Six New York City artists and the Emerald Isle Immigration Center announce that we have received an Artist Employment Program (AEP) grant from Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY). Designed to support employment opportunities for artists, the program 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.”
Irish-born musicians/singers Mary Courtney and Allen Gogarty, Peruvian-American filmmaker Erika Gregorio Lopez, Colombian-born painter Alejandro Pinzón, Chinese American blues guitarist Jeff Lum, and West African multi-instrumentalist and singer Abdoulaye Alhassane (Niger/Mali) will work with the EIIC over the next two years to codevelop and present a wide variety of monthly arts programs--including but not limited to concerts, workshops, and exhibitions--in support of the immigration legal and social services that EIIC offers its clients.
CRNY, a project of The Tides Center, has provided general operating funds to support this collaboration, in addition to funding all six artists’ salaries and benefits for the period of two years. EIIC appreciates the collaborative work of EIIC staff members Liz Baber (Manager of Education and Outreach) and folklorist/Program Case Manager Eileen Condon in support of the launch of this initiative.
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 https://www.creativesrebuildny.org/participants/.
Look for more news about this collaboration in forthcoming communications. For more information about Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program, please visit creativesrebuildny.org.
