Welcome to 2022!
We hope you enjoyed your holiday season and are starting the new year with renewed energy and enthusiasm for what's to come! At Brooklyn Arts Council, we are excited to have new and exciting announcements to share with you in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. In the meantime, kick off 2022 with dynamic events and new grant opportunities.
Our Grantees' Events
Upcoming in-person & virtual events hosted by our board members, grantees, fiscal sponsees, and partner organizations. Keep scrolling for a full, comprehensive list of what's top-of-mind this January.
The BRICK + Exponential Festival Present: “Departure Study of Mother/land Fabric”
January 7 at 8 PM
January 8 at 3 PM and 8 PM
579 Metropolitan Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Was forgetting a calculated effort? How can you hold onto what you cannot recall? Heath’s solo performance seams pieces of movement, text, and video; exposing her deepest fantasies of an unknown mother. Suspended bojagi pieces create a fantasied womb space where fragments of partial truths and unverified facts circulate, slowly imprinting a possibility of embodied “folklore” memory.
Created and Performed by Annie Heath In collaboration with Shannon Brooks (Filmmaker), Leonie Castelino (Visual Designer), and Anna Wotring (Producer).
The Vex Collection Online Album Release
February 18
Online
Imagining alternate pasts, presents, and futures, The Vex Collection uses unheard-of combinations of traditional instruments, newly devised musical contraptions, and a philosophy of mad-scientific experimentation in their exploration of uncharted sonic space. Led by composer-performers Vicente Hansen (drums; gongs; electronics) and Mat Muntz (bass; Croatian bagpipe; homemade woodwinds), their self-titled debut features avant-garde highland bagpiper Matthew Welch and Korean woodwind virtuoso gamin, who contribute their unique abilities and conceptions to an intricate whirlwind of sound.
Events & Programs
Additional happenings hosted by outside organizations, collectives, and institutions.
Cultural Organizing for Community Change
January 8
11 AM - 6PM
Online
Arts & Democracy and Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY (NOCD-NY) present Cultural Organizing for Community Change, a virtual event on January 8th! Join fellow organizers, artists, media makers, and policy makers to learn effective ways to deepen your work and engage your creativity in organizing for community change. The day will include a cultural organizing framework, hands on skill building workshops, case studies from across NYC and beyond, and networking and resources.
Cue Art Foundation Presents: “golnar Adili: Found in Translation: A Story of Language, Play, and a Personal Archive”
Golnar Adili, She Feels Your Absence Deeply, 2021, 3.25 x 4.25 x 1.75 inches (closed), Publisher: Women’s Studio Workshop, Edition of 50. Photo by Alec Logan Smith.
Opening Reception: January 13 from 6 PM - 8 PM
On View: January 13 – February 16
Cue Art Foundation
137 W 25th St.
New York, NY 10001
CUE Art Foundation is pleased to present Found in Translation: A Story of Language, Play, and a Personal Archive, a solo exhibition by Golnar Adili, curated and mentored by Kevin Beasley. Adili’s work is a formal investigation of language, spanning 14th century Persian poetry, didactic Iranian texts, and the artist’s own family archives. Featuring artist books, photographic and textual prints, and an installation of modular wooden sculptures, the exhibition embodies a multidisciplinary exploration of diasporic identity.
Adili’s work is also on view at Center for Book Arts (28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor) in “Father Gave Water/Baabaa Aab Daad: An Homage to Childhood, Persia, and Process,” from January 14 – March 26, 2022.
Creative Capital: Ecologies of Meaning in Art, Science & Technology Collaborations
January 19
3 PM - 4 PM
YouTube
Erika Blumenfeld, Mónica Bello, Xavier Cortada and Stephanie Dinkins discuss the contributions artists can make when collaborating across various fields of science, and consider the kinships, entanglements, and perceived boundaries between art, science and technology.
Creative Capital: Archival Storytelling Series
January 20
7 PM - 8:30 PM
Zoom
In this interactive workshop, Grammy Award-nominated producer Jocelyn Arem instructs participants on how to adapt, reimagine, and transform one’s archival materials into multimedia platforms for new audiences.
