News on the March 2023 Art & Change Grant Cycle

Leeway Foundation has made the decision to forgo the March 2023 Art and Change Grant cycle. This will give the Leeway staff space in the first quarter to re-introduce some in-person opportunities, work on projects that will streamline our internal grant processing, onboard new staff and test and launch a new website with the support of Message Agency.
 
Resources will be reallocated to the foundation’s Community Care Fund, an opportunity open to Leeway grant and award recipients which provides support for immediate and essential emergency needs. Since its creation in 2020, the Community Care Fund has distributed $487,020 to 341 artists.

We appreciate your understanding and continuing support for Leeway!
 
In gratitude,
Brittnie, Denise, Melissa, Sinta, Gabe, and Rachael

Announcing the 2022 Fall Art & Change Grantees

PHILADELPHIA –The Leeway Foundation announces $47,500 in project-based funding to 20 women, trans*, and gender nonconforming artists in Greater Philadelphia. This year’s cohort of grantees spans six decades and explores art and community-based practices in a variety of artistic disciplines and social change intentions.

All projects spotlight artists working at the intersection of art and social change, engaging with a myriad of topics such as Puerto Rican ritual and resistance through writing, campy horror films combating gentrification, sensory theatre for children with disabilities, coloring books for youth about bodily autonomy, stilt walking and storytelling in the African diaspora, and fiber arts workshops centered on domestic abuse survivors. Several projects will also bring creative work into public spaces for pop-up cinema, archival exhibitions, environmentally conscious fashion shows, and community-centered music and wellness experiences.

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides grants of up to $2,500 to fund art for social change projects by women, trans*, and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia.

The Fall 2022 Art & Change Grant Recipients (in alphabetical order):

Alfredia Parker of North Philadelphia, Crafts & Textiles, $2,500
Bokeum Jeon of Center City, Crafts & Textiles & Performance, $2,500
Christine Nwakwue of West Oak Lane, Visual & Media Arts, $2,500
Donna R. Dorman of Germantown, Music & Literary Arts, $2,500
Dr. Benita Brown of King of Prussia, Performance & Folk Art, $2,500
Eunice Levis of Aronimink, Visual Arts, $2,500
Isy Abraham-Raveson + Rebecca Klein of West Philadelphia, Visual & Literary Arts, $2,500
Kayla Naomi Watkins of West Philly, Media & Visual Arts, $2,500
Marina Murayama Nir of West Philadelphia, Crafts & Textiles & Performance, $2,500
Mary DeWitt of Media, Visual Arts & Crafts & Textiles, $2,500
Nikki Brake-Sillá of Southwest Philadelphia, Performance, $2,500
Rami George of West Philadelphia, Visual Arts & Performance, $2,500
Richiena Brown of Brewerytown, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Salome Cosmique of West Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Sarah Gordin of Washington Square West, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Sarah Trad of Kensington, Visual & Media Arts, $2,500
Selina Morales of West Philadelphia, Literary & Folk Arts, $2,500
Sweet Corey-Bey of Cedar Park, Music & Performance, $2,500
Tamara Suber of Lansdowne, Crafts & Textiles, $2,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The 2022 review panel consisted of Philly-based musician, vocalist, instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer, Becca 'Honeychile' Graham (ACG ’21), queer biracial multidisciplinary artist Eva Wô (ACG ’19; LTA ’17), and poet, educator, and teaching artist Trapeta B. Mayson (ACG ’14, LTA ’07).

READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Announcing the 2022 Media Artist + Activist Residencies

PHILADELPHIA – Leeway Foundation announces its 2022 Media Artist + Activist Residencies and $125,000 in funding to 5 media artists working in close collaboration with social justice/cultural organizations to document, reframe, and/or amplify the issues and campaigns of the organizations. This residency supports women, trans*, and gender nonconforming media artists as creative strategists, who will work embedded within their collaborative organizations for one year, with each residency providing $15,000 to the media artist and $10,000 to the organization.

This year’s cohort of recipients saw a focus in liberatory visions for the future addressing a collective understanding around topics such as shared power, access, and belonging. All recipients selected racial justice as of one their social change intents. Other intents include immigrant justice, cultural preservation, environmental and economic justice.

Leeway continues to recognize the longstanding impact and collective power of media artists in Greater Philadelphia as they visualize our past, current, and present through film, multimedia, interactive design, and more.

The Media Artist + Activist Residents are (in alphabetical order):

Anula Shetty and Norris Square Neighborhood Project
Li Sumpter and Theatre in the X
Michelle Angela Ortiz and Bella Vista Neighbors Association
Nadia Hironaka and Philadelphia Folklore Project
Ra Primus and Food Moxie

Media Artist + Activist Residency applications are evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The 2022 review panel consisted of Philadelphia-based researcher cultural producer, and community archaeologist, Malkia Okech (MAR ’21); activist, writer, public speaker on issues of digital rights, narrative power, Black liberation and collective grief, and founder of MediaJustice, Malkia Devich-Cyril, and an award-winning independent filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and creative consultant, Paige Wood.

The Leeway Foundation Media Artist + Activist Residency was made possible by support from the Independence Public Media Foundation.

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Announcing the 2021 Leeway Transformation Awardees

Amid COVID and its lasting impacts on arts, culture, and its practitioners, Leeway Foundation announces $180,000 in unrestricted support to 12 artists and cultural producers working at the intersection of art and social change.

This year’s cohort spans an array of artistic disciplines and social change intents – photographers focused on immigrant justice, dancers preserving and reinventing cultural legacies, poets championing racial justice, musicians creating work about gender self-determination, and more. This cohort also reflects an increase of awardees who identify as cultural producers. Whether they are artists or cultural organizers driving social change or curators uplifting the work of others, cultural producers offer a unique perspective and utilize their practices to connect and engage community members through art-driven social change events, practices, and opportunities.

These 12 awardees have continued to work through the pandemic, adapting and expanding their artistic practices in ways that safely engaged and supported their communities.

The 2021 Leeway Transformation Award (LTA) recipients are (in alphabetical order):

• Ada Trillo of Logan Square, Visual Arts
• Ama Schley of Logan, Performance/Folk Art
• Andrea Walls of Overbrook, Visual Arts/Media Arts
• Annielille “Ani” Gavino of West Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary
• Arielle Julia Brown of East Mount Airy, Multidisciplinary
• Erlina Ortiz of South Jersey, Multidisciplinary
• Jasmine L. Combs of West Philadelphia, Literary Arts/Performance
• Julie Lipson of West Philadelphia, Music/Performance
• Las Artivistas (Diana Lugo Martinez, Maria Guadalupe Castillo, and Maria Lourdes Flores) of Norristown, Multidisciplinary
• Marángeli Mejía-Rabell of Center City, Multidisciplinary
• Shivon Pearl Love of Brewerytown, Folk Art/Literary Arts
• Sinta Penyami Storms of South Philadelphia, Folk Art/Performance

A national panel of artists and cultural producers convened to review applications and work samples in this two-stage process. The 2021 panel included Philadelphia-based filmmaker and new media artist Anula Shetty, Texas-bred and D.C.-based multidisciplinary artist, curator, and art historian Claudia Zapata, and Los Angeles-based dramaturg, scholar, and facilitator Omi Osun Joni L. Jones. The second stage panel welcomed Brooklyn-based dancer, choreographer, and community organizer Maria Bauman, and South Carolina-based filmmaker, photographer, and educator Roni Nicole Henderson-Day, and was facilitated by Sage Crump, New Orleans-based culture strategist, artist, and facilitator.

DOWNLOAD FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE 

Announcing the 2021 Recipients of the IPMF Media Artist + Activist Residency

Leeway Foundation recognizes the longstanding power of media artists and social-justice activists throughout the Greater Philadelphia region with $125,000 in funding to five inaugural Leeway x IPMF Media Artist + Activist Residency recipients. This residency will support women, trans*, and gender nonconforming media artists in documenting, reframing, and/or amplifying the issues and campaigns of their local, collaborating social-justice focused organizations.

"In this first year, we were thrilled to see the artists and organizations that were proposing to work collaboratively, as well as the range of projects and media,” said Leeway Foundation Executive Director Denise Brown. “We are grateful for the support for this residency from our partners at the Independence Public Media Foundation who share our belief that art and culture, in this case media, are an integral part of building movements for justice. And I believe that we all have much to learn from this inaugural cohort about the potential for artists and organizations to work together in this way."

IPMF Coordinator, Rachael Moton, who worked one-on-one to steward artists and organizations through the application process shared, "It was really exciting to see the collaborations proposed between so many talented artists and social justice and cultural organizations. The awarded proposals are all impactful projects I feel will definitely promote social change."

The selected media artists will work, embedded within their collaborative organization, for one year. The residency has been awarded to five artists this year, with each residency providing $15,000 to the media artist and $10,000 to the organization.

The IPMF Activists + Artists in Residence  are (in alphabetical order):  

Alyssa L. Dookhi and YallaPunk
Ami Joelle Glazer and Youth Art and Self-Empowerment Project (YASP)
Kristal Sotomayor, Daniel DeJesus, + Gabe Loredo and Juntos
Malkia Okech and Paul Robeson House & Museum / West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
Sheila Quintana Aguilar and Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania (MILPA)

Media Artist + Activist Residency applications are evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The 2021 review panel consisted of gender justice advocate and podcast creator, Farrah Parkes; media arts programmer, curator, and public media supporter, Gretjen Clausing; and filmmaker and media artist, M. Asli Dukan.

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Leeway Foundation is taking a pause in early 2022

We want to share with you---Leeway's supporters and constituents----our decision to temporarily change our funding calendar in 2022 to make space for listening and reflection on how we can best serve our communities in this dramatically altered, and still changing, environment. 
 
In March 2020, Leeway began to make adjustments to our process and systems required by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; we started the WOO Relief Fund in April 2020 and continued with our existing grant programs through 2020. This year, in addition to the existing grant programs, we continued support for the essential needs of Leeway’s grantee community through the Community Care Fund and implemented a new residency program.
 
Like many of our peer organizations, the pandemic caused Leeway staff to re-think, in real-time, how we do our work in very fundamental ways, programmatically and administratively. With this in mind, the Foundation will pause most of its external programming during the first quarter of 2022.
 
Taking this pause will provide Leeway’s staff with time to think with each other and members of our community without the pressure of the next deadline as we reflect on questions like:

• how do we honor the core intentions that ground Leeway’s grantmaking process in this changed environment?
• how do we continue to meet people where they are and provide different entry points for folks – virtual and analog? and
• what does shared space/radical hospitality look like now as we balance the need to follow pandemic protocols for staff and community members’ safety and well-being?

The timing of the Leeway pause means there will be no March 1st Art and Change Grant (ACG) deadline in 2022. However, beginning February 1, 2022, we will continue our Window of Opportunity (WOO) funding streams, open to Leeway grantees. These streams can support time-sensitive opportunities through the traditional WOO Grant or immediate and essential need support through the Community Care Fund. The budget traditionally allocated to the March ACG cycle will be used to support the Care Fund.
 
We appreciate your understanding and continuing support for Leeway at this pivotal time, and we look forward to engaging with you in the Spring!
 
In gratitude,
Brittnie, Denise, Melissa and Rachael

Announcing the 2021 Fall Art and Change Grantees

In a time of global unrest and uncertainty, Leeway Foundation continues to be led by our community and grantees to reimagine our world and reclaim spaces of power through their socially-engaged artistic and cultural practices.

There is power in taking and reclaiming space, and the narrative around your community. Whether photographing fat queer, trans, and nonbinary femmes/fems, documenting over 50 years of disability advocacy, or using culinary arts to connect to ancestral Filipinx recipes and traditions, this cycle of Art and Change Grantees showcase the power of shaping and leading their narrative in collaboration with their communities.

The Fall 2021 Art and Change grantees are (in alphabetical order):

Akilah Green of Germantown, Music/Visual Arts, $2,500
Anne Hoffman-Freedman of Fishtown, Media Arts, $2,500
Curtis Walker of Germantown, Visual Arts/Media Arts, $2,500
Debra Powell-Wright of Clifton Heights, Literary Arts/Performance, $2,500
Elaine S. Holton & Chris Kane of West Philadelphia, Music/Performance, $2,500
Eppchez! of Germantown, Literary Arts/Crafts & Textiles, $2,500
Gigi McGraw of Southwest Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Iliana Pagán-Teitelbaum of West Philadelphia, Media Arts, $2,500
India Bernadino of Lindenwold, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Karen L. Smith of Germantown, Literary Arts/Music, $2,500
Kelly Holohan of Cheltenham, Visual Arts/Media Arts, $2,500
Kristin Auer of Center City, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Lex Wiley of Mantua, Folk Art, $2,500
Mariam I. Williams of Cedar Park, Literary Arts/Performance, $2,500
Meg Foley of South Philadelphia, Performance, $2,500
Nicky Uy of Graduate Hospital, Folk Art, $2,500
OreOluwa Badaki of West Philadelphia, Literary Arts/Performance, $2,450
Qiaira Riley of West Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Raani Begum of West Philadelphia, Crafts & Textiles/Visual Arts, $2,500
Tall Order (Jess Conda of Center City, Jenn Kidwell of Cobbs Creek, & Mel Krodman of Cobbs Creek), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The 2021 review panel consisted of theatre artist, writer, and educator Briyana D. Clarel (ACG ’20), multimedia and textile artist Lynda Grace Black (WOO ’01), and writer, photographer, and multimedia artist Lovella Calica (ACG ’14, ’07, ’06; LTA ’09).

Applications are made available on the Leeway website and may also be obtained by calling (215) 728–9273 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support. The next Art and Change Grant deadline is March 1, 2022.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight (215) 728– 9273 or bknight@leeway.org.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Announcing the 2021 Leeway x IPMF Media Artist + Activist Residency

The Leeway x IPMF Media Artist + Activist Residency invites women, trans*, and gender nonconforming media-based artists to work in close collaboration with local social-justice focused or cultural organizations to document, reframe, and/or amplify the issues and campaigns addressed by the organization. This residency works to reveal and extend the ways that artists and artistic processes work within organizations to achieve social change.

Media artists and organizations will apply collaboratively with proposals for the work of an artist embedded within an organization for one year. The residency will be awarded to three artists this year with funding awarded to both the artist ($15,000) and the organization ($10,000).

What does "media arts" mean?
Leeway understands Media Arts as an expansive category, including but not limited to:

• • film and video (narrative, documentary, experimental)
• • audio
• • podcast
• • installation
• • projection
• • animation
• • interactive design
• • digital art
• • games/gaming
• • web-based content
• • new media
• • multimedia and multidisciplinary works

Just be sure to be clear about how the use of media is at the core of your proposal!

Artist Eligibility

You are eligible to apply if you:

• Are a media artist
• Live in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia County
• Are at least 18 years old
• Identify as a woman and/or trans* person
• Are working collaboratively with an organization

You may not apply if you:

• Do not have a collaborating organization
• Are on the staff or board of the collaborating organization
• Are a full-time student in a degree arts program
• Have received a 2020 Transformation Award
• Have been invited to Stage 2 of the 2021 Transformation Award
• Have not turned in all reports due from previous Leeway grants and residencies

Organization Eligibility

You are eligible to apply if your organization is:

• A social justice focused or cultural organization with a 501(c)3 status and/or fiscal sponsorship

• a cultural organization must have a social-justice intention as part of its mission and work with communities that are often ignored, silenced, and/or marginalized because of who they are (for example - people of color; immigrants; queer people; trans* and/or gender non folks; poor and working-class people; people with disabilities; etc.).

• Located in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia County
• Working with an operating budget less than $1.5M
• Collaborating with a media artist

You may not apply if your organization:

• Does not have a collaborating media artist
• Is collaborating with a media artist who is on the staff or board of your organization
• If your operating budget is greater than $1.5M

Before Applications Open...

• Dream about the possibilities!
• Start exploratory conversations with possible collaborators
• Be inspired by other media artists doing amazing work with organizations, like Complex Movements' Beware of the Dandelions ; Tourmaline's Pleasure Gardening ; and so many more
• Watch Leeway's website and social media (https://www.instagram.com/leewayfound/) for updates!

APPLICATIONS OPEN AUGUST 16, 2021
APPLICATION DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

THE LEEWAY FOUNDATION RECEIVES $2 MILLION DOLLARS

PHILADELPHIA -- The Leeway Foundation announced today that it has received a $2 million grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott as part of her recent $2.7 billion in donations to “high-impact” organizations. The donation will strengthen Leeway’s unique work in the Philadelphia area supporting women, trans, and gender nonbinary artists working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change.

“This is an incredible recognition for the community of artists and change makers that are the heart of the Leeway community,” said Leeway Foundation Executive Director Denise Brown. “These artists are powerful voices for individual and collective transformation, and their contributions have been especially crucial to bringing light during the past year of confusion, sadness and pain. Our society is facing great challenges and great possibilities for change in the struggle for racial, social, and economic justice and we know that art with a vision can make a profound impact on these discussions. We’re very thankful to Ms. Scott for recognizing the power of these artists and cultural producers and partnering with us to support them in their efforts to envision and help build a more just future. And we are honored to be part of this powerful cohort of organizations, many we’ve had connections with for many years.”

The foundation's annual grantmaking programs, the Art and Change Grant and the Leeway Transformation Award, fund artists living in the Greater Philadelphia area (Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties), who engage in art and social change work. These programs challenge the norms of traditional grantmaking and seek to recognize women, trans, and gender nonbinary artists whose work is often ignored, silenced, and marginalized because of what they create or who they are — such as people of color; immigrants; queer, and/or trans, and/or gender nonbinary people; poor and working-class people; and people who take risks with art form and content to share their social change vision. In 2020, Leeway distributed $343,000 in grants to 168 artists through its programs. Leeway also awards artist residencies -- opportunities for artists to expand their capacity and demonstrate the value of artistic process in diverse settings through working collaboratively in and with arts and other types of organizations.

