9 Artists to Work in Partnership with BDC as Recipients of Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program
The Bronx Documentary Center announced today that in collaboration with nine artists–Cynthia Rivera, Salvador Espinoza, Ricardo Partida, Sean Sirota, Kalada Halliday, Belinda Gallegos, Maria De La Paz Galindo, Jesus Emmanuel, and Michael Young–they had received an Artist Employment Program (AEP) grant for close to $1.7 million from Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY).
The Creatives Rebuild program, designed to support employment opportunities for artists, is funding 98 collaborations involving a dynamic group of 300 artists employed by community-based organizations, municipalities, and tribal governments across New York State. CRNY has awarded a total of $49.9M in funding to support artists’ salaries and benefits, with an additional $11.7M in funding provided to the organizations holding employment.
“If we are to truly rebuild our amazing state, we must celebrate artists’ contributions not only to the economy but to what makes us human,” says Creatives Rebuild New York's Executive Director Sarah Calderon. “The incredible work being funded through CRNY’s Artist Employment Program underscores the importance of direct support for both individual artists and the organizations that hold their employment.”
Cynthia Rivera, Salvador Espinoza, Ricardo Partida, Sean Sirota, Kalada Halliday, Belinda Gallegos, Maria de la Paz Galindo, Jesus Emmanuel, and Michael Young will work with the Bronx Documentary Center, providing documentary photography programs, workshops, exhibits, and public events that empower community youth and adults to develop skills and tell their stories to diverse audiences. The grant will also fund dedicated time for each grant recipient to focus on their artistic practice and projects.
Participating artist Kalada Halliday, commenting on the grant, said, “CRNY's Artist Employment Program affords the Bronx Documentary Center an incredible opportunity to continue to affect tangible change in the Bronx on a deep, expansive level through education, photography, film, and story-telling."
Artist Employment Program recipients were selected through a two-stage process by a group of twenty external peer reviewers alongside CRNY staff. From an initial pool of over 2,700 written applications, 167 were shortlisted for interviews with reviewers. To view the list of 98 Artist Employment Program participants, visit creativesrebuildny.org/participants.
For more information about Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program, please visit creativesrebuildny.org.