Artist Opportunities
Reliable workshops and funding opportunities from outside collectives and institutions. Keep scrolling for a list of what’s top-of-mind this January!
Professional Development
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable: Teaching Artist Tuesdays
Tuesdays, January 11 - January 25
4 PM - 6PM
Online
This three-part series featuring facilitators from across the arts and education fields will address current issues, questions, and needs of the Teaching Artist Community as we enter the new year. Participants will walk away with tools and best practices for dealing with the experience of internal or external burnout, building and strengthening relationships in the age of COVID-19 and after, and seeking methods to build or support a healing-centered classroom.
To Protect, Serve, and Understand
Every Tuesday evening beginning January 18
Public performances in March
To Protect, Serve and Understand (TPSU) is a 10-week theatre workshop and performance presented by the Irondale Ensemble Project in Fort Greene. Our artist facilitators invite you to join a transformational and fun program for bridging differences, confronting complex issues and rediscovering our shared humanity. TPSU brings together community members and police officers for improvisational training — learning and applying the tools of the actor in order to be heard, bear active witness to others’ perspectives and spotlight needed change.
Residencies
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program
Deadline: February 15
The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program awards rent-free studio space in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn to 17 visual artists for year-long residencies. The 2022–2023 Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program residency period will last from September 2022 through August 2023, with an open studios weekend planned for spring 2023.
Open Calls
NYC DOT Art: Barrier Beautification
Deadline: February 13
Up to $10,000
DOT Art invites artists and designers to propose mural designs as part of the 2022 Barrier Beautification initiative. DOT Art commissions the installation of temporary mural and design treatments along concrete barriers that protect bike lanes and pedestrian walkways throughout New York City. Up to five sites may be selected as priority Barrier Beautification locations in 2022.
Programming for Soft-Firm’s Drive-Thru
Deadline: January 13
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP) and Two Trees Management Co. (Two Trees) seek submissions of film, video, and new media works to program Soft-Firm’s Drive-Thru, a new public artwork to be installed at the Plaza at 300 Ashland, Brooklyn, from February to April of 2022.
Commissioned by DBP and Van Alen Institute (VAI), Drive-Thru reimagines the classic drive-in movie, remixing it with elements inspired by infrastructure elements in the neighborhood. Drive-Thru will provide a platform for film, video, and new media works and performances, acting as a reconfigurable outdoor theater for the duration of its installation.
2022 New York City Open Streets
Mambembe performs as part of Open Boulevards on the Columbus Avenue Open Street, Manhattan.
Deadline: Rolling
New York City’s Open Streets program transforms streets into public space open to all. These transformations allow for a range of activities that promote economic development, support schools, and provide new ways for New Yorkers to enjoy cultural programming and build community. NYC DOT’s Public Space Programming effort helps bring engaging activities to public spaces throughout the city. All activities are free and open to New Yorkers of all ages and abilities.
BETHANY ARTS COMMUNITY
April 2022 Poetry Residency
Deadline: January 7
Bethany Arts Community offers residencies to emerging and established artists for the development of both new works and works in progress. For the Poetry Residency, we encourage applications from individual poets as well as poet/artist pairs. Poet/Artist pairs must consist of one poet and another artist in any medium. Residents will find both solitude and community with a small cohort of other poets and artists sharing the residency.
Spring 2022 Multidisciplinary Residency
Deadline: January 21
Bethany Arts Community welcomes artists working across most disciplines, including visual artists in any medium, writers, playwrights, choreographers, musicians, composers, performance artists, filmmakers, and lighting, projection, costume and sound designers. Enjoy an environment where artists from different disciplines can work near each other, creating opportunities for cross-pollination.
Impact 2022 Art that Bears Witness
Deadline: January 31
Throughout history, artists have played a vital role to bear witness to society’s injustices. As a democracy we have the right to create and exhibit protest art. Whether it is about racism, sexism, human rights, immigration, LGBTQ, food insecurity, housing, health care, criminal justice, or the environment, the creative community has informed, provoked, and influenced for change. The exhibition will include a variety of mediums such as painting, sculpture, video, light, photography, and multimedia.
