ATLANTA—The Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library will introduce its new curator of African American collections at a Black History Month event online on February 23, 2021.
Clinton Fluker, an Emory alumnus who has worked in the Rose Library and the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship, begins his duties on February 8.
“I’m thrilled to return to Emory University in this new role as the curator of African American collections at the Stuart A. Rose Library,” Fluker said. “I am especially honored because of my respect for the position that was previously held by my dear friend and colleague, the late Pellom McDaniels III. I’m looking forward to working with our team to build vibrant communities around the collections, both on and off the campus, aimed at nurturing a diversity of research, pedagogy, and public programming based in African American history and culture.”
CALIFORNIA—The Heising-Simons Foundation announced today that freelance journalists David Dennis, Jr., and Michelle García are the recipients of the 2021 American Mosaic Journalism Prize, which includes an unrestricted cash prize of $100,000 for each. This is one of the largest dollar amounts given for a journalism prize in the United States.
Dennis’ journalism includes a 2020 cover story in Atlanta Magazine, Ahmaud Arbery Will Not Be Erased, which sheds light on the injustice—and historical pattern leading up to—the murder of a young Black man in Georgia, and a piece in Gay Mag, An Ode To The Black Women At Dillard’s, that reflects on the solidarity and community Black women have fostered over department store counters. García’s work includes a 2019 feature in Adi Magazine, Hand of Terror, about the degrading and inhumane conditions of U.S. detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border, reminiscent of Guantanamo Bay, and a story in Bon Appétit, In the Midst of a Border Crisis, Cooking Is About More Than Survival, exploring how families seeking asylum have built community and found comfort through food.
The Prize is awarded for excellence in long-form, narrative, or deep reporting about underrepresented and/or misrepresented groups in the United States. It recognizes journalism’s ability to foster understanding and empathy, and aims to support freelance journalists.
With $2.5 million in new funding, Prospect New Orleans Announces Monuments: A Proposal
NEW ORLEANS—Prospect New Orleans will receive $2.5 million ($2 million from Mellon, followed by an additional $500k from Open Society Foundations) to produce seven artist projects interrogating the role of monuments in contemporary culture. Part of the upcoming P.5: Yesterday We Said Tomorrow, “Monuments: A Proposal” features newly commissioned work by Adriana Corral, EJ Hill, Simone Leigh, Glenn Ligon, Dave McKenzie, Anastasia Pelias, and Nari Ward.
Extending into 2022 and beyond, this new curatorial section will be dedicated to considering the many effects of monuments in US culture. The project will establish Prospect programming beyond the scope of P5, representing a move toward year-round presence for the organization.
Pérez Art Museum Miami Announces The Artist as Poet: Selections from PAMM’s Collection
MIAMI—Pérez Art Museum Miami announced The Artist as Poet: Selections from PAMM’s Collection, a multi-media group exhibition of rarely-seen works from PAMM’s extensive permanent collection that addresses Surrealism, the subconscious, and poetic language in contemporary art, opening March 25, 2021. Spanning ten decades between 1917 and 2017, the works represent how language––specifically poetry––is used in contemporary art, while shedding light on Surrealism’s profound influence.
By placing contemporary artworks in dialogue with works from decades earlier, such as the 1930s and 40s, the exhibition creates a unique conversation about a rarely discussed topic within art history: the poème-objet (poem-object). The exhibition includes works by Guillaume Apollinaire, André Breton, Joseph Cornell, Aimée García Marrero, Glenda León, Maria Martinez-Cañas, Gordon Matta-Clark, Shirin Neshat, Michael Richards, Ed Ruscha, Lorna Simpson, Purvis Young, Tim Rollins + K.O.S. (Kids of Survival), and more.
“This is an exhibition that has been in the works for a long time. It was the premise of my Master’s thesis years ago and a story I’ve always wanted to tell. Language and poetry is something all of our viewers will be able to interpret in their own way, so the show is accessible while simultaneously shedding a light on a rich Surrealist tradition of self-reflection through the creation of the poem-object,” said Maritza Lacayo, Curatorial Assistant and Publications Coordinator.
WASHINGTON, DC—The National Endowment for the Arts announced the first round of recommended awards for fiscal year 2021 totaling $27,562,040. Supported projects span 14 artistic disciplines in communities throughout the United States. Also included in this announcement are the recipients of NEA Literature Fellowships in creative writing and translation and support for arts research projects.
“The creativity and resilience of artists and arts organizations across the country have inspired Americans during this challenging year,” said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “These projects represent the vitality and perseverance of arts organizations small and large to overcome significant challenges, transform to new ways of engagement, and forge new relationships that benefit the diverse populations in neighborhoods and cities throughout the United States.”
NOMA Announces Transformative Photography Gift From Dr. Russell Albright
NEW ORLEANS—Noted radiologist and art collector Dr. H. Russell Albright (1934-2017) bequeathed his extensive and important photography collection to the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), and left a fund to create an endowment in support of the museum’s Department of Photographs. Dr. Albright had a long and significant relationship with NOMA, filling many roles over the span of thirty years, ranging from Board Trustee to longtime Fellow.
“Russell Albright was generous and influential in his involvement with the museum during his lifetime, and his devotion to collecting served as a model for others in our community,” says Susan Taylor, Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of NOMA. “His collection will serve as the core of contemporary photography at NOMA and the accompanying endowment fund will ensure that his legacy at the museum will live on.”
With his bequest to NOMA, Albright gave almost 400 works to the museum, more than 350 of which were photographs. Of these, the majority are by acknowledged contemporary masters such as Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Nan Goldin, and Thomas Ruff, and the collection also includes a smaller group of excellent prints by earlier twentieth century artists such a Man Ray, Brassaï, and Doris Ulmann. Additionally, substantial and generous works were gifted to the modern and contemporary art department, the decorative arts department, and the African art department.
Idea Capital Announces 2021 Grant Winners
ATLANTA—Now in its twelfth year of awarding grants to a diverse group of area artists, Atlanta independent arts funding group Idea Capital announces its latest awards. Twelve Atlanta artists working in diverse media are the winners of $14,600 in awards this year. In total, since 2008 Idea Capital has given out $136,635 in grants to 116 artists.
All of the artists who will receive grants have demonstrated commitment to Idea Capital’s mission of recognizing the kind of innovative, risk-taking works unlikely to be funded by more traditional revenue streams. Idea Capital remains committed to ensuring that the city’s creative class finds opportunities to produce and exhibit their work.
This year’s award recipients are Abraham Johnson, Amina Daugherty, Artemus Jenkins, Ashlee Haze, Craig Drennen, Daniela Rodriguez, Erik Thurmond, Jessica Bertram, Kathleen Wessel, Kerri Garrett and Kendall Bessent, Sergio Suarez and Sonya Yong James.
