Cannonball’s latest initiative, WaveMaker Grants, awarded 15 grants during its Award Ceremony and Reception on Friday, February 13. The event buzzed with anticipation as nearly 100 applicants waited anxiously to hear whether their proposed projects would receive funding of up to $10,000 each. In the end, 15 WaveMaker Grants totaling $100,000 were disbursed to 15 successful grantees.
Cannonball’s Executive Director, Chris Cook, described the event, “Tonight is absolutely electric and humbling. It’s a tremendous honor to support artists and their projects in this fundamental way. WaveMaker Grants plays a modest role in triggering new innovative projects into life, or by helping longstanding artist projects continue the invaluable work they do in Miami-Dade County. Our inaugural year’s winners represent an impressive breadth of ideas and artistic practices, including performances, films, publications, artist-run spaces, and much more. A huge ‘thank you’ and ‘congratulations’ to all of the winners and to all of the 97 applicants. Through their tireless work, they contribute to the intellectual, critical, and creative depth of Miami’s arts community.”
Launched in fall 2014, WaveMaker Grants brings critical support to the growing number of innovative, artist-driven activities in Miami-Dade County. The program was initiated by lead support from the The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and is part of the Foundation’s Regional Regranting Program, which aims to support vibrant, under-the-radar artistic activity by partnering with leading cultural institutions in communities throughout the United States. The growing national network of re-granting programs includes organizations in San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, Portland (OR), Portland (ME), and most recently New Orleans (LA) and Baltimore (MD). WaveMaker Grants is the first Warhol-initiated re- granting program in the Southeast.
Major support for WaveMaker Grants is also provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.
Successful grantees for the inaugural cycle of WaveMaker Grants were selected by an independent jury panel, including artist Adam Pendleton, New York; Heather Diack, Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Miami; Shannon Stratton, Executive Director, Threewalls, Chicago; and Jacek Kolasinski, artist and Associate Professor: Digital Media, Florida International University. The selection panel reviewed and awarded proposed projects in three grant categories:
- New Work / Projects: to support the creation and presentation of new work/projects.
- Long-Haul Projects: to support the continuation or completion of existing, long-term projects. This category emphasizes the value in the time, focus, and determination required to take-on and ultimately complete long-term artistic endeavors.
- Research & Development / Implementation: to support research and development for ambitious new projects that require a longer period of planning. Upon completion of the R&D phase, grantees will be invited to submit a short-form proposal to receive additional funds to implement their projects.
The winners of the inaugural year of WaveMaker Grants are:
New Work/Projects:
Malena Barrios for Me, Japanese. This $10,000 grant will support the production of Me, Japanese a documentary about Cuban poet, Jose Kozer.
Marie Vickles, the Future Roots Collective, for Open Source Art. A $10,000 grant to help launch a series of free art-making workshops for inter-generational participants to be held in Little Haiti.
Leila A. Leder Kremer and Juana Meneses for Portable Editions: LAB. This $10,000 grant supports the launch of Portable Editions: LAB, an itinerant edition and zine production as an educational component of the existing projects, Artists Making Books and imprint Portable Editions.
Guillermo Leon Gomez for Transitory Moments. A $6,000 grant to support the creation of a live performance piece consisting of one male dancer, an all female string trio, and a passing train.
Pepe Mar for Versus. A $5,000 grant to support the creation of a two-month installation/ performance in the form of a Florida gay bar.
Michael Zell for Dressur. A $5,000 grant to support the creation of a series of public performances of Dressur, a musical work by German-Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel. !
Monica Lopez De Victoria for Galactic Sirens. A $5,000 grant to support the production of a film and water-based performance of Miami Beach water ballerinas, Wikee Wachee mermaids, and bathing beauties.
Felice Grodin for Residential Properties. A $5,000 grant to support the creation of a group art exhibition in Miami's Morningside neighborhood.
Adler Guerrier for Untitled. A $5,000 grant to support the production of a film pondering images of the landscapes of Watts, Los Angeles and West Coconut Grove and Liberty City in Florida, as sites with historical, political, and poetic resonances.
Long-haul Projects:
Frances Trombly, Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova for Dimensions Variable. A $10,000 grant to support the continuation of the artist-run exhibition space and the facilitation of more ambitious projects.
Alan Gutierrez for Line Script Diary. A $10,000 grant to support a Miami-based quarterly journal of text-based works with contributions from local and international artists and writers.
Felecia Chizuko Carlisle for Sounding Room. A $5,000 grant to support the continuation of Sounding Room, a collaborative project of sculpture, abstract sound, and performance.
Amanda Sanfilippo for Fringe Projects. A $5,000 grant to support a series of site- determined commissioned artworks in Downtown Miami’s under-utilized spaces.
Kevin Arrow for Obsolete Media Miami. A $5,000 grant to support the creation of a picture and moving picture resource archive for artists, designers, and film makers.
R&D/Implementation:
Erin Elder for LOT. A $4,000 grant to support a process-driven and research-based project to activate vacant fenced lots in Miami.