Center for black literature: National Black Writers Conference” Call For Papers
Deadline: January 7
Virtual Conference: March 30 – April 2
The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY (CBL), will present the 16th National Black Writers Conference from March 30 to April 2, 2022. Writers, scholars, literary professionals, students, and the public will gather virtually to participate in and listen to roundtables and panels on the conference theme, “The Beautiful Struggle, Black Writers Lighting the Way.”
2022 VIRTUAL DUMBO Dance Festival
Deadline: January 17
WHITE WAVE is pleased to invite you to submit applications to our 21st Virtual DUMBO Dance Festival (VDDF), to be presented from June 23rd-26th, 2022. Group performances of up to eight minutes, and solos of up to 5 minutes in length.
Grants & Funding
Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants
Image Detail: Robert Rauschenberg, "Untitled [Cunningham dancers]," 1961, ©Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
Up to $5,000
Cycle 2 Opens: March 1
Cycle 2 Deadline: April 1
Cycle 3 Opens: Before June 2022
The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has partnered with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to administer a new grant program called Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants. The program will initially provide one-time grants of up to $5,000 to professional dancers who have experienced dire financial emergencies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including lack or imminent endangerment of essentials such as housing, medicine/healthcare, utilities, and food. It will award a total of $300,000 over the course of three award cycles that will run through Spring 2022.
nysca Capital Funding for the Arts
Deadline: January 14 at 4 PM
The NYSCA FY2022 Capital Projects Application Portal is now open and accepting submissions! Funding will assist organizations facing health and safety issues in their spaces and venues, among other needs. Facilities program and capital support will be available in this round.
National Endowment for the Arts: Big Read Program
Up to $20,000
Deadline: January 26
The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read supports organizations across the country in developing community-wide reading programs which encourage reading and participation by diverse audiences. These programs include activities such as author readings, book discussions, art exhibits, lectures, film series, music or dance events, theatrical performances, panel discussions, and other events and activities related to the community’s chosen book. Activities focus on one book from the NEA Big Read library.
Fellowships
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship
$7,000
January 26 at 5 PM
The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is a $7,000 unrestricted cash grant available to artists living in New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located therein. This grant is awarded in fifteen different disciplines over a three-year period (five categories a year) and the application is free to complete. The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is not a project grant, but is intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, at all levels of their artistic development.
Resources
City Artist Corps Grants: Applicant Data
City Artist Corps has recently released applicant data including race, gender, and disability identification for artists that received grants in 2021.
The $25 million program supports artists who live and work in NYC. As New York emerges from the pandemic, art and culture are an essential component of the city’s recovery. City Artist Corps makes sure working artists are supported in their own right, and are empowered to participate fully in the overall recovery of the City.
View all graphs and charts here.
CULTURE + COMMUNITY IN A TIME OF TRANSFORMATION
Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation: A Special Edition of Culture Track is a national research and strategy initiative to support the cultural sector and help strengthen communities around the U.S. during and after the COVID-19 crisis. Organizations of all sizes and disciplines across the country sent survey invitations to their audiences, resulting in over 75,000 survey responses from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
A collaboration between LaPlaca Cohen and Slover Linett, this study is aimed at bridging the cultural sector with the experiences and needs of its communities and audiences during the pandemic and beyond.
What We're Reading
Have you encountered an inspiring or engaging read related to the COVID-19 era lately? Tell us about it at webmaster@brooklynartscouncil.org.
Maximiliano Duron. "Brooklyn Museum Hires Former Obama Administration Aide as President, COO." ARTnews, December 2021.
Read
Craig Hubert. "Weeksville Heritage Center Looks Towards the Future." Brooklyn Paper, January 2022.
Read
Miranda Levingston. "After 6 Years of Roving, The Free Black Women’s Library Leases a Storefront in BK." BK Reader, January 2022.
Read
Zachary Small. "As the Mayor Promised Millions for New Monuments, Old Ones Crumbled." New York Times, December 2021.
Read
Empowering Artists. Empowering Communities.
The arts are a lifeline to sustain wonder, inspiration, healing, and a sense of community in our lives. Please join Brooklyn Arts Council in our mission to empower Brooklyn artists and arts organizations that bring life and joy into our home borough.