Earlier this month, The CreateWell Fund, a Massachusetts based gift-making initiative announced the recipients of its 2019-21 award.
Established in 2016, the CreateWell Fund is the first advocacy and gift-making initiative working to support artists of color throughout the Greater Boston-area by supporting their authentic artmaking practices and care of their well-being. CWF has awarded 18 artists of color since its inception. This award season, six artists will receive between $12,000 and 16,000 in cash gifts to fund their artmaking and self-determined care or wellness practices.
The awardees of the 2019-21 cohort includes Ari Gray, Bithyah Israel, Deen Rawlins-Harris, Ellice Patterson, G Diaz y Rodriguez and JD Stokely. Semi-finalists include Iaritza Menjivar, Eddie Maisonet, Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah, Maria Servellon, Lala Shanks, Nwaobiala, and Nina Bhattacharya.
Funded projects are working across many artistic disciplines, including performance, dance, film, installation/visual art and theatre. “CreateWell Fund believes BIPoC and QTBIPoC artists/creatives are vital cultural partners, truthsayers, and conjurers,” says Bashezo, a 2016 awardee, and now a member of the CWF team. “We invite our awardees to deepen their well-being and creative practice in self-determined ways so they may receive the nourishment they need to grow and thrive.”
Living in a capital-driven society, we are immersed in social and cultural norms that place value on industriousness above our basic existence and wellness; systems enforce the validation and value of profitability over creative and artistic potential, authenticity, risk and diversity of expression. In 2019, the CreateWell Fund expanded its award cycle to span two years, a decision made to cultivate deeper engagement with awardees and to create more spaciousness for artists to engage in artistic and care practices sustainably.
To learn more about the artists and the projects that are supported by the CreateWell Fund, visit thecreatewell.org