Boston Art Review and Praise Shadows Art Gallery are pleased to announce the 2024 Boston Art Writing Fellows, Helina Almonte, Dylan Bunyak, and Erwin Kamuene! These three fellows were selected from a competitive pool of 18- to 21-year-old applicants from across Greater Boston. Their fantastic qualifications led us to expand the program; for our 2024 session, the initiative will support three fellows rather than two.
During this paid five-month program, fellows will be guided through a curriculum designed to introduce them to different forms of art writing, hone their voices, and learn the inner workings of a contemporary art gallery. They will participate in hands-on workshops and field trips with writers, editors, curators, nonprofit leaders, and media professionals, including Dr. Jovonna Jones, Shaka Dendy, Nakia Hill, and Juliana Barton, as well as learn from editors at Book Art Review and Triple Canopy. The fellows will have opportunities to work at Praise Shadows Art Gallery and—by the end of the program—pitch a project that will be published on our platforms.
We are thrilled to welcome these fellows into our second cohort and can’t wait to see the work they will create together.
Praise Shadows has editioned a print by Oliver Jeffers the proceeds of which will benefit the Emerging Art Writing Fellowship Program. It is available for sale here.
About the Fellows
Helina Almonte (she/her) is a Dominican spoken word poet raised in Lynn, MA. She is currently a third-year student studying communication, art, and Latino studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. As a multidisciplinary artist, she is interested in performance, experimental video art, and photography. Her work explores topics of self-discovery, coming of age, personal archives, and identity. During spring of 2024, Almonte will serve as the youth arts education specialist at ACEDONE, an African community and economic development organization based in Boston. As a member of the Youth Adolescence Task Force in Lynn, she is a devoted advocate for creative youth development in her community.
Dylan Bunyak (she/her) is a Queer Disabled writer and art-lover from San Diego, California. As a first-year at Wellesley College, she is hoping to pursue a double major in philosophy and art history with a focus in education. She has published flash fiction and poetry in All Existing Magazine, Blunt Force Journal, and Flip Media and produced theater reviews for the Old Globe and the La Jolla Playhouse Teen Council. Since moving to Boston, Dylan has also worked with the Disability Justice Youth Center to facilitate a workshop on the school-to-prison pipeline. Dylan loves finding community in art spaces and is always up for a visit to a new play or exhibition!
Erwin Kamuene (he/him) is a South African-born and Massachusetts-raised writer studying English at Emmanuel College. Though his major is focused on editing and publishing, Kamuene is first and foremost an admirer of art, literature, and film. In his writing—which has been published in the Boston Hassle film section and Decadent Cosmos literary zine—Kamuene is interested in uplifting the work of overshadowed creators, paying particular attention to how personal or regional histories influence their practices. Kamuene is currently doing archival work for his college’s sociology department and is looking forward to tackling reviews of contemporary visual art exhibitions in the region.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to get involved with or support our writing fellows, please contact us.
Donate to Support Emerging Writers
Boston Art Review is supported through the BAR Giving Circle along with art_works, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston Cultural Council, Mass Cultural Council, and the Wagner Foundation.
If you’re interested in helping us sustain this program, please consider making a tax-deductible gift to support the future of arts discourse in Boston and beyond.