In addition, Leeway launched the Window of Opportunity Relief Fund in April 2020 to provide emergency, no-strings-attached funds for individual artists in our community whose livelihood was devastated by COVID-related shutdowns. The WOO Relief Fund gave $75,055 to 112 Leeway grantees and was followed by the WOO Community Care Fund, which has given $65,765 in grants to date to provide support to impacted artists in 2021.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight (215)728–9273 or bknight@leeway.org

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

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INTRODUCING THE SPRING 2021 ART AND CHANGE GRANTEES

THE LEEWAY FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES $49,887 IN SUPPORT TO 21 INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AND CULTURAL PRODUCERS  HIGHLIGHTING ARCHIVAL AND CULTURAL PRESERVATION PRACTICES

PHILADELPHIA- In the time of a global pandemic, Leeway continues to take note and be led by how our community adapts to and explores their practice to the current and even future environment.

This Spring cohort of Art and Change grantees features a variety of artistic disciplines and social change intents, including but not limited to cultural preservation, LGBQA social movements, and disability justice. Whether archiving their communities, creating media to uplift movements for decarceration, or curating socially-distanced spaces of joy, all of these artists are adapting and exploring their socially-engaged artistic practice.

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides grants of up to $2,500 to fund art for social change projects by women and trans* artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia.

The Spring 2021 Art and Change grantees are (in alphabetical order):

Ada Trillo of Logan Circle, Visual Arts/Media Arts, $2,500
Ami Joelle Glazer of West Philadelphia, Media Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500
Anula Shetty of Fishtown, Media Arts, $2,500
Becca ‘Honeychile’ Graham of West Philadelphia, Music/Performance, $2,500
Caitlin (kt) Abadir-Mullally of Whitman, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Candy Alexandra Gonzalez of Kingsessing & Symone Salib of Newbold, Visual Arts/Literary Arts, $2,500
Crystal Anokam of East Parkside, Visual Arts/Literary Arts, $2,500
Deanna Emmons of Francisville, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Erlina Ortiz of Haddonfield (Camden County), Performance/Literary Arts, $2,500
Jenna Facenda of Manayunk/Roxborough, Literary Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500
Julie Be of West Philadelphia, Music, $2,500
Kim Dinh of South Philadelphia, Visual Arts, $2,500
Kirsten Michelle Cillis of South Philadelphia, Media Arts/Performance, $2,500
Maci Kociszewski of South Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary, $2,500
Mieke D of West Philadelphia, Performance, $2,500
Nana Akosua Nyo of South Philadelphia, Performance/Media Arts, $2,387
Qrescent Mali Mason of West Philadelphia/Cobbs Creek, Visual Arts/Performance, $2,500
Shannon Brooks of Southwest Philadelphia/Spruce Hill, Media Arts/Performance, $2,500
Val Dunn of Kensington, Literary Arts/Performance, $2,500
Veronica MJ of West Philadelphia, Music/Performance, $2,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The 2021 review panel consisted of theatre artist, writer, and educator Briyana D. Clarel (ACG ’20), multimedia and textile artist Lynda Grace Black (WOO ’01), and writer, photographer, and multimedia artist Lovella Calica (ACG ’14, ’07, ’06; LTA ’09).  

Applications are made available on the Leeway website and may also be obtained by calling 1(215) 728–9273 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.   

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight (215)728–9273 or bknight@leeway.org  

ABOUT LEEWAY   

The Leeway Foundation supports women, trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees, and events, visit leeway.org.  

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Where to find Leeway Foundation Applications

Due to COVID restrictions the Leeway Foundation office remains virtual at this time. However, we recognize the desire and necessity to have applications available in print. Thanks to our community partners and organizations throughout Philadelphia, you can now pick up a Leeway Foundation Art and Change or Transformation Award application at the locations above and listed below. 

Center & Old City
• PhillyCAM
• Cherry Street Pier
• Vox Populi

West Philadelphia
• Mariposa Food Co-op
• Scribe Video Center
• Mina's World
• The Soapbox: Community Print Center & Zine Library

North & Northeast Philadelphia
• Tacony LAB Community Arts Center
• Taller Puertorriqueno, Inc
• Globe Dye Works

Camden, NJ
• IDEA Center for the Arts

Mt. Airy & Germantown
• Wild Hand
• Weavers Way Co-op

Lansdowne
• Utility Works

South Philadelphia
• Juntos

If you are a location that would like to have Leeway applications readily available for pick up please contact us at info@leeway.org

Leeway Foundation announces the WOO Community Care Fund in 2021

PHILADELPHIA – In response to the continuing financial impacts on the arts and culture community, Leeway Foundation is launching the WOO Community Care Fund in 2021. We are thrilled to announce that the Fund is opening with $100,000 in funding thanks to the generous support of the Independence Public Media Foundation (IPMF), the Samuel S. Fels Fund, as well as the William Penn and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations as part of their joint relief and recovery support effort for Philadelphia arts and culture organizations.

Last March, in the wake of COVID-19, Leeway, like our peers in the philanthropic sector was tasked with how to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. We were forced to examine how our engagement work and grantmaking could move into virtual spaces and ways to support grantees and partner organizations as they cancelled, postponed and reimagined events, workshops, and arts happenings. The impact on artists and cultural producers in this community was immediate and devastating.

The necessity of immediate, no-strings-attached funds for individual artists was clear to us– particularly for the women, trans, and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers Leeway serves. As a result, we re-allocated funds from other areas of our grantmaking and were able to establish a relief fund for Leeway grantees as a second branch of the Window of Opportunity (WOO) grant. The WOO Relief Fund went live in April 2020.

From April to December 2020, the WOO Relief Fund granted $75,055 to 112 Leeway grantees.

We are grateful for crucial support we received from our colleagues at IPMF, Sundance Institute, and the Surdna Foundation in support of the relief fund last year.

Like the WOO Relief Fund, the Community Care Fund will provide financial assistance of up to $1,000 to Leeway grant or award recipients experiencing financial need due to the continuation of the pandemic’s impact on artist lives and livelihoods.͘ The application and guidelines are now available please visit them here.

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Announcing the 2020 Leeway Transformation Award Recipients

LEEWAY FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES $165,000 IN UNRESTRICTED FUNDING TO 11 ARTISTS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE.

PHILADELPHIA- Leeway Foundation announced $165,000 in funding for 11 individual women, trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia. The $15,000 unrestricted award recognizes each individual’s commitment to their communities and art for social change.

Spanning an array of artistic disciplines and social change intents, the 2020 LTA recipients are focused on issues like upholding our cultural legacies, developing artistic responses to systemic racism, and raising questions of sustainability in the built and natural environment and are a reminder of the importance of arts and culture as a tool for community building and a conduit for change.

The 2020 Leeway Transformation Award (LTA) recipients are (in alphabetical order):

Ama Ma’at Gora of West Philadelphia, Performance
Heather Raquel Phillips of Whitman/South Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary
Jaz Malone of South Philly, Visual Arts/Media Arts
khaliah d. pitts of Mt. Airy, Literary Arts/Folk Art
Li Sumpter of Germantown, Multidisciplinary
Madhusmita of Germantown, Performance/Folk Arts
Maria Dumlao of Kensington, Visual Arts
Natacha Yazbeck of University City, Folk Arts
Rea Tajiri of Brewerytown, Media Arts/Visual Arts
Rocío Cabello of Germantown, Visual Arts
Toni Nash of Washington West, Multidisciplinary

A national panel of artists and cultural producers convened to review applications and work samples in this two-stage process. The 2020 panel included Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary maker, performer, and cultural advocate, Wit López, Arkansas-based multidisciplinary artist, cultural organizer, popular educator, strategist, and administrator, Tufara Muhammad, and New York-based multimedia artist, filmmaker, educator, and activist Betty Yu. In the second stage panel welcomed Tucson-based folklorist, curator, and community arts expert, Maribel Álvarez, and Saint Paul-based poet, performer, educator and cultural producer, Tish Jones and was facilitated by Sage Crump, New Orleans based culture-strategist, artist, and facilitator.

The next Leeway Transformation Award deadline is May 15, 2021. In addition to the Transformation Award, Leeway offers the Art and Change Grant two times per year. These project-based grants of up to $2,500 are awarded to women and trans* artists in Greater Philadelphia. The 2021 Art and Change Grant deadlines are March 1 and August 1.

Applications are available on Leeway’s website, and may also be obtained by calling 215.545.4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight at 215.728.9273 or bknight@leeway.org

ABOUT LEEWAY: Leeway Foundation supports women, trans*, and/or gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, visit leeway.org

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

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Introducing the Fall 2020 Art and Change Grantees

INTRODUCING THE FALL 2020 ART AND CHANGE GRANTEES

At the Leeway Foundation the true heart of our programming and the work of our community relies on in person connections. The realities of COVID have forced us to shift our mindset as an institution on how we continue to support our artists and grantees. Leeway continues to adapt in ways that support the immediate needs of artists in Greater Philadelphia, while meeting them where they are in terms of adaptation of work.

In September, Leeway awarded 20 Art and Change Grants (ACG) to 22 artists leading the exploration of how we adapt art and community-based practices in the time of a global pandemic. This cohort is reimagining how we engage with performance, film and visual art while experiences such as exhibitions and workshops are moved online. Cultural preservation and feminism were highlighted as trending areas of focus for this round.

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides grants of up to $2,500 to fund art for social change projects by women, trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia. 

The Fall 2020 Art and Change grantees are (in alphabetical order):  

Alexandra Espinoza (Strawberry Mansion), Performance/Media Arts, $2,500

Alina Pleskova & Laura Blagrave (West Philadelphia & Melrose) Literary Arts/Performance, $2,450

Annielille “Ani” Gavino (West Philadelphia) Media Arts/Literary Arts, $2,450

Dawn States (North Philadelphia) Performance/Visual Arts, $2,500

Dorothy Gordon Wilkie (East Oak Lane) Folk Art/Performance, $2,500

Frances Cordelia Beaver (West Philadelphia) Media Arts/Folk Art, $2,500

Jasmine Lynea (Lawncrest) Performance/Visual Arts, $2,500

Julie Lipson & Emily Bate (West Philadelphia & Drexel Hill), Music, $2,500

Karina Puente (East Falls), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Kenwyn Samuel (Camden County), Media Arts/Performance, $2,500

Manny Figueroa (West Philadelphia), Visual Arts, $2,500

Nicole A. Ayers (North Philadelphia), Media Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500

Pat McLean-Smith (East Oak Lane), Crafts & Textiles/Literary Arts, $1,500

REGO THERESHEGO (West Center City), Media Arts/Music, $2,500

Sarah Kim (West Philadelphia), Crafts & Textiles/Visual Arts, $2,500

SelenaE (Olney/Logan), Performance, $2,500

Shameka Sawyer (West Oak Lane), Media Arts, $2,500

Tamara Della Anderson (Logan/Ogontz/Fern Rock), Performance/Media Arts, $2,500

Tezarah Wilkins (Highland Park, Delaware County), Media Arts, $2,500

Yolonda Johnson-Young (Carroll Park/West Philadelphia), Media Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The 2020 review panel consisted of multidisciplinary artist, poet, and trauma-informed educator Candy Alexandra González, community educator, and burgeoning medicine woman Shivon Pearl Love (WOO '18, ACG ‘16), an Indigenous artist and activist Tailinh Agoyo.  

Applications are made available on the Leeway website and may also be obtained by calling 1(215) 728–9273 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.   

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight (215)728–9273 or bknight@leeway.org  

ABOUT LEEWAY   

The Leeway Foundation supports women, trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees, and events, visit leeway.org.  

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.  

FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Introducing the Spring 2020 Art and Change Grantees

THE LEEWAY FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES $42,500 IN SUPPORT TO 17 INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AND CULTURAL PRODUCERS FOCUSED IN COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL PRESERVATION FOR SPRING 2020.  

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $42,500 in funding for 17 individual women, trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues.   

 The spring cycle of grantees highlights a trend in cultural preservation and disability justice with grantees from Philadelphia, Bucks, and Delaware County. In the wake of  

COVID-19, it is imperative to continue to support artists and activists in the Greater Philadelphia region in a way that is flexible and supportive of individual needs. This round of grantees has the ability to use funds to support their work and to address immediate needs as a result of COVID-19.   

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides grants of up to $2,500 to fund art for social change projects by women and trans* artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia.  

 The Spring 2020 Art and Change grantees are (in alphabetical order):  

Andrea Walls (West Philadelphia), Visual and Media Arts, $2,500

Arielle Julia Brown (Mt. Airy), Performance and Literary Arts, $2,500

Briyana D. Clarel (West Philadelphia), Performance and Literary Arts, $2,500  

Cherry H. (Cedar Park), Media Arts, $2,500  

Daria A. Marmaluk-Hajioannou (Springtown), Multidisciplinary, $2,500  

Debbie Africa (Chester), Media Arts, $2,500  

Elena Guzman (West Philadelphia), Media Arts, $2,500   

Erlina Ortiz (West Philadelphia), Performance and Folk Arts, $2,500  

Jasmine “Miss Jasz” Hawkins (Mt. Airy), Performance and Literary Arts, $2,500  

Jennifer Randazzo (Warwick), Literary Arts, $2,500  

Julie Terry (West Philadelphia), Visual Arts, $2,500  

Maria Dumlao (Kensington), Visual and Literary Arts, $2,500  

Misty Sol (Mantua), Literary and Folk Arts, $2,500   

Nava EtShalom (West Philadelphia), Literary Arts, $2,500  

Rachelle Erica Faroul (West Philadelphia), Media and Visual Arts, $2,500

Sage Sankofa (West Philadelphia), Media and Visual Arts, $2,500  

Sound Museum Collective (Kingsessing), Multidisciplinary, $2,500  

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The Spring 2020 review panel consisted of multidisciplinary artist, poet, and trauma-informed educator Candy Alexandra González, community educator, and burgeoning medicine woman Shivon Pearl Love (WOO '18, ACG ‘16), an Indigenous artist and activist Tailinh Agoyo.  

Applications are made available on the Leeway website and may also be obtained by calling 1(215) 728–9273 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.   

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight (215)728–9273 or bknight@leeway.org  

 ABOUT LEEWAY   

The Leeway Foundation supports women, trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees, and events, visit leeway.org.  

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.  

Full press release here.

Announcing the 2019 Leeway Transformation Award Grantees

THE LEEWAYS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES $150,000 IN UNRESTRICTED FUNDING TO 10 ARTISTS COMMITED TO ART FOR SOCIAL CHANGE WITH TRANSFORMATION AWARD.

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $150,000 in funding for 10 individual women, trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia. The $15,000 per awardee is in affirmation of their commitment to their communities and art for social change.

This year’s cohort includes artists continuing five generations of healing and folklore arts, burgeoning millennials who have used their work and representation on a global level, and a poet laureate who continues to inspire all generations through poetry and literature.

afaq of Northeast Philadelphia, Literary and Visual Arts

Claudia Peregrina of South Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary

Danie Ocean of Media, Music

Folami Irvine of East Falls, Folk Arts

Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter of South Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary

Melissa Beatriz of West Philadelphia, Media Arts

Nadine M. Patterson of Mt. Airy, Media and Visual Arts

Wit López of West Philadelphia, Performance

Yolanda Wisher of Germantown, Literary Arts

Yinka Orafidiya of West Mt. Airy, Crafts & Textiles

How can organizations work towards a method that supports artists’ basic needs, making way for innovation and social impact throughout Greater Philadelphia? As we continue to explore the future of funding and its impact on communities and social justice, the Leeway Transformation Award continues to be an example of how funders can move beyond project-based funding and meet artists and activists where they are.

A national panel of artists and cultural producers convened to review applications and work samples in this two-stage process. The 2019 panel second stage was facilitated by Philadelphia based cooperative and community organizer Mo Manklang. Panelists included Philadelphia based writer, performer, and teaching artist, Kai Davis, Baltimore-based community visual artist and member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Ashley Minner, and New York based public artist, Tomie Arai. The second stage panel welcomed, non-binary fat queer chicane activist and organizer Barbie Hurtado, and Detroit-based harpist, singer, media-maker, and organizer, Ahya Simone.

The next Leeway Transformation Award deadline is May 15, 2020. In addition to the Transformation Award, Leeway offers the Art and Change Grant two times per year. These project-based grants of up to $2,500 are awarded to women and trans* artists in Greater Philadelphia. The 2020 Art and Change Grant deadlines are March 1 and August

1. Both applications will be available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling 215.545.4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight at 215.545.4078, ext. 14 or bknight@leeway.org

ABOUT LEEWAY: Leeway Foundation supports women and trans* and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, visit leeway.org

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

DOWNLOAD FULL PRESS RELEASE

Introducing the Fall 2019 Art and Change Grantees

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $55,000 in funding for 31 individual women and trans artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues.

The fall 2019 cycle of grantees highlights a trend in cultural preservation from South Philadelphia to Norristown, Overbook to Port Richmond, and neighborhoods in between. They also showcase a powerful, intergenerational cross-section of artists, with grantees ranging from early-20s to mid-70s.

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans* artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Greater Philadelphia region.

