The Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC) will award $61,000 in unrestricted grants to twenty-eight artists during its 2020–21 cycle. The sum is more than five times the amount that the organization distributed only two years ago. Twenty-five of the awardees were selected for $2,000 grants from the coalition’s SPARK program, which supports emerging visual artists who identify as ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American) as well as artists who have acute financial need, a disability, and no formal training.

Two recipients will be given $3,000 grants from the organization’s MAKER program, which recognizes artists whose work actively engages with social or environmental issues, and one person has been chosen for the $5,000 Coney Family Fund Award, which honors a black or African American visual artist whose practice demonstrates artistic excellence and experimentation.

“At this time more than ever, we are committed to awarding unrestricted funds directly to artists,” said CAC executive director Caroline Older. “Artists are foundational to the arts ecosystem of our city, and direct financial support is only one of the myriad ways in which CAC offers support and opportunities to Chicago’s community of emerging artists.”

The grant recipients are as follows:

SPARK

Juan Arango Palacios
Yesenia Bello
Ireashia Bennett
Peregrine Bermas
Ladipo Famodu
Carlos Flores
Lional Freeman
Stephanie Graham
Juarez Hawkins
Malika Jackson
Dominique James
A.J. McClenon
Juan Molina Hernández
Allen Moore
Gabriel Moreno
Eliza Myrie
Zachary Nicol
Jose Santiago Perez
Aida Ramirez
David Richards
Roderick Sawyer
Jennifer Senecal
Monica Trinidad
Vicente Ugartechea
Marvin Young

MAKER

Selva Aparicio
Silvia González

Coney Family Fund Award

Brittney Leeanne Williams