[NewMusic] United States Artists Awards First Fellowships

[Polly Moller]

>From Philanthropy News Digest

United States Artists Awards First Fellowships

New York City-based United States Artists has announced its first
fellowships, with unrestricted grants of $50,000 awarded to support
the creative work of individual artists.

The fifty-four fellows, including four who belong to artists'
collaboratives, represent every career stage — emerging, mid-career,
and well-established — as well as a broad range of artistic practices.
A total of six fellowships were awarded in the category of crafts and
traditional arts, four in dance, nine in literature (fiction,
nonfiction, poetry), six in media (audio, film, radio, video), five in
music, seven in theater arts, twelve in the visual arts, and one in
architecture and design.

Performance pioneer Meredith Monk and guitarist Bill Frisell were
honored for a body of work that stretches over decades, while
puppeteer Basil Twist, assemblage artist Anna Sew Hoy, and cartoonist
Chris Ware were recognized as important new talents with great
promise. The youngest fellow, Sterlin Harjo, is a 26-year-old Seminole
and Creek filmmaker from Norman, Oklahoma, while the oldest is
83-year-old Ali Akbar Khan, an internationally known classical Indian
musician from San Anselmo, California.

United States Artists, which provides direct support to living
artists, was established last year by the Ford, Rockefeller,
Prudential, and Rasmuson foundations. Seed funding from the founders
will enable 100 percent of future donations to the organization to
support artists over the next five years.

"USA's goal is to fuel innovation in our culture by investing in
creativity at its source — our nation's finest artists," said Susan V.
Berresford, USA board chair and president of the Ford Foundation. "Our
2006 USA fellows represent the full spectrum of artistic excellence
and the broad array of talent that abounds in all U.S. communities.
This is...what USA, with its multidisciplinary scope and national
reach, is designed to recognize."

To learn more about this year's fellows, visit USA's Web site:
http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/Public/USAFellows/index.cfm




-- 
-------------------------------------
http://www.pollymoller.com
-------------------------------------