The Fall 2019 Art and Change grantees are (in alphabetical order):

Addye Durant (Port Fishington), Visual and Crafts & Textile Arts, $2,500

Andrienne Palchick, Heidi Ratanavanich, Connie Yu (West Philadelphia), Visual Arts/Performance, $2,500

Anissa Weinraub (West Philadelphia), Performance, $2,500

Bea Joyner and Vernoca Michael (Northeast), Visual and Media Arts, $2,500

Bethlehem the Vocussionist (West Mount Airy), Music & Performing Arts, $2,500

Ebony Welch (South Philly), Visual & Media Arts, $2,500

Emily Bate (West Philadelphia), Music & Performing Arts, $2,500

Erica Hawkins (Rittenhouse Square), Media Arts, $2,500

Gabriela Watson Burkett (Chestnut Hill), Media Arts, $2,500

Heart Byrne and Eva Wŏ (West Philadelphia), Multidisciplinary Arts, $2,500

Janielle Bryan (West Philadelphia), Media Arts, $2,500

Jessica Markey Locklear (Hatfield), Multidisciplinary Arts, $2,500

Julie Rainbow (Germantown), Media and Literary Arts, $2,500

Katonya Mosley (Lower Moyamensing), Performing Arts, $2,500

Las Artivistas de CCATE (King of Prussia), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Malika Parker (North Philadelphia), Crafts, Textiles & Performing Arts, $2,500

Marcy Francis (Southwest Cedar Park), Music and Folk Arts, $2,500

Nikki Brake-Sillá (West Philadelphia), Performing & Visual Arts, $2,500

Pam Newman (Carol Park), Crafts, Textiles & Visual Arts, $2,500

Sonrisa Rodriguez (Overbrook), Visual & Literary Arts, $2,500

Stephanie Amma (East Mt. Airy), Folk & Music Arts, $2,500

Wit López (West Philadelphia), Multidisciplinary Arts, $2,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The Spring 2019 review panel consisted of cultural organizer Allison Budschalow (ACG ‘18), interdisciplinary artist Farrah Rahaman (ACG ‘18), and poet M. Nzadi Keita (ACG ‘14).

Applications are made available on the Leeway website and may also be obtained by calling (215) 545-4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Brittnie Knight (215) 545-4078 or bknight@leeway.org

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit leeway.org.

 *We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

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Download the full press release here.

New Beginnings at Leeway and Beyond

A lot of changes are happening at Leeway, but as Octavia Butler reminds us, "All that you touch – you change. All that you change – changes you. The only lasting truth – is change...” In these moments of change, we often hold a spectrum of emotions as we work through a process of releasing what we know, alongside the excitement of creating new beginnings. It is in that spirit we invite you to join us in saying…

Welcome! to Brittnie Knight, who will join the staff of Leeway as our new Communications Director in June. Brittnie (she/her) is a black/biracial arts administrator with over five years of experience working in communications and programs for large to small scale nonprofit organizations. Her passions lie in connecting and engaging people online and in-person. Coming to the Leeway Foundation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Brittnie, has previously worked at a range of Philadelphia nonprofits including Indego Bikeshare, and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. 

Best wishes! to Sara Zia Ebrahimi, Leeway’s Program Director since 2016, who will be leaving her position effective June 6th. During her time here, Sara Zia found exciting ways to embody Leeway’s mission through behind the scenes and public-facing efforts as a fierce ally of the community of artists and cultural producers the Foundation seeks to engage. See her message below.

“It is with mixed emotions that I am announcing my departure from Leeway as the Program Director. I have been honored and incredibly lucky over these past three years to connect with the visionary artists and organizations that make up Leeway’s community. I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow with you all as we build cultural strategies for social change together. My last day at Leeway will be June 6th; I will be starting the following week as the new Development Manager of Working Films (working remotely from Philadelphia), supporting their distribution of documentary films as tools for building social change movements. I’m happy to share that Melissa Hamilton will be taking the helm as the Interim Program Director. Melissa brings a wealth of experience from her time at Leeway as the Program Assistant years ago as well as her work as the Community Engagement Director at CultureWorks. We’ll be working together to ensure a seamless transition of Leeway’s programs’ management! Thank you all for this time together, which I will cherish in my future adventures.”

Welcome back! to Melissa Hamilton who joined us as interim Program Director last week. Melissa is an arts administrator, educator, and creative who has been involved in Philadelphia arts and culture for over a decade. Committed to economic and racial justice, she is dedicated to leveraging her privilege to help artists not only survive, but thrive. 

Prior to returning to Leeway, Melissa worked in office, nonprofit, and educational environments – experiences which led her to create both long-standing and emerging connections with a variety of communities in the Delaware Valley region and beyond. A proud Philadelphia native and fat, queer writer and comic creator, she is thrilled to be back (home) at Leeway.

Ripple/Quake and Body Maps: Performances and Workshops by Sarah Muehlbauer (ACG ‘18)

Sarah Muehlbauer (ACG '18) is the 2019 Leeway x Icebox Project Space Artist-in-Residence. As part of her residency she is offering performances and workshops.

Body Maps: is a workshop that creates meaningful connections between self and environment through an imaginative movement process. With the map as a metaphor for both inner and outer worlds, we practice how to draw from our experience to create the images we desire. Directly following Body Maps, guest instructor Elliot Polinsky will lead a meditative practice of Yoga Nidra, or “sleep yoga”. This sequenced visualization brings about deep relaxation and assists in uncovering and releasing habitual patterns of body and mind."

In the beginning, maps were nothing more than theories, plans to journey to bring back data, rough pictures that helped explorers travel further into the unknown. Now that we’ve traversed our planet outwardly, we set forth to journey in. We can spend our whole lives getting to know the maps of our bodies, their patterns, preferences, joys, obstacles, and hidden history. The way we frame this journey has everything to do with where we end up. So let's create maps of our bodies.... separately, but together.

Saturday, June 22 // 1:00 - 3:00PM followed by Yoga Nidra at 3:15PM

Wear comfortable clothes. No performance is experience necessary. We recommend that you bring a notebook. Inclusivity is emphasized, please contact with any needs.

RSVP for Body Maps here.

Ripple/Quake: is a multidisciplinary performance event exploring the impact of the individual on the whole, viewed through the lens of disability and an ethic of care. Symbols traverse image, object, body, and sound, revealing threads of wildness and domesticity, anchoring and flow. The work centers on a tensile fabric wave form, which represents the collective unconscious. Artists contribute content based on personal, cultural, and creative intersections. Following the performance will be a short Q&A, and guest instructor Elliot Polinsky will lead a session of Yoga for Chronic Pain. This peaceful yoga practice calls on rhythmic, meditative motion and stable breathing to help the nervous system to settle, the body to relax, and the mind to re-map the body. 

Friday, June 28 // 7:30PM Ripple/Quake

Saturday, June 29 // 3:00PM Ripple/Quake followed by Yoga for Chronic Pain at 4:30PM 

RSVP for Ripple/Quake here.

Leeway x Icebox Resident Artist Sarah Muehlbauer acts as concept artist, performer, maker, and community organizer navigating horizontal leadership to seed and blend disparate practices. Ripple/Quake is created in collaboration with artists Dan Cole (concept, video design, and sound creation), Anne Weshinskey (performance art), Simon de Aguero (tensile fabric design), Will Turnbull (sculpture fabrication), Rexedog (music), Mieke D. (strategic support), and Elliot Polinsky (photography, yoga instruction), as well as previous participants from the Body Maps workshop series held in early 2019, in residence at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts. 

BYO Yoga Mat or Blanket. Limited supply will be available.

This event is free and open to the public.

This venue is wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation available by request if you RSVP by June 18.

Leeway Foundation Announces Spring 2019 Art and Change Grantees

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $55,000 in grants to 24 women and trans artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues. 

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Greater Philadelphia region. The grant supports artists practicing a variety of disciplines including performance, crafts and textiles, and visual arts.

We're proud to announce the Spring 2019 Art and Change (ACG) Grantees: 

Annielille Gavino (South Philadelphia), Folk Arts/Literary Arts, $2,500

Blanca Pacheco and Carmela Apolonio Hernandez (Germantown), Crafts& Textiles/Folk Arts, $2,500

Folami Irvine (East Falls), Folk Arts, $2,500

Freda/Frankie Anderson (Kensington), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Gabi Sanchez (Hunting Park), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Gabrielle S.C. Orisanmi (Olney), and Nakesha V. Moore (Roxborough), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Jasmine Rivera (Greys Ferry), Media Arts, $2,500

Joyce Hatton (Parkside), Visual Arts, $2,500

Karen L. Smith (Germantown), Performance Art, $2,500

Kilamanzego (Cedar Park), Music/Performance Art, $2,500

Kristal Sotomayor (Graduate Hospital), Visual Arts, $2,500

Lanica Angpak (South Philadelphia), Visual Arts/Folk Arts, $2,500

Li Sumpter (Abington), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Lillian Dunn (Mantua), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Melissa Beatriz (West Philadelphia), Media Arts, $2,500

Michelle Angela Ortiz (Bella Vista), Music/Visual Arts, $2,500

Nadine M. Patterson (Mount Airy),Media Arts/Literary Arts, $2,500

Noemi Charlotte Thieves (Kingsessing), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Dr. Rònké Òké (Ardmore), Literary Arts, $2,500

Tatiana Bacchus (Lower Makefield Township), Media Arts, $2,500

Vena Jefferson (Bensalem), Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Verónica Ayala Flores (North Philadelphia), Visual Arts, $2,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel.  The Spring 2019 review panel consisted of cultural organizer Allison Budschalow (ACG ‘18), interdisciplinary artist Farrah Rahaman (ACG ‘18), and poet M. Nzadi Keita (ACG ‘14).

Applications are made available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling (215) 545-4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Cesali Renn at (215) 545-4078 or crenn@leeway.org.

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit www.leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

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Download the Press Release PDF here.

Leeway Foundation Awards Nine Philadelphia Artists with $15,000 Transformation Award

PHILADELPHIA – Today, Leeway Foundation announced $135,000 in grants to nine women and trans* artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, acknowledging their commitment to art and social justice that impacts a larger audience or community. This year’s recipients work in an array of disciplines, including folk arts, media arts, and performance. 

The 2018 Leeway Transformation Award (LTA) recipients are (in alphabetical order): 

Angela-Sadio of Germantown, Folk Arts and Performance 

Bonita Elaine Taylor of Chester, Crafts and Textiles 

Gloria Kingcade of North Central Philadelphia, Folk Arts and Performance 

Iris Devins of West Philadelphia, Media Arts 

Jeannine “JBK” Kayembe of North Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary 

Meg Onli of West Philadelphia, Visual Arts 

Milena Velis of West Philadelphia, Media Arts 

Muthi Reed of LaMott, Media Arts and Performance 

Nuala Cabral of West Philadelphia, Media Arts

A national panel of artists and cultural producers convened to review applications and work samples in this two-stage process. The 2018 panel consisted of Philadelphia-based writer and cultural facilitator Debora Kodish, Filipinx-American trans queer poet and educator Kay Ulanday Barrett, and New Orleans-based cultural strategist and consultant Sage Crump. Trans community organizer, activist trainer, and poet Nico Amador facilitated the panel’s second stage, joined by San Antonio-based visual artist Isabel Ann Castro and South Carolina-based filmmaker and photographer Roni Nicole Henderson.

The next Leeway Transformation Award deadline is May 15, 2019. In addition to the Transformation Award, Leeway offers the Art and Change Grant two times per year. These project-based grants of up to $2,500 are awarded to women and trans* artists in Greater Philadelphia. The 2019 Art and Change Grant deadlines are March 1 and August 1. Both applications will be available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling 215.545.4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support. 

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at 215.545.4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

ABOUT LEEWAY: Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, visit leeway.org

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

Download the full press kit here.

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Amadee Braxton

Who are you?

There are intersecting levels and areas! I am Board President of Leeway Foundation, an organizational development consultant and executive coach, filmmaker/writer, and radio host. In my work life, I support social justice movements to do their work well and be transformational in doing it. I support the leadership development of women of color to build their power and stay whole. In my creative work, I aim to expand the range of stories about what it means to be human and Black. 

On my radio platform, I showcase organizations and strategies for change that are providing approaches and solutions that are creative and outside-the-box. I also am a doting aunt, a daughter, sister, niece, and friend. On my best days, I am playful and funny.

How would you define your place within Leeway’s community?

As a member of the board of Leeway, I have the pleasure and honor of helping guide the organization toward an ever-expanding vision of space-making, power-shifting, and influence. Space-making to provide platforms, networks, and access to our grantees, and through our example, providing a model of power-sharing in philanthropy that can influence our field and arts and culture more broadly.

What role has Leeway played in your own evolution?

Leeway is always transforming me. We have a learning culture, so Leeway is a place of ongoing intellectual growth. This is partly because of Denise Brown’s leadership – this is her way of navigating the world, through relationship and learning.

We are always discussing the newest and the latest -- what is the discourse around the kind of work and artists we are supporting and are interested in supporting. We go to see artists and practitioners who are doing this kind of work at the national level, we read analysis, so we are always engaging on that edge of what's happening. That keeps challenging me and keeps me thinking about what are the different models? How can we do this work better?

I think Leeway has provided a place where I and the other board members can really bring our values to bear. There are not a lot of organizations where you can really bring your full self and your full set of values. I have been on other boards of good organizations, but I didn’t feel like I could fully bring everything. I think part of that is that Leeway isn’t afraid of conflict, in having hard conversations, because we know that leads to growth.

What would you like see Leeway do in the next 25 years?

I see Leeway able to leverage more money and resources from larger foundations in the service of our values and our grantees to have an even greater impact. I see Leeway becoming a national model for a kind of social justice grantmaking that shares power with the communities it supports. I see Leeway expanding its reach nationally and globally via fellowships that bring international artists to Philadelphia and place our Philly artists around the world. I see Leeway seeding future generations of trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming artists. Leeway will help organizations across our region see the need for employing cultural strategy as an essential part of their work. I think Leeway can do all of this!

If Leeway were a playlist, what song would you be?

I would be "Can You Feel It" by The Jacksons.

A Visionary Organization: From Donor-Intent to New Horizons of Race and Gender Equity

A Visionary Organization: From Donor Intent to New Horizons of Race and Gender Equity 
Carolyn Chernoff, Ph.D., Moore College of Art and Design, and V Varun Chaudhry, M.A., Northwestern University

Introduction
The Leeway Foundation is a unique American philanthropic organization focused on funding women and trans artists working for social justice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding five counties. The organization began as a family foundation some 25 years ago, when the founder and donor used her sizable inheritance to establish a fund to support women artists in the Philadelphia area. What is particularly notable about Leeway is the way the foundation has changed and transitioned along with — and in some cases, ahead of — mainstream understandings of gender and racial equity.

While it is a tautology to say that mission-driven organizations are shaped by the founder’s perception of the mission, it’s also a fact. Founder and donor intent, along with founder’s syndrome, often shape organizations in ways that can impede or limit positive change and growth, raising the following set of questions: How do mission-driven organizations adapt to changing social and political circumstances? How does the founder’s original vision shape the organization in years to come, particularly after the founder exits decision-making capacity? We address these questions in this article using the Leeway Foundation as a case study.

After addressing the concepts of diversity and inclusion, particularly as they pertain to the field of philanthropy, we establish a framework for how organizations grow and change past the founding phase, considering questions of donor intent. This is particularly relevant in the case of Leeway, because the founder and donor are the same person, Linda Lee Alter. By walking away from her substantial inheritance and decision-making power regarding these funds, Alter allowed Leeway to grow and change in new and previously unforeseen directions beyond her original vision, which was to fund woman-identified artists in Philadelphia. After establishing our use of terms like “diversity” and “inclusion,” we document these changes based on archival documents and in-depth interviews. Finally, we present our findings on what other foundations and philanthropic organizations can learn from this unique case study, particularly with regard to gender and racial equity in changing times.

Read full article here. 

Leeway Foundation presents The Pleasure Principle: Finding Pleasure In The Age Of # MeToo

November 19, 2018

CONTACT:

Erin Mooney
Moxy PR

267-788-2196; erin@moxypr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

LEEWAY FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE: FINDING PLEASURE IN THE AGE OF #METOO ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5

As the #METOO movement continues to ripple outward, activists and artists are just beginning to reckon with its cultural significance and its long-term implications for our daily lives. On Tuesday, December 5 at 6 p.m., Leeway Foundation presents The Pleasure Principle: Finding Pleasure in the Age of #METOO, a conversation between #MeToo founder Tarana Burke and sex-positive artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez. The discussion, held at Temple Contemporary Gallery (2001 N. 13th Street) will explore the intersections of pleasure, consent, healing and accountability in the wake of sexual violence.

“Leeway’s interest in partnering with Temple Contemporary on this event is embedded in the evolution of our feminist principles and in centering the experiences of those on the margins, including women, trans and gender-nonconforming people,,” said Leeway executive director Denise Brown. “We ask the questions: What are the narratives that are underneath ‘otherness?’ What else is there besides our identity politics? This conversation with Tarana and Favianna will not only center their experiences, but it will also underscore the notion that there can simultaneously be a quest for joy—what affirms and connects us—while upholding agency and consent.”

The event is part of a yearlong celebration for Leeway Foundation in recognition of its 25th anniversary. As a leading supporter of women, trans, and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers working at the intersection of art and social justice, Leeway has promoted artists bringing awareness to sexual assault and/or exploring the topics of sex positivity and pleasure activism.

The event will be livestreamed by PhillyCAM.

For more information on The Pleasure Principle, visit https://www.leeway.org, For more information on Leeway’s 25th anniversary, visit www.leeway.org/at25.

For images or interview requests, please contact Moxy PR at erin@moxypr.com or 267-788-2196.

About Tarana Burke

For more than 25 years, activist and advocate Tarana J. Burke has worked at the intersection of racial justice and sexual violence. Fueled by commitments to interrupt sexual violence and other systemic inequalities disproportionately impacting marginalized people, particularly black women and girls, Tarana has created and led various campaigns focused on increasing access to resources and support for impacted communities, including the ‘me too’ movement.

A proud native of the Bronx, N.Y., Tarana’s passion for community organizing began in the late 1980’s when as a young girl, she joined a youth development organization called 21st Century, and led campaigns around issues like racial discrimination, housing inequality and economic justice across the city. That work, coupled with a desire to deepen her education and organizing skills led her to attend Alabama State University, a historically black institution. Her organizing and advocacy work continued throughout college and remains a pillar of her professional life.

Her career took an intentional turn toward supporting survivors of sexual violence upon moving to Selma, Alabama to work for 21st Century. She encountered dozens of black girls who were sharing stories of sexual violence and abuse, stories she identified with very well. Tarana realized too many girls were suffering through abuse without access to resources, safe spaces and support, so in 2007 she created Justbe Inc., an organization committed to the empowerment and wellness of black girls. The impacts of Justbe Inc. are widespread, as the program, which was adopted by every public school in Selma by [DATE], has hundreds of alumni who have gone on to thrive and succeed in various ways. Tarana’s role as the senior director at Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn, NY, an inter-generational non-profit dedicated to strengthening local communities by creating opportunities for young women and girls to live self-determined lives, is a continuation of what she considers her lifes’ work.

