Eighteen artists from across Western New York have each been awarded $10,000 grants to help them with projects they hope to complete this year.
The New York State Council on the Arts bestowed the grants as part of its Support for Artists program.
Regional winners were announced Tuesday by Arts Services Inc. (ASI), a regional arts council that provides direct services and funding to Western New York artists and arts organizations.
The grants will help Amanda Besl and other artists across the state to continue develop and grow along with their work.
Besl, a painter and arts educator who lives and works in Buffalo, was awarded the grant for a project called “Temple of Hortus,” described as “a multisensory installation project that interweaves static images with the immersive images of video technology.”
“It questions curated and commercial approaches to nature, hybridization, mutation curation, and collection,” Besl said of the work.
“Fiscal sponsorship will allow me to explore this project at a larger scale, true to the way it was imagined,” she also said in the ASI news release. “It has also given me validation through being selected. It really meant a lot to me.”
It is often hard for artists to access grant money, the regional arts organization said, and most large pots of funding are made available only to nonprofit organizations.
Through fiscal sponsorship, individuals artists are able to use ASI’s nonprofit status to apply for larger local, regional and national funding opportunities. However, eligible artists still must do logistical planning for their projects, as well as the grant writing. ASI staff can provide feedback throughout the application process, including with a comprehensive review.
Additional support and resources are offered to the participants throughout the timeline of their project and beyond.
Priority was given to applicants that will use their projects to serve historically…
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