3Arts awards nearly $1 million dollars

Virtual awards event on Nov. 1 Plus, major expansion to signature artist-to-artist grant program “Make a Wave” announced
Photo provided by 3Arts
Photo provided by 3Arts

3Arts awards nearly $1 million dollars
Virtual awards event on Nov. 1 Plus, major expansion to signature artist-to-artist grant program “Make a Wave” announced

3Arts, the Chicago-based nonprofit grantmaking organization, will award Chicago artists with nearly $1 million in unrestricted cash grants during the 14th annual 3Arts Awards, taking place virtually on Monday, Nov. 1, live on YouTube. The virtual event is free to the public and features three world premiere performances by past 3Arts awardees. Registration is required at https://3arts.org/event.

 Since 2007, 3Arts has supported more than 1,200 artists—representing 70% women artists, 67% artists of color, and 14% Deaf and disabled artists—and distributed $4.5 million in grants and services. On November 1, 3Arts will be awarding 134 artists including:

Ten 3Arts Awards recipients who will receive $30,000 in cash grants. 121 artists selected by past 3Arts awardees will receive $4,000 each in unrestricted grants, through a major one-time expansion to Make a Wave—3Arts’ artist-
to-artist grant program—with support from Make a Wave Presenting Partner The Joyce Foundation, sending a bigger “wave” than ever through Chicago’s cultural core.

Recipients of the second annual 3Arts Next Level/Spare Room Award—a $50,000 unrestricted cash award given
to three women visual artists who are past awardees.

These announcements—together with $230,000 in emergency relief grants given to 3Arts artists in 2021—make this the largest award year in 3Arts history.

“Our annual celebration is a call for our community to give more, do more, advocate more, and invest more in the creative heart of our city,” said executive director Esther Grisham Grimm. “We are pleased to present this joy-filled
event so that audiences everywhere can meet some of the Chicago artists whose powerful work lifts us all.”

By providing cash awards, project funding, residency fellowships, professional development, and promotion,
3Arts helps artists take risks, experiment, and build momentum in their careers. To elevate this year’s awards, 3Arts commissioned three world premieres spotlighting the work of recent awardees, including: Ivelisse “Bombera De Corazoìn” Diaz, performing with her Bomba Con Buya group; Indigenous futurist and multidisciplinary artist Santiago X, who
will debut a new video work to honor Native lands; and powerhouse singer/ songwriter and recording artist Meagan
McNeal, who will release a music video for an original new song called “Slow Life.”

The 2021 3Arts Awards will continue 3Arts’s new tradition of sharing event donations with a local arts organization.
This year’s co-beneficiary is Free Street Theater, selected in honor of theater and teaching artists of all ages who light up
every stage they grace.

3Arts will also celebrate the one-time expansion of their groundbreaking artist-to-artist grant program Make a Wave, in which the previous year’s 3Arts awardees select ten Chicago artists to receive surprise grants, sending a “wave” of support through Chicago’s cultural communities. Thanks to a $500,000 grant from The Joyce Foundation, and continuing support from the Siragusa Family Foundation and the Reva &
David Logan Foundation, this year, all artists who received a 3Arts Award since the first year of the program in 2008 have selected a record-breaking 121 Make a Wave grant recipients who will receive $4,000 grants, doubling the usual $2,000 amount. The Make a Wave artists include 18 dancers, 29 musicians, 9 teaching artists, 28 theater artists, and 37 visual artists and were announced today on the 3Arts website at https://3arts. org/awards/maw/2021.

The evening is led by event co-chairs: William Estrada, Laurel Appell Lipkin, and Kimberly Manuel-Dickens and 3Arts Board Chair Cat Tager.

The recipients of the 2021 3Arts Awards are:

DANCE
Charles “Poppin Chuck” Bledsoe, 3Arts Awardee
Cat Mahari, 3Arts/Walder Foundation Awardee
MUSIC
Caitlin Edwards, 3Arts/Walder Foundation Awardee
Shanta Nurullah, 3Arts/SIF Fund at The Chicago Community Foundation Awardee in honor of Samuel G. Roberson Jr.
TEACHING ARTS
Emily Hooper Lansana, 3Arts/BMO Harris Bank Community Awardee Andrés Lemus-Spont, 3Arts/HMS Fund Awardee
THEATER
Lili-Anne Brown, 3Arts/Stan Lipkin & Evelyn Appell Lipkin Awardee David Rhee, 3Arts/Reva & David Logan Foundation Awardee
VISUAL ARTS:
Andres L. Hernandez, 3Arts/Chandler Family Awardee Derrick Woods-Morrow, 3Arts/Gary & Denise Gardner Fund Awardee

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