JUDY CAI/COURTESY NYFA
The New York Foundation for the Arts has received a two-year grant from the Ford Foundation to expand its Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, which over the past ten years has worked to provide mentorship and community support to immigrant artists based in New York City. The program will expand to four other locales: Detroit; Newark, New Jersey; Oakland, California; and San Antonio, Texas.
In collaboration with established arts organizations in each respective city, the program will connect 144 more immigrant artists with mentors to and provide guidance and access to resources and connections for their work. Open to artists in different disciplines, the program is currently accepting applications (through October 30) for its new Newark incarnation, to begin in December. Application and program dates for the three other new cities have yet to be announced.
In a statement, Michael L. Royce, NYFA’s executive director, said of prospective applicants, “Many of these immigrants are already contributing to the cultural landscapes in their cities, and we aspire to work with them through a formalized, professional-guided mentoring program that produces catalytic results for their communities.”
Margaret Morton, a Ford Foundation program officer for creativity and free expression, said, “At a time of crisis and uncertainty for immigrant families and children, artists can be powerful leaders for social change.” The new programs, she added, are being established to “embrace artists and amplify their voices.”