Since #metoo, the hashtag she created more than ten years ago, went viral last fall Tarana has emerged as a global leader in the evolving conversation around sexual violence and the need for survivor-centered solutions. Her theory of using empathy to empower survivors is changing the way the nation and the world think about and engage with survivors, and her belief that healing isn’t a destination but a journey has touched and inspired millions of survivors who previously lived with the pain, shame and trauma of their assaults in isolation.

About Favianna Rodriguez

Favianna Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary artist cultural strategist and activist. Her work and collaborative initiatives address gender equality, racial justice, immigrant rights and climate change. Favianna works with cultural movements around the United States bringing together the powerful intersection of art, entertainment, social justice and cultural equity. Most recently, she has been collaborating with women in the entertainment industry to design timely initiatives addressing equity and inclusion, including 5050by2020.com. She is the Executive Director of CultureStrike, a national arts organization that engages artists, actors, writers and producers in immigrant rights. In 2012, she was featured in a documentary series by Pharrell Williams titled Migration is Beautiful, which addressed how artists responded to failed immigrant policy in the United States. In 2016, she received the Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellowship for her work around mass incarceration. In 2017, she was awarded an Atlantic Fellowship for Racial Equity for her work around racial justice and climate change. Favianna lives and works in two California culture capitals∫ the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

In addition to being an innovative leader in the cultural sector, Rodriguez also has helped build The Lab, a co-working space in the heart of Downtown Oakland that is focused on racial justice, culture change and climate justice. She brings expertise in designing co-working spaces that foster collaboration, innovation, and friendship.

About Leeway Foundation

The Leeway Foundation supports women and trans* artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice.

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and uses the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

​Download the press release PDF here.

‘There’s going to be loss’: A new guide to the hard work of becoming trans inclusive

These days, diversity and inclusion are all the rage. Just ask any executive director, CEO, or head of HR.

But the question that's less popular is: What are you willing to lose to get there?

Both staffers and funders abandoned Alison Gerig, the former executive director of what used to be the Women's Therapy Center, when she wanted to offer services to trans people as part of the center's mission. But she knew it was necessary to turn her "white feminist" nonprofit into an inclusive one.

"There's going to be loss," Gerig said. "There's going to be pain."

This acknowledgment that the work of inclusion is messy, difficult, and constantly evolving is one reason the Leeway Foundation, which supports women and trans artists focused on social change, just released a guide for arts, culture, and philanthropic organizations that want to develop a supportive environment for trans and gender-nonconforming individuals.

Produced by former Leeway scholar-in-residence V Varun Chaudhry, the guide aims to be a jumping-off point, a way to lead the self-reflection necessary for this kind of structural change by asking questions like: How does our mission statement approach questions of power? Why is inclusion important to our organization?

For instance, when some organizations say they want to be inclusive, they often "don't know what that looks like," said Celena Morrison, the director of programs at William Way LGBT Community Center.

At a launch event Thursday, Morrison and other trans advocates said they were glad to see a resource that went beyond pronouns and bathrooms, and urged the audience not to think of inclusion as a one-and-done kind of deal.

"We're certainly not positing ourselves as the experts," said Leeway's executive director, Denise Brown. "This is an ongoing process."

It also comes at a time where there's an urgency and a hunger to figure out how to become more trans inclusive. Brown says Leeway has put together materials many times over the years in response to arts and culture organizations seeking help navigating trans inclusion.

"We are in a moment where people want to be in the room for these conversations," Chaudhry said.

Gerig, whose former organization changed its name to the Therapy Center of Philadelphia, said it was important to put structures in place around inclusivity in order to avoid making decisions on a case-by-case basis. Heath Fogg Davis, a political science professor who runs Temple University's gender, sexuality, and women's studies program, added that having structures in place makes it easier for those who are transitioning at work, so they aren't forced to educate others or to ask for special allowances.

"Nobody has all the right answers," said Davis, who wrote a guide called "Building Gender-Inclusive Organizations." (And you shouldn't expect trans folks to, either. "As a trans-identified woman, people expected me to know everything," Morrison said.)

When Davis was transitioning 10 years ago, his mentor at work helped prepare him for his coworkers' reaction: They were going to want to know how this would change how they should interact with him, but they'd be afraid to ask.

It's important, Davis said, to apologize when you mess up. If you use the wrong pronouns for someone, you should acknowledge the mistake instead of just moving on and pretending it didn't happen, even if it's uncomfortable.

Morrison acknowledged that it can be hard for people to keep up with all the changes in the trans and gender-nonconforming community.

Davis encouraged using those changes as a way to start a conversation.

"Language is in flux," he said. "Embrace it." He suggested having discussions like: "We used to say transsexual, but we don't anymore. Why is that the case?"

Read and share the full article on philly.com.

When it comes to gender identity, inclusion is more than using the right pronoun | Opinion

I arrived at the Leeway Foundation office in Center City Philadelphia in the summer of 2016 at 24, a South Asian trans-identified scholar-in-training looking for a site to conduct my dissertation research.

At that point, all I had were research questions about how organizations, specifically foundations and philanthropic entities, support and fund trans and gender-nonconforming people. In every other workspace environment I had ever been in, I served as the de facto brown trans spokesperson amongst coworkers who were predominantly white and cisgender—that is, those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.

At the Leeway Foundation, a funder that supports women and trans artists, I no longer had to remind people of my pronouns (they/them at the time) or speak up for the needs of trans and gender-nonconforming communities. People always used the proper pronouns there, respected how I decided to show up every day and regarded this respect as a baseline of behavior for all employees.

From a personal perspective, it was a uniquely wonderful experience.

Professionally, my project was to create what were called “trans inclusion documents,” a resource guide for the foundation’s panelists to use before making decisions about Leeway grants. My role was to integrate ideas from many authors and perspectives into something that panelists, who themselves came from different backgrounds and experiences, could grasp, and eventually create a kind of operating manual for organizations about how to work with and support trans and non-gender conforming people.

In a cisgender-defined world, there are few supports for trans and gender-nonconforming people, let alone thoughtful recommendations that can help organizations make meaningful strides toward not just acceptance but affirmation.

This set of guidelines, called TRANSforming Inclusion, encourages institutions to move beyond institutionally-mandated gestures of “inclusion” or “diversity” – i.e., pronouns in an email signature and gender-neutral restrooms in the office – and think about what it means to truly recognize and make space for trans and gender-nonconforming people in organizational staffing, programming, and outreach. It requires remodeling over-saturated conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion and asking not just “how can we be more diverse?” but reconsidering organizational missions, visions, and goals and, along the way, interrogating the underlying gendered (and relatedly, racialized, classed, and ableist) thinking that informs our organizational efforts.  

It makes sense that this work was taking place in Philadelphia, a city which has embraced trans and gender-nonconforming communities for years. Notably, the Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference will host its 17th annual event in 2019. But Philly, like all places, still has a great deal of work to do: Trans and gender-nonconforming people of color, particularly black transgender women, continue to face high rates of violence and are more likely to face poverty or homelessness and lack healthcare.

There are approximately 1,500 arts and culture non-profit organizations in Philadelphia.  Arts and culture is a powerful force in the city, with an economic impact of $4.1 billion each year. This is an opportunity for decision-makers, arts and culture organizations and the people who support them to reconsider their own biases and assumptions.

This resource guide will not single-handedly fix such disparities. My time at Leeway taught me that embracing and affirming people necessarily means engaging in messy and complicated processes. As Denise Brown, Leeway’s executive director reminds us, “someone had to get out of a chair for me to be where I am.”

TRANSforming Inclusion is just one attempt to describe and guide us through the journey of affirmation and inclusion of those most marginalized. My hope is that TRANSforming Inclusion will provide a roadmap for many other organizations in the city and region. I look forward to continuing the dialogue about what it might take to affirm trans and gender-nonconforming communities, in all of their diversity and beauty—in Philadelphia and beyond.

V Varun Chaudhry, a scholar-in-residence at the Leeway Foundation, is an Anthropology PhD Candidate at Northwestern University and a predoctoral fellow in the Center for the Study of Women in Society at the University of Oregon. 

The Leeway Foundation is hosting a TRANSforming Inclusion panel discussion on November 8, at 3 p.m. in the Skyline Room at the Parkway Central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Read the full op-ed on the Philadelphia Inquirer's website.

Sara Zia Ebrahimi Published in Art Journal Open

Three decades into the long culture wars, how are artists, scholars, and cultural organizations navigating shifting political, community, and financial tides? Art Journal Open presented a collection of responses to this pressing question from twenty-three artists, curators, scholars, writers, and cultural workers, with an introduction from Sarah Kanouse.

From Kanouse's opening: 

“Beyond Survival” began as an open call for reflections on the state of arts funding in the United States as it actually manifests today. When the Senate took its vote this summer, responses were already trickling in. They revealed that many creative and scholarly communities find the status quo both unhelpful and undesirable. The intelligence and accumulated experience of the respondents helped to broaden the definition of “support” from the purely financial to encompass the networks of care and community that sustain and make relevant cultural and intellectual labor.

Among 23 responses to this open call, Program Director Sara Zia Ebrahimi penned a short essay titled "Thriving at the Margins", depicting Leeway's relationship-building model and how funding streams from the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities affected disenfranchised communities.

Read Sara Zia's essay here.

To read the full Beyond Survival forum entries, visit Art Journal Open. 

Leeway Co-sponsors Lifting the Veil Festival

Lifting the Veil is a 3-day interactive Esoteric and Occult Arts Festival based in Philadelphia, Pa. The term "Lifting the Veil" refers to the pagan tradition speaking of the time where seasons transition into shorter days, longer nights, and colder times -- physically, spiritually, and mentally. Traditionally celebrated at Samhain (Halloween), this metaphor tells us that the veil between worlds is lifted, lines blurred, and what burrows beneath the surface of our conscious awareness flows a bit more freely. 

Leeway grantee Eva Wŏ (LTA '17) is a co-curator of Lifting the Veil, and several Leeway community members are performers, speakers, or featured artists: Monika Estrella Negra (ACG '18), Eppchez! (ACG '18), and Wit López (ACG '18).

The themes for each respective day are:

November 2: 'The Shadow Self'

November 3: 'The Left Hand Path'

November 4: 'The Light Within' 

For a full lineup of speakers, artists, performers, and vendors and to purchase tickets, visit Lifting The Veil's Facebook page.

Leeway Foundation Launches TransForming Inclusion: An Organizational Guide

October 30, 2018

CONTACT:

Erin Mooney
Moxy PR

267­-788­-2196; erin@moxypr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

LEEWAY FOUNDATION LAUNCHES GROUNDBREAKING TRANSFORMING INCLUSION GUIDE

Guide Offers Guidance to Organizations for Trans­-Affirming and Inclusive Policies and Practices

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Through its support of artists and programming, Leeway Foundation has long demonstrated its commitment to trans affirmation and inclusion. Now, in its 25th year, the organization introduces TransForming Inclusion: An Organizational Guide—a resource aimed at helping peer organizations, funders and cultural organizers develop trans­-affirming and inclusive policies, language and practices for employees, grantees, constituents and the community at large.

The document will officially be released at a Launch Event on November 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Parkway Central branch of the Philadelphia Free Library’s Skyline Room (1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103). Sponsoring event partners include William Way LGBT Community Center and CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia.

“Over a decade ago, Leeway began an internal process that would support developing an organizational culture that affirms members of the foundation’s community that identify as trans or gender nonconforming,” said Leeway executive director Denise Brown. “With the publication of TransForming Inclusion, we hope to share some of what we and our allies in this work have learned along the way as we continue the journey.”

The event is sponsored by the CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia,Philanthropy Network of Greater Philadelphia, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and the City of Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs and William Way LGBT Community Center.

There will be a moderated panel discussion between cultural leaders who have championed trans inclusion and who will share critical insights from the guide. November 13 to 17 marks national Trans Awareness Week, and Leeway hopes this event will help amplify this growing national conversation. Reception with light refreshments will follow.

Speakers will include:

• Alison Gerig, Licensed Psychotherapist and Culture Change Consultant
• Celena Morrison, Director of Programs, William Way LGBT Community Center
• Gabriel Foster, Co­-Founder & Executive Director, Trans Justice Funding Project
• Heath Fogg Davis, Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, Temple University
• V Varun Chaudhry, Anthropology PhD Candidate, Northwestern University and Leeway Foundation Scholar­-in­-Residence

2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the Leeway Foundation, dedicated to grantmaking and community building among artists, cultural producers, and organizers in Greater Philadelphia and TransForming Inclusion’s launch is part of a season’s worth of anniversary year events. For more information on Leeway’s 25th anniversary, visit https://www.leeway.org/about/leewayat25.

For images or interview requests, please contact Moxy PR at erin@moxypr.com or 267­-788­-2196.

EVENT INFORMATION

November 8, 3 - 5pm

TRANSFORMING INCLUSION: LAUNCH EVENT & PANEL DISCUSSION
Skyline Room at the Parkway Central Library

About Leeway Foundation

The Leeway Foundation supports women and trans* artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice.

*Leeway is a trans­-affirming organization committed to gender self­-determination, and uses the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two­Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

Download the press release PDF here.

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Ezra Berkley Nepon

Who are you?

I'm Ezra Berkley Nepon. I write, make theater, and perform. The most tangible version of my writing is two books: Dazzle Camouflage: Spectacular Theatrical Strategies for Resistance and Resilience (2016) and Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue: A History of New Jewish Agenda (2012). Lately, my creative writing and performance has mostly been about devising and producing theatrical productions around the Jewish holidays of Purim and Sukkot, with my local Jewish Voice for Peace chapter. I'm passionate about musical theater, Jewish theater and comedy histories (and current developments), theater design choices, and a theatrical methodology of Ethnographic Surrealism developed by Jenny Romaine (referencing a concept developed by scholar/historian James Clifford).  My writing has often been non-fiction, often documenting subcultural Jewish and queer/trans stories, but my hope is to shift more into the realm of magical realism that I feel myself moving towards. 

In another part of my life, there's a theme of organizing around moving money, which also brings me into relationship with Leeway. Many (20!) years ago this looked like co-founding a small public foundation called The Self-Education Foundation, which brought me into relationship with the early young donor organizing work of Resource Generation, while also learning/practicing fundraising skills through ACT UP Philly, the Philadelphia Direct Action Network, and then R2K Legal following the 2000 Republican National Convention protests, arrests, and legal battles. Over about seven years, Self-Education Foundation raised and distributed over $30,000 in small grants and served as fiscal sponsor for many other programs. My fundraising trajectory lead to working as Director of Grassroots Fundraising at Sylvia Rivera Law Project for three years in NYC, and then at William Way LGBT Center when I came back to Philly. Since 2016, I serve as Program Officer of Global Philanthropy Project, a collaboration of funders and philanthropic advisors working to expand global philanthropic support to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in the Global South and East.

What is your relationship to the Leeway community?

I received an ACG grant in 2007, which supported a research process that resulted in a play called "Between Two Worlds: Who Loved You Before You Were Mine." In 2014, I received the Transformation Award, which I used in part to complete and publish my Dazzle Camouflage book. I also applied for the LTA in 2013 and didn't receive it - so sharing this reminder that it can be worth the effort to receive feedback and keep applying!

Over the years, I've worked with Leeway in a few other ways: co-facilitating a workshop with Yaba Blay on crowdfunding strategy; being a Change Partner to other grantees a few times; hosting workshops and other cultural events for a few different groups in the Leeway meeting space; last year I was one of three members of the grant advisory committee for the WOO grants; and a few days ago I co-hosted the Changemakers Cabaret with Catzie Vilayphonh (ACG ’14, 10, LTA ’10, WOO ’02). Mostly my relationship to this is that I LOVE being part of the Leeway community, LOVE being part of this network of transformative, creative, brilliant world changers. 

How has Leeway played a role in your evolution? (And how have you seen Leeway evolve in your time involved in the community?)

I was somewhere on the fringes of the Leeway transition processes that included hiring Denise [Brown] as Director and clarifying its values around both racial justice and trans inclusion -- I remember I would hear little pieces of update about it from friends closer to the work. Through my Self-Education Foundation grantmaking and fundraising work and through fundraising for the RNC protests, I had met Denise in her role at Bread and Roses Fund and basically begged her for advice - I really remember her generosity at that time, and I had experienced her powerful leadership. I knew that her new role at Leeway would be a gamechanger in the possibilities of this organization as a resource for Philadelphia. I didn't really know it would have such an impact on my own life. I remember that Matty Hart (who I still work closely with) helped me strategize about applying for the ACG grant I received, explaining that I could ask for funding for a research phase and didn't have to know the whole project yet. It was mind-blowing to me that an institution would trust artist’s process that way. Receiving the grant was deeply affirming, and lead to one of the most important creative processes in my life, which continues to have ripple effects now over 10 years later. Later, Leeway invited me to a "Learn more about the LTA process" event designed to encourage ACG grantees to apply for the Transformation Award - I wouldn't have applied without that encouragement. The application process and receiving the award enabled me to shift the ways I take myself seriously as an artist. 

Where do you see Leeway going in the next 25 years?

Leeway really is a radical model in the world of philanthropy. From where I sit in conversations about global funding flows, it's clear that this is a very special, transformative community and that the story would be impactful across many circles. I would love to see Leeway's leadership expand across bigger regional, national, and international stages over the coming years. 

If Leeway were a playlist, what song would you be?

The first that comes to mind is "22nd Century", which is a powerful, prophetic song written and first recorded by Bahamian musician Exuma in 1971 and also recorded by Nina Simone in that year, which foretells a timeline of simultaneous cataclysm and liberation from the 1970s through the end of the 21st Century. I first heard the song being sung by Justin Vivian Bond in the mid-2000s and it has always cracked something open for me, and I think it really tells different layers of a story across the different artists singing it.

Leeway @ 25: Interview with One Is Part Of The Many

Who are you?

