 06/24/07 ART MATTERS
Art Matters, the innovative nonprofit foundation, is pleased to announce its re-emergence after a ten-year hiatus. Building on its important history of funding and advocacy for the visual arts, the organization hopes to once again serve as a catalyst for dialogue, debate and impact in the arts community and beyond. Responding to needs expressed by artists across the country, the foundation's first initiative this May awarded $150,000 in grants to individual artists for projects that foster collaborations and communications across international borders (see list of grants below.) A second round of grants will be awarded this fall, and a third in spring 2008. Art Matters invited over 100 artists, curators, and art professionals from a range of geographic locations to nominate U.S. artists involved in international collaboration. All visual media were eligible including film, video, digital arts, performance, installation, and site-specific work for which funds can be used for travel, research, and the execution of projects to be completed within the year. The artists are traveling to the Middle East, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe; some will complete projects in progress, some will realize new work. "Artists are our most useful ambassadors," said Art Matters' chairperson Laura Donnelley. "Art speaks to matters that link us as humans. People see only our military and our movies; we all need reminders that our creativity is bigger, truer, and more powerful." Since its founding in 1985, Art Matters has supported the arts community in timely ways with grants to visionary artists and to small arts organizations, and advocacy on behalf of artists on critical issues such as AIDS, the culture wars, censorship, and funding. The foundation also produced the first mail order catalogue of artists multiples to raise money for fellowships. Art Matters' mission remains to support artistic experimentation and the importance of the arts in the world at large. The current emphasis to foster opportunities for direct exposure and interaction between artists and cultures around the world responds to several factors: the desire of many artists to engage with others abroad, the need to represent America internationally by creative means, and diminished support for U.S. artists who want to work outside the country. Art Matters has been revived by board chair, philanthropist Laura Donnelly and its founding board comprised of artists and art professionals in diverse areas of the visual, media, and performing arts - Mary Beebe, Cee Scott Brown, Laura Donnelley, Linda Earle, Gai Gherardi, Alexander Gray, David Mendoza, Laurence Miller, Lowery Stokes Sims, Marianne Weems, Philip Yenawine, and Bruce Yonemoto. According to Philip Yenawine, "Our small size is one of our strengths. It keeps us open to change and responsive in ways that larger bureaucratic organizations cannot be. We are continuously experimenting and evolving to provide the right structure to enable artists to transform consciousness and inform audiences in new ways. We hope to inspire other grant makers and individuals to create innovative opportunities to support artists and further timely dialogue." ARTIST GRANTEE LIST 23 Grants ranging in the amounts of $3,000 - $10,000 Radcliffe Bailey Painting. Virginia - Ontario, Canada Sanford Biggers Film and Video Jakarta Daniel Bozhkov Site Specific Work Bulgaria Ignacio Gonzalez-Lang Performance Arizona-Mexico border Suheir Hammad Performance Palestine Sharon Hayes Performance Paris and London Wayne Hodge Film and Video Berlin Bryan Jackson Film and Video Tokyo Shaun El C. Leonardo Performance Mexico Pavol Liska Performance Netherlands Katt Lissard Performance Lesotho, Southern Africa Charles McGill Performance Harlem, N.Y. and Hanoi, Vietnam. Kori Newkirk Installation Dakar, Senegal Clifford Owens Site Specific Work Ecuador Deirdre Portnoy Photography South Africa and Mali. Jackie Salloum Site Specific Work Palestine Peggy Shaw (Split Britches Company) Performance Argentina Cauleen Smith Film and Video Nigeria The Speculative Archive (David Thorne and Julia Meltzer) Film and Video Syria Temporary Services Installation Ljubljana Allison Wiese Site Specific Work Mexico City Jenifer Wofford Site Specific Work Philippines Saya Woolfalk Installation Japan For a more expanded history and information on Art Matters, visit http://www.artmattersfoundation.org Media Contact: Maureen Sullivan 917.846.4477 media@artmattersfoundation.org 
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