist Grace Jones at the Park Avenue Armory and a mind expanding Afrofuturism theatrical performance for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nona Hendryx and Disciples of Sun Ra in the Temple of Dendur. Currently she is developing Dream Machine an Mixed Reality, Immersive experience which includes Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to premier in 2024. Hendryx is passionate about music, visual art, and technology, and continues to be a prolific artist.