Anula Shetty: I am a filmmaker. I used to define myself by my profession, but now I’ve expanded to identifying myself as an artist, a mother, an activist…I guess that’s my answer.

Michelle Angela Ortiz: Well, I usually say a visual artist and community arts educator, but if I were to really think about things I produce or make, I do large scale public art installations surrounded around, or resulting in a mural or temporary install centered around community stories and like, how I feel connected to those community stories. You know, like Anula -- a mother, a child of immigrants, a person who lives in the city, but...I just remember my mom always saying, “In Colombia we do this, and in America they do this,” you know, with this “they” – a sort of distance, not realizing that we are also sort of Americans in this way; so kind of growing up in that duality, and I think that that’s also the stuff that I am interested in, in terms of stories…I love having conversations with individuals who are like, “I don’t really have a story to tell”, and then three hours later, you have this beautiful book. 

Betty Leacraft: My name is Betty Leacraft, fiber/mixed media artist, fiber textiles. I go by the pronoun she/her; I got used to that by way of learning Leeway’s way of doing things. I have not been a mother, but I feel that way every time I have a class of students, so I say I’m their mom for the period of time that I have had them, and that goes for kids or adults. I consider myself an indigenous West Philadelphian, it’s only recently that I’ve been living in North Philadelphia, the last two years. And I guess I would say my work revolves a lot around culture, the appreciation of it, the awareness of it, and the capability of interacting with diverse groups because I love interacting with different cultures, and you know, you gotta eat their food, and know their textile traditions, in particular…I like to address issues of identity, heritage, cultural symbolism, nature, community, and cultural preservation. 

What is your role in or relationship to the Leeway Community?

Michelle: Well, I can say that the very first grant that I received as an independent professional artist outside of school was a Leeway grant, and so that was a huge deal. I was still a studio artist doing work in my studio, but there was a huge component of my work in communities and public art and being in my community and also having that social justice component, so when Leeway came into the picture, I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is for me! This is what I do.” To see that there was funding and a process that was really thoughtful, not just around our product but also the way we really do our work, was so refreshing and it was so great to really have that support. I say Leeway was my good luck charm because I really had my first grants, I was able to get better in my grant writing in how I speak about my work, be connected to other artists doing work in the same field and to have a sense of family and community...you know, I'm not really doing this by myself or facing this obstacles on my own. This is what Leeway means to me. 

Anula: I feel very similar. It wasn’t my first grant, but I used to give grants as an artist and serve on grant panels and in those conversations, there would always be one person who would say “But is this really art?” and I always found it ridiculous that that was even something to talk about. It was so great with Leeway, like what Michelle was just talking about with all these grants... you really feel drawn to it and working with it, suddenly you had a voice and it felt like you were being respected and acknowledged. It was so amazing to be in the art world, and to have this work with communities with social change be honored in that way, so yeah, I just remember how freeing it was to write a grant and talk about my passions working with community without having to explain why it is art and just have it taken as a given that this is valuable.

Betty: I began to think of Leeway as extended family, because the first grant that I got through Leeway was the WOO in [1999], I was scared to death because I didn’t know if I would be eligible, but I was part of this amazing traveling group and it was going all these wonderful places and it was a floor installation to compliment what was going on the wall...I wrote the grant based on the fact that I had to put the installation up and I got it and it was great. So from that point, I didn’t apply again until around 2006… And what I got is that they don’t want to hear the jargon, they don’t need the magic words, they really care about the feeling and the heart, and I felt a great comfort in that. I didn’t realize what I was doing was called art and change work; it didn’t have a name, so once art and social change became a phrase quote unquote on everyone lips, I was like, “Oh, this is what it’s called that I do!” And now, all the people who were saying all that stuff way back then are trying to do art and change work, and I’m like… yeah, but you’re only doing this because you think it’s the next big thing; this has been what I have been doing without knowing that that is eventually what it would be called. So, the fact that this organization really fosters this kind of, art expression, project, formulation and that kind of commitment to that kind of practice, it meant that I didn’t have to care about what anybody else thought.

What have you seen change at Leeway in the time you have been involved in the community? What does that mean in terms of doing this 25th anniversary exhibit for an organization that has gone through so many changes? Have you all worked together before?

Unison: No! 

A: We’ve always admired each other’s work, but this is the first time we’ve gotten to collaborate. 

So was it Denise [Brown] that asked you to work together? 

A: No! I think it was Michelle! 

Oh, that’s right! She asked you who you wanted to work with. 

M: So it came out of this conversation with Denise -- and this is what I love with the foundation -- we had this idea of honoring grantees with names, and then I had this vision of people moving through a space that is like fabric, like flowing fabric that could have like names and then I thought of sounds later on…and Denise said, “Would you like to collaborate with someone?” I said to myself, “Who would I like to collaborate with!?” So I thought of Betty and Anula, because I had already been thinking about like fabric and sound and projection, and I thought about who is already good at doing that, and oh they’re already grantees and I really admire their work, and them as people…I didn’t even have any second choices, I was just like, “I hope Betty and Anula say yes.”

A: Yeah, it was amazing! Just right from our first meeting, it was incredible how the ideas started flowing like, how can people flow, move through this space…we started talking about rituals and my father had recently passed away when we first started meeting, so I was very much thinking about the Hindu death ritual, and the symbolism of every direction of movement and how important that is and then we also were talking about other kinds of rituals and ideas and I just really felt like we were all really on the same [page]… it was a really fascinating, exciting process.

B: The thing I find really interesting is that we are all very grounded in our cultural identities and ways of doing things and you know, I don’t know everything that’s going on in their cultures, but I know enough where we have parallels, where we are comfortable right away in terms of talking. When we sat down and thought about this honoring of ancestors at Leeway, there are elements of all of our cultures that we could bounce off one another for ideas or ever just for additional knowledge, and I appreciate the fact that they’re so accomplished with what they do and I’m thinking if I’m included in this group, I’m pretty good!

So with Leeway and the last 25 years of the organization, what themes about Leeway are you trying to pull out?

M: Well, I think the title of the installation is from the [Leeway] vision poem, which really stood out when we were reading it. We were trying to figure out where are we trying to base our thought process…that’s where I really appreciated these conversations with Anula and Betty because there’s never been a “wait don’t do this don’t do that”; it’s always constantly flowing and so the “One is Part of the Many”. I think it really relates to what we each individually contribute to family, to community, that’s what we bring to the table.

A: Yeah, that line really stood out to us. I think what’s really nice about “One is Part of the Many” is that it resonates in so many ways, in both our art and our communities, and it’s tied so closely to what Leeway and what Leeway artists are doing… it is this idea that we’re not going for this huge blockbuster production; it’s about transforming the lives of one person, even if you reach one that’s enough, creating change in that way.

M: I think it also echoes what we talked about in terms of ancestors and what we carry with us and what I think is that with every step, they are walking with me. So even in terms of our exhibit, we’ll be honoring grantees that have passed on, acknowledging their contributions, and acknowledging even how important that is… like, if Leeway didn’t exist where else would we be recognized? And how do we continue to honor and elevate ourselves and our communities and the people who continue to make that change?

So, the next question is what you see about the future of Leeway.

B: I’m not sure I can answer that because if I could I could be in another line of work! But I think what they're going to do is continue to evolve in whatever the various ways they continue to be. An organization like this, I think, isn’t going to go backwards. It’s only going to go forwards. And because Leeway has embraced so many different types of people -- culturally, in gender diversity, including not being accused of ageism, as so many places do. So I just think they’ll find other ways to further develop their mission and probably some new things will come, I just don’t know what they’ll be because looking back over their years, there are things now that have been put in place that weren't there may be ten years ago. So, I just see a constant evolution in whatever way that will manifest. 

M: And another thing I hope to see expand and grow is to continue the conversations around Art and Social Change work in spaces where we’re not always represented and I mean I know they’ve done the collaboration with Moore, but what does this mean for the next generation of women, and I’m not talking about generation in terms of age, I really mean wherever you when you enter doing this kind of work… I guess in the sense mentorship, how are we still connected to one another?

If Leeway were a playlist, what song would you be?

B: This is an old one from a group called Sly and the Family Stone and they have this song You Can Make It If You Try… we used to jam to that one cause Sly Stone had this rhythm thing going on where the only reason you couldn’t dance is because you didn’t have feet and even that might not stop you from moving around in your chair! 

A: So for the playlist, all I can think about is a Hindi song Aap Jaisa Koi…it’s a song which I heard when I was growing up in the 70s, with this singer from Pakistan…no not Pakistan, London! Her name was Nazia, and I just remembered all the girls wanted to be her, [because] she was so confident, and the meaning of the song is, “If someone like you were to come into my life, that would make it”, that’s basically the translation... and I feel that way with Leeway, just having Leeway as part of my life is transformative. 

M: The first one that came to my mind -- which is hilarious--  is I Will Survive, but the Celia Cruz version, and I just love the way Celia sang it…you know, you hear I Will Survive and you’re like, “okay, I’ve heard this so many times”, but when you hear Celia sing it the way that she did -- she sang it at one of her very last concerts -- and you hear this strength, this feminine energy, and it was one of the first things that popped in my mind.

Leeway Foundation Announces Fall 2018 Art and Change Grantees

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $36,800 in grants to 16 women and trans artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues.

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Greater Philadelphia region. The grant supports artists practicing a variety of disciplines including performance, crafts and textiles, and visual arts.

The Fall 2018 Art and Change grantees are (in alphabetical order):

Bonita Elaine Taylor of Chester, Crafts & Textiles, $2,500

Claudia Peregrina of Point Breeze, Crafts & Textiles, $2,500

Cybee Bloss of Southwest Philadelphia, Media Arts/Literary Arts, $2,500

Danny of Chester, Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Eliza Leighton of West Philadelphia, Visual Arts/Performance, $2,500

Eppchez! of Germantown, Crafts & Textiles/Visual Arts, $2,500

Here and Now Zines of West Philadelphia, Literary Arts, $2,500

LaTierra of Cedar Park, Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Marie Alarcón of Belmont, Media Arts/Performance, $2,500

Mariya Oneby of Overbrook, Literary Arts, $1,800

pep marie of Southwest Philadelphia, Crafts & Textiles/Literary Arts, $2,500

Sarah Muehlbauer of Germantown, Performance/Media Arts, $2,500

Shreshth Khilani of Cedar Park, Performance, $2,500

Ya Shoosh of North Philadelphia, Media Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500

Yolonda Johnson-Young of Carroll Park, Media Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel.  The Fall 2018 review panel consisted of cultural organizer and facilitator Andrea Jácome, filmmaker and sound artist Catherine Pancake (LTA ‘17, WOO ‘17, ACG ‘16), and multidisciplinary artist Petra Floyd.

Applications are made available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling (215) 545-4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at (215) 545-4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit www.leeway.org.

###

Download the Press Release here.

Changemaker’s Cabaret Returns To Celebrate Leeway’s Artists and Cultural Producers

October 1, 2018 

CONTACT:

Erin Mooney
Moxy PR
267­-788­-2196; erin@moxypr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CHANGEMAKERS CABARET CELEBRATES LEEWAY FOUNDATION’S IMPACT ON ARTS, CULTURE AND COMMUNITY ON OCTOBER 16

As a leading supporter of women, trans, and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers working at the intersection of art and social justice, Leeway Foundation has proudly promoted works across genres for the past 25 years. In celebration of its milestone 25th anniversary, Leeway presents Changemakers Cabaret, an evening of multidisciplinary performance by Leeway grant recipients on October 16, from 7 to 10pm at the Ibrahim Theater at International House Philadelphia.

The program, curated by former Leeway associate director Maori Karmael Holmes (ACG ’16, ’06,’05, LTA ’06) will be hosted by award­winning spoken word poet, writer and performance artist Catzie Vilayphonh (ACG '14, '10, LTA '10, WOO '02) and performer, writer and organizer Ezra Berkley Nepon (LTA '14, ACG '07), featuring performances by:

• poet Cynthia Dewi Oka (LTA '17, ACG '16)
• actor and dancer Judith Sachs (WOO '17, ACG '15)
• drummer LaTreice Branson (LTA '16)
• poet Ursula Rucker (LTA '08, ACG '08)
• performer and visual artist Wit López (ACG '18)
• with music by Chaska Sofia aka dj precolumbian (ACG '16, '11, LTA '13)

“We are thrilled to be able to bring the cabaret back after a 10­-year hiatus with this year’s amazing line­-up of grantees who represent the many different communities and cultural practices the Foundation exists to support,” said Denise Brown, Leeway executive director.

For more information on the Changemakers Cabaret, visit https://www.leeway.org/events/changemakers_cabaret, For more information on Leeway’s 25th anniversary, visit www.leeway.org/at25.

For images or interview requests, please contact Moxy PR at erin@moxypr.com or 267­-788­-2196.

About Leeway Foundation
The Leeway Foundation supports women and trans* artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice.

*Leeway is a trans­-affirming organization committed to gender self­-determination, and uses the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two­Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

Download the press release PDF here.

Leeway Foundation Celebrates 25 Years with MAKING SPACE, a new Exhibition at The Galleries at Moore

August 23, 2018

CONTACT:

Erin Mooney
Moxy PR
267-788-2196; erin@moxypr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LEEWAY FOUNDATION CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH MAKING SPACE, A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE GALLERIES AT MOORE

2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the Leeway Foundation , dedicated to grantmaking and community building among artists, cultural producers, and organizers in Greater Philadelphia. In celebration of this milestone year, Leeway announces the opening of MAKING SPACE: Leeway @ 25, an exhibition at The Galleries at Moore, running from September 20 through December 8, 2018.

“It is an honor to feature over 100 artists within this exhibition,” said Leeway executive director, Denise Brown. "From the collaborative installations and the work on the walls, to the Leeway library, showcasing a variety of books, zines and prints, we are so grateful for the contributions our grantees have made to MAKING SPACE as an expression of their continuing support of the mission of the foundation. These artists and cultural producers use art and culture, not only as declarations of resistance and protest, but as a chorus of voices, expressing the richness of all cultures and human experience,” Brown said.

The exhibition opens on September 20 at Moore College of Art & Design with a conversation featuring Lambent Foundation Executive Director Michelle Coffey, world-renowned South African photographer Zanele Muholi, and artists from The Women’s Mobile Museum. Moore’s Socially-Engaged Art MA/MFA program has worked with Leeway and the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PPAC) to present this dialogue with Muholi, who has developed a new project with Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and 10 local artists that make up The Women’s Mobile Museum. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is preferred but not required.

The exhibition features a curated selection of artworks by former Leeway grant recipients, as well as historical materials that recognize Leeway’s impact. Moore alumni and faculty are represented in the exhibition. Eighteen Moore BFA students worked with Leeway in preparation for the exhibition.

On view are works that demonstrate the powerful intersection of art, culture, community and change—the artists and visionaries who lovingly and courageously continue to “make space” for fresh stories and new realities to emerge. The exhibition encompasses collaborative works such as a front window installation titled One is Part of the Many, an altar honoring the legacy of forebears, and an installation from The Colored Girls Museum, as well as many other solo works, all by grantee artists.

Exhibiting artists include: Anula Shetty, Betty Leacraft, Michelle Angela Ortiz, Ana Guissel, Palma, Lori Waselchuk, Ruth Naomi Floyd, Syd Carpenter, Nanette Clark, Barbara Bullock, Ife Nii-Owoo, Yinka Orafidiya, Nancy Lewis Shell, Sandra Andino, Christina Johnson, Toni Kersey, Betsy Casañas, Marta Sanchez, Celestine Wilson Hughes, Denise Allen, Li Sumpter, Marie-Monique Marthol, Annie Mok, Beeta Baghoolizadeh, Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother, Eva Wō, Kerri Radley, Maria Dumlao, Mary DeWitt and Muthi Reed.

A Leeway Vision Poem by Walidah Imarisha and filmed by Anula Shetty includes contributions from grantees Andrea Walls, Boston Gordon, Debra Powell-Wright, Denice Frohman, Emily Abendroth, Indah Nuritasari, J.C. Todd, Julia Lopez, Kai Davis, Kavi Ade, Michelle Myers, Misty Sol, Mytili Jagannathan, Pat McLean, Sonia Sanchez, Susan DiPronio, Trapeta Mayson and Ursula Rucker and former Program Director Sham-e-Ali Nayeem.

Click here to download the full press release. 

Happy Birthday, Leeway: An Open Letter by Denise M. Brown

In preparing for this exhibition, we received the input of members of Leeway’s community through a series of meetings held over a period of two years. Seventy artists, organizers, curators, and other community partners (some grantees, some not) participated in these conversations and provided their perspectives on what this milestone celebration of the foundation should represent. These conversations were mostly centered on the question “What are 1 to 3 things you would expect to see at a Leeway retrospective?”— and certain themes emerged, highlighting some of the following expectations:

• * Stories of communities that aren’t often represented. What are the stories being told now that might not have been told before?
• * What are the narratives that are underneath “otherness”? What else is there besides our identity politics?
• * Commitment to work that talks about social justice
• * Multi-generational, multi-disciplinary
• * Bridge building between emerging and established artists
• * Diversity — race, class, location, discipline, level of experience, and practice
• * Not too didactic, but includes takeaways

We’ve used the occasion of this birthday to show work highlighting the stories of communities and identities that are often marginalized, work that shows us the nuances and complexities contained therein. From Beeta Baghoolizadeh’s tenderly crafted drawings of the quotidian aspects of everyday life in an environment that has been overtly politicized in our current hostile political reality; to Mary Dewitt’s large-scale portraits of women who have been caught up in a draconian narrative as their lives have intersected with the criminal justice system; to Maria Dumlao’s magnificently rendered History in RGB, a series of color-coded images that propose alternatives to systemic representations ordered by colonial narratives; to the wonderful women of The Colored Girls Museum installation, who through their vision provide a range of loving expressions of an identity most often represented as a trite stereotype; to the altar room created by Erika Guadalupe Nuñez and Ana Guissel Palma to honor ancestors — cultural, movement, and familial.

