(NEW YORK, NY – October 14) Today, the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced the Disability Futures Fellows, the recipients of an 18-month initiative administered by United States Artists that aims to increase the visibility of disabled creative practitioners across disciplines and geography and elevate their voices individually and collectively.

Through the fellowship, the foundations will support 20 disabled creative practitioners whose work advances the cultural landscape. Each fellowship includes a $50,000 grant to advance each artist’s practice, totaling $1 million for the cohort overall. This fellowship is the only national, multidisciplinary award for disabled artists and creative practitioners.

Disability Futures was born out of a year-long research study that interviewed dozens of disabled artists and creative practitioners across the country to inform how Ford, Mellon, and other philanthropies can better serve disabled artists and creatives. While a philanthropic investment, Disability Futures is intentionally designed by, for, and with disabled practitioners at many levels. Disabled practitioners prompted the initiative and fellows were nominated and selected by disabled practitioners.

Through the fellowship, Ford and Mellon hope to address field-wide problems in arts and culture, journalism, and documentary film—including, a dearth of disability visibility in the cultural sector, lack of professional development opportunities accessible to disabled practitioners, and the need for a national grant program that considers the unique financial challenges of disabled artists.

“It is a privilege to recognize this array of creative professionals and lift up their contributions to the arts, journalism, and documentary film,” said Margaret Morton, Director of Creativity and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation. “Artists and creatives provoke us with ideas, adorn us with beauty, and lead us to action. It is critical that we engage with disabled practitioners’ perspectives and elevate their narratives. We hope that this fellowship will prompt more attention for and engagement with disability-led content, productions, and projects in the years to come.”

“Institutional structures have not served disabled artists in the past,” said Emil Kang, program director for Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “Disability Futures is the result of listening, collaboration, and humble engagement and we at Mellon are pleased to recognize and support these outstanding artists directly.”

The recipients come from communities across the country, where they work as artists, activists, and educators. The Disability Futures Fellows are:

Alice Sheppard (she, her, hers)
Choreographer
Los Altos, CA

Alice Wong (she, her, hers)
Journalist
San Francisco, CA

Carolyn Lazard (they, them, theirs)
Interdisciplinary Artist
Plymouth Meeting, PA

Christine Sun Kim (she, her, hers)
Artist
Orange County, CA

Eli Clare (he, him, his)
Poet, Essayist
Burlington, VT

Jeffrey Yasuo Mansfield (he, him, his)
Designer
Boston, MA

Jen Deerinwater (Jen, Jen Deerinwater)
Journalist, Non-Fiction Creative Writer, Memoirist, & Photographer
Washington, DC

Jerron Herman (he, him, his)
Dancer
New York, NY

Jim LeBrecht (he, him, his)
Film Director and Producer
Berkeley, CA

John Lee Clark (he, him, his)
Writer
Hopkins, MN

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (they, them, theirs, she, her, hers)
Writer & Performance Artist
Seattle, WA

Mia Mingus (she, her, hers)
Writer & Journalist
Oakland, CA

Navild (niv) Acosta (he, him, his)
Multi Media
Dance, Music & Sound, Visual Art
Brooklyn, NY

Patty Berne (she, her, hers, they, them, theirs)
Artistic Director, Filmmaker, & Writer
Berkeley, CA

Perel (they, them, theirs)
Performance Artist, Dancer, Choreographer, & Writer
New York, NY

Riva Lehrer (she, her, hers)
Painter & Writer
Chicago, IL

Rodney Evans (he, him, his)
Filmmaker
Brooklyn, NY

Ryan J. Haddad (he, him, his)
Playwright & Performer
New York, NY

Sky Cubacub (they, them, theirs)
Garment Maker
Chicago, IL

Tourmaline (she, her, hers, they, them, theirs)
Filmmaker
Brooklyn, NY

To learn more about the Disability Futures Fellows and their work please visit: fordfoundation.org/disability-future-fellows.

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About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through their grants, they seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.

About United States Artists

United States Artists is a national arts funding nonprofit that supports the country’s most compelling artists and cultural practitioners. Since its founding in 2006, the organization has awarded more than 600 individuals with over $30 million of direct support.