At last count, there are over 100 artists involved in this exhibition. I believe they have helped us create something that represents Leeway’s community and demonstrates through their contributions what we mean when we talk about the creative possibilities that exist at the intersection of our actions and clear intent. As I’ve watched this exhibit become realized and met with artists and partners and watched artwork being installed, I’ve found myself thinking – marveling really – that this thing we’ve been talking about for years, now less than a month away, is taking on its own life. 

The outpouring of goodwill we’ve received from artists and allies has been heartwarming and inspiring, and though I’m currently mired in the minutiae of Pantone colors, battery-operated candles, stacking chairs and labels … I want to take time to express my immense gratitude to the staff and board of Leeway and our partners at Moore, without whom this celebration would not be possible, for their unconditional support of my vision for this exhibit. And to all of the participating artists, to everyone who came to a meeting, or patiently listened to me thinking out loud, or contributed their time and intellectual capital, in any way — THANK YOU! I am grateful for your support of the Foundation’s vision and values and appreciate how when called upon you showed up without question. We look forward to celebrating with you and hope that we’ve been able to capture some of what you shared as your vision of what this could be.  

In preparing for this show, I went back to re-read Maria Rosario Jackson’s 2011 report Building Community: Making Space for Art where she states, “Good places to live have more to offer than adequate housing, transportation, jobs, schools, and commercial amenities. They have spaces in which residents can express themselves creatively, connect with one another, and engage in experiences that expand their intellect, imagination, creativity, critical thinking, and even their capacity for compassion and empathy — spaces in which art happens. These spaces can help transform residents into neighbors, mundane experiences into extraordinary and inspiring occurrences, and bland and monotonous places into communities with organic identities that grow out of the history, aspirations, passion, and imaginations of the people who live there.”

More than anything, I hope this exhibit, Making Space, is a place that gives you some idea of the ways Leeway grantees utilize their practices and mastery of medium to preserve culture, build community, and create space for new narratives to emerge. It’s just a snapshot of what we’ve become and where we are today @ 25 that we hope provides a glimpse of what the future can be.

In the words of writer, educator, poet, and former Leeway staff member Walidah Imarisha:

Leeway wants to stretch the skin
The idea
Of art
To clothe all of our bodies
So that the creativity
That flows through all of us
And bursts like capillaries
Has space.

— Excerpted from the Leeway Vision Poem 

Inspired by and with input from the Leeway Foundation

Ashe!

Denise M. Brown

Philadelphia, 2018

Leeway Foundation Celebrates 25 Years with MAKING SPACE

August 23, 2018

CONTACT:

Erin Mooney
Moxy PR
267-788-2196; erin@moxypr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

LEEWAY FOUNDATION CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH MAKING SPACE, A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE GALLERIES AT MOORE

2018 marks the ​25th anniversary ​of the ​Leeway Foundation​, dedicated to grantmaking and community building among artists, cultural producers, and organizers in Greater Philadelphia. In celebration of this milestone year, Leeway announces the opening of ​MAKING SPACE: Leeway @ 25,​ an exhibition at ​The Galleries at Moore​, running from September 20 through December 8, 2018.

“It is an honor to feature over 100 artists within this exhibition,” said Leeway executive director, Denise Brown. "From the collaborative installations and the work on the walls, to the Leeway library, showcasing a variety of books, zines and prints, we are so grateful for the contributions our grantees have made to ​MAKING SPACE ​as an expression of their continuing support of the mission of the foundation. These artists and cultural producers use art and culture, not only as declarations of resistance and protest, but as a chorus of voices, expressing the richness of ​allcultures and human experience,” Brown said.

The exhibition opens on September 20 at Moore College of Art & Design with a conversation featuring Lambent Foundation Executive Director Michelle Coffey, world-renowned South African photographer Zanele Muholi, and artists from The Women’s Mobile Museum. Moore’s Socially-Engaged Art MA/MFA program has worked with Leeway and the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PPAC) to present this dialogue with Muholi, who has developed a new project with Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and 10 local artists that make up The Women’s Mobile Museum. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is preferred but not required.

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The exhibition features a curated selection of artworks by former Leeway grant recipients, as well as historical materials that recognize Leeway’s impact. Moore alumni and faculty are represented in the exhibition. Eighteen Moore BFA students worked with Leeway in preparation for the exhibition.

On view are works that demonstrate the powerful intersection of art, culture, community and change—the artists and visionaries who lovingly and courageously continue to “make space” for fresh stories and new realities to emerge. The exhibition encompasses collaborative works such as a front window installation titled One is Part of the Many, an altar honoring the legacy of forebears, and an installation from The Colored Girls Museum, as well as many other solo works, all by grantee artists.

Exhibiting artists include: Anula Shetty, Betty Leacraft, Michelle Angela Ortiz, Ana Guissel Palma, Lori Waselchuk, Ruth Naomi Floyd, Syd Carpenter, Nanette Clark, Barbara Bullock, Ife Nii-Owoo, Yinka Orafidiya, Nancy Lewis Shell, Sandra Andino, Christina Johnson, Toni Kersey, Betsy Casañas, Marta Sanchez, Celestine Wilson Hughes, Denise Allen, Li Sumpter, Marie-Monique Marthol, Annie Mok, Beeta Baghoolizadeh, Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother, Eva Wō, Kerry Radley, Maria Dumlao, Mary DeWitt and Muthi Reed.

A Leeway Vision Poem by Walidah Imarisha and filmed by Anula Shetty includes contributions from grantees Andrea Walls, Boston Gordon, Debra Powell-Wright, Denice Frohman, Emily Abendroth, Indah Nuritasari, J.C. Todd, Julia Lopez, Kai Davis, Kavi Ade, Michelle Myers, Misty Sol, Mytili Jagannathan, Pat McLean, Sonia Sanchez, Susan DiPronio, Trapeta Mayson and Ursula Rucker and former Program Director Sham-e-Ali Nayeem.

For more information on Leeway’s 25th anniversary, visit https://www.leeway.org/about/leewayat25​.

For images or interview requests, please contact Moxy PR at ​erin@moxypr.com​ or 267-788-2196.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

September 20, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
MAKING SPACE: LEEWAY @ 25 OPENING RECEPTION
(Conversation at 5:30pm; Reception at 7:30pm)
The Galleries at Moore

October 6, 10am - 5pm
LEEWAY DAY: Artist Talks, Tours, and Workshops
The Galleries at Moore

October 16, 7 - 10pm
CHANGEMAKERS CABARET
The Ibrahim Theater at International House Philadelphia

November 1 - 30
REEL CHANGE: LEEWAY'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY FILM FESTIVAL
PhillyCAM​ (Comcast Xfinity 66/ 966HD/ 967 and Verizon FIOS 29/30)
Everywhere on Roku and online
Shorts on air Monday through Friday 10:00pm-11:00pm; Features on air Saturdays & Sundays.

November 8, 3 - 5pm
TRANSFORMING INCLUSION: LAUNCH EVENT & PANEL DISCUSSION
Skyline Room at the Parkway Central Library

November 9, 11am - November 10, 1pm
25 HOURS FOR 25 YEARS: A RADIOTHON
The Galleries at Moore Radio

December 2, 2 - 5pm
LOOKING FORWARD: THE FUTURE OF LEEWAY COMMUNITY MEETING
Moore College of Art and Design - Stewart Auditorium

December 5, 6:00 - 8:00pm
THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE: FINDING PLEASURE IN THE AGE OF #METOO
A Conversation with #MeToo founder Tarana Burke
Temple Contemporary

December 7, 6:30 - 9pm
MAKING SPACE: LEEWAY @ 25 CLOSING RECEPTION
The Galleries at Moore

About Leeway Foundation
The ​Leeway Foundation​ supports women and trans* artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice.

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and uses the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

About Moore College of Art & Design
Moore College of Art & Design educates students for careers in art and design. Founded in 1848, Moore is the nation's first and only women's visual arts college for undergraduates. The College's career-focused environment and professionally active faculty form a dynamic community in the heart of Philadelphia's cultural district, surrounded by world-class museums. The College offers ten Bachelor of fine arts degrees for women and four coeducational graduate programs. In addition, Moore provides many valuable opportunities in the arts through The Galleries at Moore, Continuing Education Certificate programs for professional adults, the acclaimed Young Artists Workshop, The Art Shop and Sculpture Park. For more information about Moore, visit ​www.moore.edu

Download the press release.

Leeway @ 25: Interview With Linda Lee Alter

Who are you?

In Buddhist Philosophy, a person has No Beginning and No End.  All living beings, plants, and minerals are part of one great whole.  In Science, a person has no boundaries and is just a loose grouping of moving atoms.

I believe in both the Buddhist and Scientific definitions of being all one and try to act in the belief that we are all one Family.

In the more traditional sense, I can be identified in many ways:  Woman, I-She-Her, Mother, Mother-in-Law, Sister, Aunt, Great Aunt, Jewish, Buddhist, Old, Lesbian, American, Philadelphian, Artist, Art Collector, Plump, Employer, Detail-Oriented, Cat-Person, Colleague, Philanthropist, Partially-Disabled, Democrat, Collaborative, Humorous (sometimes), Optimist.

In the mid 1980’s, thanks to the hard work of my family, I became financially well-off.  Strongly believing in the Jewish tradition of tzedakah—I felt it was my duty and privilege to share what I had with others and wanted to use what I’d been given in caring and thoughtful ways.  As an artist, it felt natural to focus my giving in the arts.  Several years were spent participating in local not-for-profit arts groups, and in serving on the Boards of arts organizations.  But that did not feel like enough.

I started to collect art when I was financially able; I just started going to galleries and I’d buy what I’d like and what I could afford, and about 6 months in, I realized I’d bought art entirely by men! And it wasn’t that I was seeking out men, it was just that I bought what I saw and liked in the galleries and that’s what was in the galleries…women weren’t represented. And I thought to myself, “If I’m a woman artist and even I didn’t realize that, I’ve got to do something!” 

I made it my mission, from the very beginning, to collect art by women.  I knew it would take many years for me to build a significant collection that museums would be interested in acquiring.  But I was determined not to let the art museum that would get the collection “cherry pick”—selecting only art by well-known artists and rejecting art by artists less well known. I wanted to find a museum enthusiastic about the entire collection—the art by academically trained artists and self-taught artists, the well known and unknown, and art in all kinds of mediums.

I was told by several art consultants... if I gave the art to a major institution like the Smithsonian, it would be “a drop in the bucket.”  A safe place for the art, but only a small portion of the art would likely be shown, and only shown infrequently.  However, if I gave the collection to a more modest-size institution—one that was moving in the direction of greater diversity and inclusion—my collection could be significant enough in size and focus that it could help the institution continue to go in that direction. So it could be transformational in some sense.  For more than a quarter of a century, I continued to build the collection. And in 2010, after several years of exploring possible options, I gave my entire collection of Art by Women to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

What made you want to work with women specifically when you founded the Leeway Foundation?

Well, I'm a woman. I grew up in the 40s and 50s when women subordinated themselves to men… I mean, I lived that way, that’s what I knew. When I got married, the idea was to be “the moon to my husband's sun.” When I decided to start Leeway, I wanted it to be for and about women, because I knew they didn't have any type of advantage in any field. 

One morning in 1990, while eating my breakfast oatmeal, Light dawned!  “I’m an artist. I know, first-hand, that women artists don’t have opportunities equal to male artists. I’ll create a foundation to recognize, encourage and help support local women artists!”

So, I did.  Of course, it was only possible with the assistance of many others.  Ella King Torrey, founder of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, gave me encouragement. Virginia P. Sikes, Esquire, incorporated the Foundation and served on the Board for many years.  Charlene Longnecker and Suzanne Cunningham, who were early Board members, were very supportive.  Edna Andrade was an inspiration.  Barbara Silzle and Denise Brown championed Leeway as Executive Directors.  And my daughter, Sara Milly, was essential as adviser, and as leader and catalyst when she became President of Leeway.  

From the very start, and as the years went by, many other people were important in helping Leeway evolve.  We all learned as we went along.  And we had much to learn. Yet from the start, we could see we were making a difference in the lives of women artists. 

What did it mean to found this organization and then give up power? What did it mean for you to make that decision and what was challenging?

From the beginning, the Board, Staff, Advisory Board and I wanted to reach out to women artists of color and other less well-represented artists.  However, the original Board of Directors was composed of friends of mine.  We had good intentions, but we were all middle-aged, middle-class, white women.  We did not know what we did not know.  And we did not know how to reach out to the people we most wanted to serve.

When Sara came on the Board, and especially when she became President of the Board after me, she brought the gifts of broad vision and understanding of the need for major change.  Working together with the support of Board and Staff—Sara brought in consultants, and representatives from local organizations, who were already doing work similar to what we wanted to do, to give us advice and training. 

There was a very lot to learn.  We had to acknowledge what we didn’t know, our misconceptions, and our mistakes.  We had to learn about ourselves and learn new ways of interacting.  Transitions, even the best ones, have difficult aspects. Change is hard—even when necessary, wished for, positive, and successful. 

Also, back then, I was not knowledgeable about the gender identity and sexual orientation spectrum.  But I did know that all of us in our country, except white men, were under-represented in the arts and sciences and medicine and politics and just about all other fields of endeavor.  And I wanted to help make things more equal. 

Under Sara’s leadership, and with my enthusiastic affirmation, and the committed Board and Staff—change, positive change, happened!! The composition of the Board and Staff changed. We became more diverse and inclusive. We began making grants to women and trans artists.  Then to women and trans artists working for social change. And now Leeway supports women and trans artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. 

At each step of the way, when changes were proposed to make Leeway more inclusive, I was glad. Reaching out more broadly has always been what I wanted to do but had not known how to fully accomplish.  

So, you talked about the major art pieces that really informed how you think about change?

I remember going to see Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party when it was first on view in New York in 1979.  It was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. To be surrounded by those shockingly beautiful visual symbols of so many strong creative amazing women, from ancient times and throughout history. To have the intimate parts of a woman’s body be celebrated so openly through art. It was life-changing, to realize that the efforts of hundreds of women working together had brought into being this complex, well-researched multimedia work of art and love—making visible women’s profound contributions to the world, and women’s beauty and power. The Dinner Party showed me how women through the ages had been brave in many different ways. The experience helped me to be brave. To take risks. To believe that I could make a difference. 

The Guerrilla Girls, with their provocative message and art and costumes, tell truth to power.  And they remind us that the art world is like a private club, where women and minorities are often not welcome. They were very well-respected artists who felt they needed that disguise to be able to speak out, otherwise they’d be ostracized, or they’d really be forced out of any positions of power that they had. The disguises really helped the message. Seeing The Guerrilla Girls was really wonderful…the forcefulness and the visual images, I really admired that greatly. I’m introverted and shy and second-guess myself…but these strong women, these strong artists, helped me to change and helped me to help other artists.

Can you offer advice to people in positions of privilege who want to change leadership and decision-making power?

I can only speak from my own limited experience in starting the Leeway Foundation and in building a Collection of Art by Women. 

Choose to contribute and to help others in an area that is of great importance in your own life.  Focus your efforts in an area you know and love.  

Choose people to help you with similar personal values, but with different points of view.  Choose people whom you can trust, and who will tell you the truth, even if it is not what you want to hear.  Choose people who know more than you do.  Choose hard workers with a sense of humor.  Make sure that the people you want to help have a major presence “at the table.”  Choose people who enjoy collaboration and are kind.  Choose people who believe in the Golden Rule. Know that if you commit to this new venture, your mission will take over your life for a very long while. You will need to be “all in” to sustain your efforts over time.

Be able to let go.  Be aware that you are not integral to the work successfully continuing. Let others take over when it is time—when others can fulfill the mission you envisioned better than you.  

In speaking about Leeway and my part in its creation—I’ve often used the metaphor of birthing and raising a child—and knowing that when your child is grown—you need to let them go off on their own to lead their own life.  Love them but let them go.

How would you see Leeway playing a role in your own personal transformation?

Leeway has taught me humility.  It has helped me to be brave.  Leeway has helped me to know what I do not know—and helped me be more open to and understanding of others.  It has given me the opportunity to meet and work with and learn from people I greatly admire.  Leeway has allowed me a window into the lives and art of many talented people committed to improving the lives of others.  Leeway has taught me to listen to others, and to listen to my own heart. Leeway has allowed me to be useful in the world.

Looking back, I see that all the time and energy and resources I gave to Leeway—and all the uncertainty and struggles and change—have been worth it.  I can see that my dream of helping other women artists has evolved—and now is so much more.  Others have made Leeway’s mission their mission too.  And Leeway is now much more inclusive, and better at helping others through the arts, than I could ever have hoped.  That is the joy.

Where do you see Leeway in the next twenty-five years?

I don’t know how Leeway will change in the next quarter century.  I have no crystal ball.  Hopefully, Leeway will continue to encourage and support all kinds of people to express themselves through art, and will continue to use art to help people accept one another more fully, and will continue to help people celebrate our differences as well as our similarities.  We are all members of the same family, after all.

Lastly, if Leeway were a playlist, what song would you be?

Billy Joel and Marlee Matlin serenading Oscar the Grouch to “Just The Way You Are”.

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Aarati Kasturirangan

Who are you? 

I am the woman whose name is too long to pronounce, but just long enough to let you know, “I am someone. I am here with you.”  I am a Hindu married to a Jew living in a Christian nation. I am my father’s daughter, and my daughter’s mother. I am an empath, so I feel you. I am the director of programs at Bread & Roses Community Fund, which means I help move money to movements. I like to sing. I like to write. I like to eat…is that such a crime?

How did you become part of the Leeway community? 

When I started at Bread & Roses in January of 2015, my first task was to help plan our town hall on Gender Justice and Mass Incarceration in partnership with Leeway Foundation. Leeway was already planning the No Selves to Defend exhibit working with Mariame Kaba and Rachel Caidor, two of my favorite people to organize with from Chicago, so I knew that I was in good company. Since then, I’ve had numerous opportunities to work with Leeway’s incredible team. Bread & Roses frequently uses the Community Room [in the Leeway office] to hold meetings, training, and workshops. We’ve partnered with Leeway on several events and are happy to be funding the revolution, each in our own way.

How has Leeway played a role in your own evolution? 

Although I have not yet applied for the Art and Change Grant, working with Leeway and Leeway grantees has encouraged me to see all the ways that my own artistic endeavors (songwriting, singing, and poetry) and activism are connected. I have also learned how much an event can benefit from having artists involved in the planning from the start. So often, activists tack artists on at the end, as an afterthought. But artists make the heart beat, and the blood pump. They are the breath in the body. 

If Leeway were a playlist, what song would you be? 

Freedom by George Michael, because “I think I’m gonna get myself happy”.

Announcing June 2018 WOO Grantee

Our Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant serves as a means to fund time-sensitive opportunities that support the art for social change practices of Leeway grantees.

We are happy to announce June’s WOO grantee, Monnette Sudler-Honesty (ACG '15, 14, LTA '11) :

Monnette Sudler-Honesty was invited to collaborate with musicians from Cuba, Mexico, and South Africa to play bass guitar as part of a project called The Peace Train: Transcending Barriers. The Peace Train is an all-woman music and dance program that promotes cultural exchange, mutual respect, constructive engagement and empowerment. Singers from Northern, Central, and Southern California will meet with singers from across the border in Mexico. Participants will come together at the border on July 21 to link arms and sing as they parade from the border to Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT). Monnette will travel to the West Coast to rehearse and perform with the other musicians as part of a culminating unity concert at CECUT.

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Heath Fogg Davis

Who are you? 

This question makes me take a deep breath and smile. It goes right to the heart of what Leeway does and does so brilliantly--which is to shift the conversation about intersectional social identities away from the objectifying question "What are you?" to the empowering question of asking people to tell their own stories in their own words. So often, the question is “What are you?”, which is dehumanizing and objectifying.  

As a biracial, black and white trans man who transitioned at 38, I've had the "What are you?" question thrown at me countless times. Often people aren't satisfied with my response to the "what" because they have a preconceived idea of my exoticism and are disappointed to hear that I'm "simply" black and white. And when my gender presentation was more androgynous than it is now, the "what" was not question but an epithet. The "who" changes over time.  

These days, I would say I'm a dad, a husband, a brother, a writer, a teacher, and a person who fights for institutional reform in a variety of organizations on behalf of marginalized communities.  

How would you define your place within Leeway's community? 

I was a board member for three years, and then I stepped down when my daughter was born, and it became hard for me to get to meetings and give the board the energy it deserved. I was heartbroken to leave. Now, I see my role as one of Leeway's biggest fans. I probably have a conversation at least once a month where I bring up Leeway as the non-profit social justice organization I most respect. I always end up saying some version of "I've never seen an organization like it that walks the talk so intentionally and consistently." Denise and the Leeway staff and board figure out ways to make the organization responsive (quickly!) to the communities it serves. There is no lip-service to diversity; they do it through actions and they never stop. 

I guess what comes to mind during my time on the board [is that] they were reaching out to Camden and South Jersey. I guess I was just struck during that time about how intentional and methodical they were. Not just doing this in a performative way, but like who do we need to talk to and how do we recruit…how do we get the word out? Just those kind of conversations about specifics. Because I’ve been in meetings where diversity plans get discussed, they were always very clear about like how do we make this happen, do we want this population to know about us, and to cultivate those relationships in real ways. 

What role has Leeway played in your own evolution? 

Leeway has played a big role in my own evolution both personally and professionally. I'm a trans man married to a queer woman who's often perceived by other people as a cisgender straight guy. I personally identify as a life-long feminist and LGBTQ advocate. When Denise and Amadee interviewed me for a position on the Board, they seemed curious about how I reconciled these layers. They asked me a lot of "who" questions, which I really appreciated because it allowed us to have a deep conversation about the herstory of Leeway and its values and mission. 

I remember thinking about that they had asked me how do I identify, not just in terms of gender identity but also racially, and I thought that was really interesting and important.  It’s not a question that I get asked a lot…I thought that was really cool because it matters for them -- just not how I might be perceived, but also how I identify and what I would bring to the organization. 

Professionally, Leeway has helped me to develop leadership skills. As a board member, I was permitted and encouraged to learn about how a non-profit operates financially. And Denise modeled a leadership style that was both inclusive and decisive. At a Summer Community Partner Gathering networking event, I met academic consultant Cathy Hannabach, who has helped me achieve my dream of helping businesses, schools, and other organizations design and implement trans-inclusive administrative policies. 

What would you like Leeway to do in the next 25 years? 

I hope it continues to innovate and keep its finger on the pulse of the communities it serves.  

If Leeway were a playlist, what song would you be?  

Strange Little Girl by Tori Amos because I definitely was one and I carried that to the board meetings. 

Leeway Foundation Announces Spring 2018 Art and Change Grantees

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $55,000 in grants to 22 women and trans artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues.

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Greater Philadelphia region. The grant supports artists practicing a variety of disciplines including performance, crafts and textiles, and visual arts.

The following 22 artists were all awarded $2,500 grants (in alphabetical order):

Ada Trillo of Mount Airy, Visual Arts

Allison Erdneka Budschalow of Germantown, Folk Arts/Media Arts

Anissa Weinraub of West Philadelphia, Performance

Arielle Julia Brown of South Philadelphia, Performance

Beeta Baghoolizadeh of West Philadelphia, Visual Arts/Media Arts

Farrah Rahaman of West Philadelphia, Media Arts/Visual Arts

Iris Devins of West Philadelphia, Media Arts

Jaq Masters of Cedar Park, Media Arts

Katie Rauth of West Philadelphia, Media Arts/Performance

Kennedy Allen of West Philadelphia, Literary Arts

Mal Cherifi of West Philadelphia, Performance

Mary DeWitt of Media, and Paulette Carrington of North Philadelphia,Visual Arts/Performance

Monika Estrella Negra of Cobbs Creek, Media Arts

Nikki Powerhouse of North Philadelphia, Performance/Literary Arts

Pratima Agrawal of Kensington, Performance

Raven Hollaway of West Philadelphia, and Sonja Nosisa Noonan-Ngwane of Haverford, Multidisciplinary

Rorie Still of Wynnefield, Visual Arts/Literary Arts

Sannii Crespina-Flores of Northern Liberties, Media Arts/Performance

Shanel Edwards of West Philadelphia, Performance/Media Arts

Wit Lopez of West Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The Spring 2018 review panel consisted of cultural organizer and facilitator Andrea Jacome, filmmaker and sound artist Catherine Pancake (LTA ‘17, WOO ‘17, ACG ‘16), and multidisciplinary artist Petra Floyd.

Applications are made available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling (215) 545-4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at (215) 545-4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs, we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit www.leeway.org.

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Download the Press Release PDF here.

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Julia López

Who are you?

I was born and raised in South Bronx, New York ... I'm Puerto Rican and I'm 55; I came of age in the 70s South Bronx, 70s New York.

Everybody had their eye on the children and the elders, people in the community that needed to be watched because of either age or were vulnerable. That’s my foundation, and then outside of the home, I loved to be outside playing. I'm the middle daughter of three sisters-- I have an older brother.

What role has Leeway played in your own evolution?

My first encounter with Leeway was as an applicant; me and Magda Martinez applied to do a residency in Denver with Su Teatro, which is a community-based theater company in Denver. So, that was my first exposure to Leeway; Barbara Silzle was the Executive Director at the time.

Next encounter was with the advisory committee and the reason why this sort of process began.  The story that sticks in my mind is when Linda Lee Alter, Leeway’s founder, shared the story about somebody she knew upfront who had applied for grant from Leeway and got the money.

This woman came up to her and said thank you so much for the grant and Linda congratulated her. She also asked her what she did with the money she was awarded? The woman said, it was so great because it helped me to pave my driveway. Linda was horrified.

In remembering our conversation, I think Linda realized that there had to be an application process and a change in how these grants were structured. Folks should actually apply, instead of just giving the money outright.

A committee was organized. Through the process, the committee members talked about what kinds of grants should be established.  We talked about hiring people to administer and manage the grant making process, separate from an ED. They (the committee) created the foundation for the grants programs that you see now. After that process, Denise Brown became the Executive Director and I became Board President.

I was the President for about four years, maybe a little more, and that process was interesting because then we had to develop the actual board and do a search.

We talked about race, class and gender. One of the big issues for me was the class issue, because throughout a period of time as a Board President, I was unemployed. I would find myself signing checks for $15,000 – it was tension for me, it was really kind of weird.

At the time, the kind of conversations that we were facing; this idea of grants for women and the dynamics of talking about the transition to becoming inclusive of trans folks. Those conversations hadn’t really been heard out loud.

I never had those conversations, even though growing up, I met all kind of folks, but I never had any kind of conversation about the life of someone who was different in regards to their gender identification. Except with my experience of my own race and class issues. And being the girl in my family that took control of my own destiny and questioned the role of my brother and the liberties he was afforded because he was the only son.

We identified a consultant to help develop the board. I think her name was Jennifer Henderson, I believe she was the board president of the Ben and Jerry Foundation at the time. It was a really intensive process and it was good, but it was just the beginning of scratching the surface. There was tension.

We came to the conclusion that we had to go through a process, to create a strategic plan and to really do some work around how we are going to build this. To look at ourselves as individuals and ourselves in our roles as ‘gatekeepers’. I don’t know if we used that language at the time, but we would become ‘gatekeepers’ even if it was for good.

I think that this process pushed me to find my own voice, not find, but claim my own voice by giving value to my experiences. My experience helps me to look at decision making in a different way; to really look at all the variables, before you make a decision that could affect somebody’s life.

I also had to check how I interacted with people and acknowledge my own biases. I’d have to be a little bit more open – yet acknowledge my feelings – I had to be open to criticism, to a reflection that involves my role, manage my feelings and then explore why I was feeling that way.

We are at 25 years of Leeway and you have reflected a lot on some really important process to get Leeway where it is now. Where do you think Leeway should go, over the next 25 years?

I think there should be a plan for leadership transition. I had been through that process with founders, when I ran a small social services agency.

You need new blood, and I think in terms of staffing there has been some movement forward. The first thing is to explore what kind of a process would it take to create that trajectory and how much time it would take. It won’t necessarily happen tomorrow. Its thinking about what are the next 25 years going to look like?-- that’s really what I'm thinking.

If Leeway was a playlist, what song would you be?

First song, this is terrible! The first lyric I thought of was, ‘I talk to myself, because I have no one to talk to’ I think that was from an ‘80s song. I was thinking about the early days when at times I felt like I was talking to myself.  (The song referenced is Talk to Myself by Christopher Williams.) The full playlist, like for the 25 years? That’s one, because they were many moments where I was like, I was talking to myself, which I think is normal in this process.

I'm also thinking of Carlos Santana. So crazy…Madonna just came into my head: “life is a mystery/everyone can stand alone, and it feels like home” …was it Like A Prayer?

I think like a prayer, talk to myself and then all the process – life is.

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Rha Goddess

Interview by V Chaudhry, Leeway Scholar-In-Residence

How did Leeway come onto your radar and what brought you to the organization? 

I knew you were going to ask me that question so I went to my head to think, “OK wait, where did I meet Denise?” I want to say I think Denise and I met at some kind of arts and culture gathering, it might have even been Creating Change by The Opportunity Agenda. This amazing advocacy organization based in New York, does an annual retreat where they bring together artists and change makers and funders and people from the for-profit sector and its really talking about all the different people who are pushing on culture. And I think that’s where I met Denise. And we just clicked. You know, just clicked; saying a lot of the same things, Amen-ing each other, fascinating each other. It began this really beautiful dialogue, and at the time, Leeway was really- Denise had been [executive director] for just a few years, and she was really wanting to bring the organization current in terms of its mission- so they had just gone through, or I think was planning on going through a major strategic planning process. She was looking at the board and doing development work and was sort of taking an audit of the foundation. And what the foundation was initially created for and in the way that the artistic community in Philadelphia had developed, even more particularly on the specific needs the artistic community of Philadelphia had developed, and she had a really keen eye for, even at the time, for people of color, for women, for genderfluid and gender nonconforming and trans LGBTQ+ folks. So that was always baked into her original thinking, as well as the way art was defined, and really starting to take a broader view of artisans in community in the context of community and the way they, through their craft, push on culture and that was sort of the opening “Hello!  We’re thinking about these things. Can you come help us think about these things?” And I agreed. And I think I took part in some type of faciliatory process, where Denise had seen me work and was like, “I think we gotta make this work.” I also knew so many artists at the time. I’m semi-retired now we’ll talk about that later, but I had been practicing for a really long time and I had made work in various kinds of contexts and always with some type of social impact purview and commitment, which was, you know, what Leeway was leaning towards. While at the same time, kind of saying, “Hey listen, there are artists that do not define themselves as activists, but they are pushing on culture and they should have a seat at the table.” There’s something about preserving the practices and crafts and ways of art making that were evolving because of technology, but there is something to preserving, you know, the craft that feels special, cultural, some of those conversations as well. This ability to really think about how they define art, define its artists, and how they think about its mission, so that they really got clear about who they were serving and who they were putting out the call to. So that was really the impetus. 

So what I am hearing is that you really helped envision the work of Denise and the organization. Denise points to you as someone who made a really big difference in putting together the Charge to Panelists before they come into the space and make decisions, make choices about which artists [receive Leeway’s grants]. Can you talk a little about that?

Yeah. A lot of that initial thinking evolved- we came up with something called The Anatomy of the Leeway Artist- and it was sort of these specific traits of what would make a Leeway artist. So, it was sort of broad in its casting, but very specific in what the artist would concern themselves with, what would the artist concern the world with, and most importantly, what would the artists concern people with, community with, thinking about the landscape of Philadelphia. That became sort of the foundation of the way the panel would be charged. Part of the thing that people bumped up against in the panels I was sitting on- it added fuel to the fire when we say it that way- how people held their own personal views and perspectives, and to what degree do people’s views and perspectives- meaning their aesthetic, their judgment of what was good art and bad art, their politics, who they think more space should be made for/ not made for, and how those things butt up against Leeway’s criteria- that was fascinating and I think that that’s what caused us to lean in and get really intentional about the charge to the panel because every time we put the panel together, it was like “there is a reason you are sitting at this table, there is a perspective, there is a purview. There is a lens that you bring, while at the same time, your lens has got to dance with our lens, because this is about our mission.” So how does that negotiation happen? That was a lot about what we talked about and what we talked though on our charge to the panel. 

So, had you had arts funding experience in the past?

I did. I had the opportunity to work with NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts), had the opportunity to work with New York Council for the Arts, so I had had the opportunity to be in the mix with other kinds of art foundations. I’ve worked with the Ford Foundation and the Future Aesthetics board - Roberta Uno’s first framework that then ultimately brought in LINC (Leveraging Investment in Creativity.). LINC (note: Launched as a ten-year initiative in 2003, LINC’s mission was to improve the ability of artists to create work, build social capital, and contribute to democratic values.) unfortunately no longer exists. I had worked with larger foundations, and with- then what they called- granting intermediaries. I had the chance to work with all kinds of those configurations and this was interesting in the sense of - in those organizations, a lot of it was different. Some of it was about framing the field- like with the Ford Foundation and Future Aesthetics- it was really about giving a voice to a future field of contemporary art that had not been named, that specifically carried the influence of hip hop artists, cause you know hip hop artists weren’t getting theater grants, they weren’t getting grants to make theater, and you know, Roberta Uno was the real pioneer in that for New World Theater back in the early 1990s Roberta was giving [inaudible] residencies, and giving Will Power residencies, and giving Rennie Harris residencies, way back in the day. And Rennie is a perfect example of a Philly-born-and-raised brilliant. I’m not telling anything you don’t know. Brilliant artist and choreographer and artistic director. Rennie was at a lot of those tables around how do you give voice to what the aesthetic was because it was a whole new art form. And I remember Rennie said, “what do you do when modern art isn’t modern anymore?” And that was like one of the big quotes. So, all that’s to say that I brought all of those purviews and perspectives, whether that was like, you know, giving voice to new art forms or incorporating new artists who didn’t look like the people who had been at the table for a really long time. Or, you know, for different kinds of initiatives, how to get art organizations to the degree that they were willing, with the times, and in some cases, innovating. 

So where did you see Leeway fit in in terms of where art was going?

Always on the edge, I think Denise wanted it on the edge. To push the edge part of it was, you know, loving the fact that they were this smaller, you know, smaller artists grantmaking organization, she had a lot of autonomy to really think about how they could push the edge and I think it was everything from developing an aesthetic for their material, their collateral, their books, to really, what aspects of community are they going to go deeper around. And their thinking was really revolutionary in terms of LGBT queer, trans, other than maybe Astraea [Lesbian Foundation for Justice], who, I don’t know the director, but that amazing J. [Bob Alotta]. So, no one really other than Astraea at the time was pushing funding for that. 

So that was the next question I was going to ask, sort of… in your world, or in the work you were doing, what did you see that was coming up in those questions? You mentioned there was this shift happening, especially early on when Denise had come in. You know, that was when the shift from being woman-focused expanded to women and trans/GNC folks. How did you witness that shift and what were some of the concerns that came up in terms of panelists and community members? 

There was a lot of concern about the different kinds of art and art making. I’ll give you an example: a thirty-five-year-old sculptor- I should say- a sculptor who had been working thirty-five years, was working on some type of unique technique, versus an artist who had been doing graffiti for three years, trying to expand their art form, to a sister that did hair and trying to extend that to someone doing really intricate things with locks and braids, and how they were identifying themselves. There was a lot of intentionality around how they define, and named, and framed so people could see themselves inside of the definition. One thing they were interested in was who feels entitled to apply and why? There was something exciting about definitions that felt really accessible.

Even to someone who had never applied for a grant before who was doing incredible work, or incredible art at the intersection of community. With the LGBTQ+ community, it was the nomenclature, you know. I don’t need to tell you the nomenclature changes every week; either it expands, or it gets different. “Tsk, tsk, tsk- Trans is not the same as bi,” or “Tsk, tsk, tsk- trans is not the same as…” You know what I’m saying?  And there’s medically transitioned and there’s blah, you know. A lot of it was, “Are we keeping up with the lexicon? Does it reflect the way the community sees itself? How do we lift up some of the most interesting art making that we think is happening in the community in a way that feels honoring instead of ‘oh yeah everything and the kitchen sink?’”

Yeah! And to think about what it means to fund trans communities… 

You know, yeah, I think in that piece, recognizing the dearth of funding. So, what happens when you give someone a grant and they’re on an island, or it puts them on an island. You know, the way they have to leverage their resources looks very different than someone who is part of a whole ecosystem and field who can go to people and get things done in a very different way. There was a lot a lot of thinking done about that- how they [Leeway] think about partnerships, how they think about potential to raise matching or invite matching opportunities, or how to coach artists to think about matching opportunities. And, you know as always, how the money was used. Are you using it to live on? To make art?

I’ve done quite a few interviews with trans and GNC folks who have received Leeway funding, and its always interesting to see how they go about planning on using the money, what it has meant to share it with their communities. I think that’s really interesting. So, you also served as a panelist or facilitator? 

Facilitator. 

What was that like? Had you already been talking to panelists? As a facilitator, what were the things that were important for you? What were some of the standout conversations? 

I mean I think even with the best intentions panels are subjective. Highly, highly, highly subjective. And I think owning that and being willing to own it. I say that because I think that sometimes when organizations put panels together, they don’t really think about that and it’s funny because when we were talking- this is really something that Denise and I were even talking about last week- about how she got invited to talk on a panel and she hadn’t really had clear guidance of how to come in. Because everyone comes into the room bringing whatever they bring. What struck me the most is that, okay, one sometimes you’re managing an ecosystem of personalities and ecosystems of different points of view, the ecosystem of how everyone gets a balanced voice. If some people are more outspoken or some people have more credentials, how do you make sure everyone gets a voice? How does this get weighed? How does the room get swayed in a decision? And I remember that on this particular panel, an artist being considered held a particular point of view that one of the panelists really, really struggled with, and the panel wound up going into deliberation for hours around how many grants the panel was going to give. The other, more provocative thing that Denise decided was that, “Yes, we can give 14 grants but we don’t have to.” And as a matter of fact, that panel did not give 14, they gave 12. And it’s like, “Oh my gosh! In arts, you would do that?” It was very provocative at the time! I don’t know how you can argue fair/not fair- if that artist makes incredible work, can a panel consider if an artist has already gotten five major grants that year? You know, spread the love? I just- I think that the thing that I walked away from coming through that process was the importance of transparency and how you, as a facilitator, encourage your panelists to get as transparent as you possibly can as early as you possibly can, so you get it out- where people are coming from at the beginning, and to the extent that panelists’ personal stories and purviews are crucial. There was context-setting work that was done so the panel got to know each other and where they were coming from before they went into deliberation, so they could do a  different kind of listening. That felt kind of crucial. I don’t know how many other people do it, but that felt important to me. The walkaway for Leeway was really taking the time to curate the panel well. Another thing I’ll say is what became really apparent is Leeway’s ability to really help artists put together strong applications. And I think that any organization that approaches grantmaking as advocates has a commitment to trying to figure out how artists do that because some are more resourced than others. So, does the person with the prettier package get the grant? How do you make choices about capacity and commitment and rigor when you think about those things?

What other ways have you been involved with Leeway since? How has Leeway grown since your involvement?

You know it’s interesting, I’ve been away from it for a while. Just check-ins with Denise. And I know that in any conversation I’m having with her, she’s always thinking about Leeway’s work in relation to the field, and I will also say that was always baked in from the beginning. It wasn’t just being intentional with how Leeway was being operated in Philadelphia, but also how Leeway was being seen in the rest of the philanthropic field nationwide and worldwide. Denise has always thought about that, which is why Leeway has a presence that is bigger than just where they sit, and I think Denise being called into the arts and culture community about the very specific things that Leeway does is part of that as well. So I haven’t. I think the last time I received an annual report was probably about three or four years ago, I want to say. And I just remember it being stunning and smiling and remembering Denise talking about wanting them to look like works of art as they are an arts organization. I remember not wanting to throw it away because it literally looked like a piece of art and I just sat there- I remember sitting there being like, “Oh yeah, Denise and her commitment,” because you know, she just thinks so carefully.

Leeway Foundation and Intercultural Journeys Launch the 12x12 Performance Series

On Wednesday, May 9, Leeway Foundation and Intercultural Journeys launch the brand new 12 x 12 performance series . On second Wednesdays through September, artists who are Leeway grant recipients will perform 12 minutes of new, and in most cases, in-progress work, followed by 12 minutes of exploration into the artist’s practice, and 12 minutes for audience questions. All performances take place in nontraditional performance venues. 

12x12 showcases Leeway’s commitment to incubating original art and providing artists with new platforms for showcasing it in a short format where people can see the performance and respond to it in real time. The series also highlights Intercultural Journeys’ commitment to fostering dialogue through the performing arts in ways that inspire and transform the audience and the artist. 
  
“This is the ideal collaboration between Leeway and Intercultural Journeys because this series allows us to support artists’ development of their work while building potential audiences and community connections,” says Denise Beek, Leeway’s Communications Director. 

“At the same time, we are fostering a deeper relationship between audiences and artists. Each event gives the audience the space and time to participate in an intimate dialogue they might not otherwise get to have, and a moment for the artist to expand on their practice both performatively and through dialogue,” says Carly Rapaport-Stein, Executive Director of Intercultural Journeys. 

The 12 x 12 series is also a fitting way to celebrate Leeway’s milestone year: 2018 marks 25 years of grantmaking and community building among Philadelphia-based artists, cultural producers, and organizers. 

Leeway and Intercultural Journeys have fostered dialogue and transformation through their art-focused programs and events. Both organizations have also demonstrated a commitment to championing artist and creating platforms for their work to be experienced in new and deepening ways. 

12 X 12 SERIES SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 
Suggested ticket price for all performances is $12 ($1 minimum). 

Wednesday, May 9, 7pm: Elba Hevia y Vaca at Pearlstein Gallery 
Passionate and determined, feminist flamenco artist Elba Hevia y Vaca dances with purpose: to challenge the male-centric, hyper-sexualized narrative of flamenco. Delight in Elba’s 21st-century interpretations, grounded in the richness of historical flamenco, as she explains and expands on her artistic practice. 

Wednesday, June 13, 7pm: Gabriela Sanchez at West Kensington Ministry 
What is an invisible disability? Do you have one, or does the person sitting next to you? The Hidden Disabilities Project will be Power Street Theatre Company’s next foray into experimental theatre making. With this new and exciting piece created by a Womyn of Color-led, multicultural theatre company in Philadelphia, take an immersive journey exploring the gray areas of having an invisible disability in a black and white world. 

Wednesday, July 11, 7pm: Kavindu “Kavi” Ade at Brandywine Workshop 
What is the emotional toll of living in a world in opposition to your existence? In what ways do we disassociate as an act of survival? How often do we stifle our own grief or distill our righteous anger into something more palatable? Kavi Ade’s poetry is a lamentation, a leaning in to what haunts the spirit of a Black Trans Queer body. With poems that are deeply personal while inescapably political, Ade’s work grapples with being set at the throne of violence. Join Kavi Ade for a mixed media performance that moves through time, chronicling despair, grasping at hope, and exploring the ways a body can learn to survive. 
    
Wednesday, August 7pm: LaTreice Branson at African American Museum in Philadelphia 
High-functioning fatigue. Pride in overworking and extending yourself. Getting the job done at all costs. It's the "exhaustion complex" in full force. Join artist and educator LaTreice Branson in this vivacious and personal exploration of the challenges of being an exhausted woman. Follow LaTreice's musical journey from exhaustion to relaxation and self-love, and then join in, resetting your heart, mind, and body, with a joy-filled, interactive drumming finale. 

Wednesday, September 12, 7pm: Eiko Fan at Fleisher Art Memorial 
In Eiko Fan's Live Wood Sculpture performance, wooden creations come to life. Wearing wood sculpture costumes, each performer creates a unique shape and environment with body movements. Watch the sculptures come to life, listen to Eiko's life story and artistic journey, and then try out the sculptures for yourself! 

About Intercultural Journeys 
Intercultural Journeys seeks to promote understanding in pursuit of peace among people of diverse faiths and cultures through dialogue and the presentation of world-class performances in music, dance, the spoken word, and other art forms. 

About Leeway Foundation 
The Leeway Foundation supports women and trans* artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. 

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and uses the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth. 

Download the press release.
    

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Sara Zia Ebrahimi

Who are you?
I usually define myself in terms of food, because it's what I love most. My cultural heritage is kebab and grits and kale—I was born in Iran and raised in the US South by hippies. I'm a digital media maker and community curator who is dedicated to centering the voices of women, immigrants and people of color. I'm also a lifelong fan of science fiction and fantasy and recently have been focused on producing films more in these genres. When I'm not running the grants and residency programs at Leeway, I'm usually involved in some fantastical storyline playing pretend with my 4-year-old, reading comic books, or watching sports games. I'm also an amateur DJ, spinning mostly music from the SWANA (South West Asia and North African) region.

How would you define your relationship with Leeway's community?
At Leeway, I feel like I'm part of a big experiment. I was raised by a scientist, so I often approach things in life with questions and openness which is important to any research process. For my mom, that is what kept life interesting for her when she was alive; she described life as a big mystery novel and each day was an opportunity to turn more pages and unveil more of the story. Even though I am in arts and culture, I see myself as still carrying on her approach. Leeway is this rare place where we get to experiment with questions about money, power and community, tangibly. Like, what happens when a family walks away from its wealth and fully releases their power to the community? What happens when we bring different people together in a consensus process to decide on the grants while also building community and trust with each other in the process? What would it look like if we valued artists' work outside of a capitalist or post-colonial framework of marketability or museum exhibitions? Artist/activist adrienne marie brown talks about modeling at the microlevel the kind of world we want at large, and Leeway is a place where we get to do that. It's not always perfect, but it's not about perfection. It's about continuing to show up, observe, and grow. And so that's what I'm doing everyday, together with the Leeway community-at-large; it's a mystery novel about liberation, and I'm excited to see where the story goes.

What role has Leeway played in your own evolution?
Before working here, my relationship with Leeway started as an applicant. As an artist, I was originally only making work from the heart and emotional level. The process of applying for Leeway grants (and sometimes not getting them!) required me to define more about why I do the creative work I do and think more strategically about it. Doing work to process personal trauma and address the lack of representation in the media is super important, but I really credit my experience applying to Leeway for pushing it beyond that to see how it connects with a larger picture. It helped me make the connection like, for example, it’s not just that I was isolated and depressed when I was younger, it is that I was raised with conflicting images of what it meant to come from a Middle Eastern country and what it meant to "belong." Experiencing the work of other Leeway artists inspired me to take those personal experiences to a mindset where I was thinking about it more systemically from issues of media ownership to foreign policy and war profiteering.

Leeway artists and staff also helped realize that I was part of something larger. It can be hard as a community based artist because you can easily put yourself down and think you’re just making these piddly little underfunded films or hosting small screenings, what change are they going to make?! But now, for example, you see all the conversations that are happening in Hollywood and television. No one person is responsible for that, but it is a result of decades of work by independent filmmakers and curators, which I feel excited to have been a part of.

If Leeway was a playlist, what song would it be?
Janet Jackon's Rhythm Nation. "This is the test/No struggle no progress."

Announcing the February 2018 WOO Grantees

Our Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant launched last year as a means to fund time-sensitive opportunities that support the art for social change practices of Leeway grantees.

We are happy to announce February's WOO grantees:

Lela Aisha Jones (LTA '15) will participate in a week-long residency with multiple public and community-based components in Minnesota's Twin Cities. She will perform Native Portals as part of an evening curated by St. Paul's Brownbody, an original repertory whose mission is to build artistic experiences that disrupt biased narratives and prompts audiences to engage as active participants in the journey. 

Yinka Orafidiya (ACG '10) will exhibit her most recent body of work, Freedom Cups, during the 2018 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. The conference, which runs March 14-17, 2018, will attract an estimated 5,000 ceramic artists, collectors, and curators from around the world. 

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Sara Milly (formerly Sara Becker)

In 2018, Leeway Foundation celebrates twenty-five years of grantmaking and community building among Philadelphia-based artists, cultural producers and organizers. To celebrate, we're highlighting some of the change makers and visionaries within Leeway's community who have helped to set the course for Leeway's own transformation.

Who are you?

In relation to Leeway, I’m the daughter of the founder, and I was at one point board chair. I am trained as a writer (I’m not currently writing but that’s part of who I am). In my more recent years, I have come to think about art, for me– not so much as identifying as this kind of artist or that kind of artist, or as having a particular kind of artistic training, but in my own life, there is no boundary between art and my deepest sense of expressing who I am. I am not a dancer, but I love dancing, so the way art most actively operates for me is as a way of being most fully human. As far as my communities, I am definitely aware of being privileged in just about every possible way, and I guess that’s part of my history with Leeway. I am a straight, rich, white lady!

Can you tell the Leeway story from your perspective? How do you see your role in the Leeway community and family?

I don’t really think I can tell much of the story from after I left, so I wouldn’t presume to tell any of that. And I can only tell my point of view. So, the part that I would tell: my mother started Leeway because she wanted to do something for women and the arts. And there’s a history in our family, like with her parents, of generosity – some impulse to give back in some sort of way. She wanted to do something for women in the arts because she identifies as a woman artist. So, she started this foundation as a one-member family foundation, I think partly out of family history. And she brought on a lawyer and an accountant and I think a friend or two, and me because I was her daughter. So, I was not really interested at the beginning – I was sort of like, “whatever, my mom’s doing this thing!”

And then two things happened, one was the executive director at the time put me in touch with Bread and Roses, maybe in the hope of keeping me more interested in what was going on? [Laughs] And, at another point, somewhat later, my mother asked me if I would be president, and I felt like it was sort of my obligation because of having benefitted from being my mother’s daughter. But it wasn’t clear how what I cared about and what Leeway was doing were going to match for me – that was my main concern. There was a bunch of strategic planning, and what was articulated was that, really at the heart of both my mother’s drive and my interest was this sense that injustice around gender and the desire for inclusion really mattered to my mother and me. So, we started to look at it more in terms of social justice, or whatever else you want to call that. And that was something that, if I hadn’t been connected to Bread and Roses and, at that time, Spiral Q Puppet Theater, I wouldn’t even have known how to remotely think about, let alone how to articulate, that work.

So, we started to look at grants in terms of what was happening, if people actually had financial need, what was the need of people getting grants, and then there were changes. It was not an easy transition. My mother decided to have me become president – I guess she had a vision for me! But otherwise, I wasn’t necessarily an obvious choice. There was the question of, how do we as a group – none of us had thought deeply about social justice or community stuff – so how do we, coming from different places, where none of us have thought about this, suddenly do this? And as part of all this, there was basically a total turnover of staff – and that was major, and often painful.

Barbara Silzle was executive director during most of the transition during the time I was there. She was a huge part of what made me able to function as board chair. She was completely behind helping Leeway realize the new vision, and she really helped get the board to a place where they were willing to trust and engage in the change process. At Bread and Roses, Denise became someone I was close with because I was working with the community funding board, and she was doing work with that board. And she and Matty Hart from Spiral Q really helped us move through something that basically no one on the board had any real experience with. And then new staff came on, and they were all amazing in their own ways, and it was a complicated mix of people.

I had a great desire for justice, and a lot of confusion and ignorance and guilt – and because Leeway needed to do this stuff, there were all of these trainings, I got to learn more, which I felt was amazing. And of course, learning is always a process, but it was amazing. A lot of personal transformation happened for the people on the board.

Denise was kind of standing behind during the time I was there, but obviously has emerged since then! But if Denise hadn’t talked to me individually during the final stages of the anti-racism training, then I think everything might have fallen apart. I mean, she was really able to see beyond what people there at the time were doing and have conversations that other people couldn’t have.

Also, doing this interview and thinking about Leeway’s anniversary, I can’t help feeling deeply about [former Leeway board member] Jennie Sike’s profound contribution, and her very recent death and want to express how very present she is in my heart.

So, it sounds like those moments and those trainings were really transformational for you. What happened for you at this point, in terms of being in a position of leadership at Leeway?

I feel like what happened to me in having found myself the president of Leeway was probably an extremely unusual situation to begin with. I mean, utterly not wanting to lead, but feeling a sense of obligation – I didn’t really have leadership skills, and I didn’t make the money, so I didn’t have money-making skills at all, so I was just this person from a family with money who found themselves president of this foundation. That was weird--and fortunate in a way, because I never wanted to hold on to any kind of power, I always felt I was the wrong person to have it. I mean that was sort of in line with my mother’s thinking, but it wasn’t structured that way. It was really just a question of, like, how do you make the transition to having the people who Leeway is designed to benefit be the same people who lead? And then, you know, even if you do have that clear intention, there’s the question of “are you guys really sincere?” And then beyond that, there was still a lot buried history: even if you’re completely sincere, there’s the foundational beliefs and structures of power that the foundation grew out of, so even if it’s moving there’s still this history.

Conceptually, it wasn’t hard for me or my mother [to let go of the money and decision-making power]. We’re both control freaks, it’s true, but control freaks about our personal space, not about the world. [Laughs.] I think we both have a lot of experiences of helplessness and oppression of ourselves, even though we’re both super privileged. It’s always been really important to both of us to make sure that we each do as much as we can to lessen that, (though it’s not as if we don’t also perpetuate it with our ignorance)! But when it came to the money, there wasn’t a lot to talk about! I mean the transition with the board and staff, that was super, super hard. You know, because you have this idea, but then there are all of these amazing people who are trying to work through this difficult transition and it brings up everybody’s conscious and unconscious stuff. So, there were some interpersonal challenges. I wasn’t there for that whole transition, but I felt like it was hard for the facilitation team to hold the dynamics in the room. All of the people in the room were not necessarily feeling safe or able to express themselves.

At what point did you feel like you could look at Leeway and say, I feel good handing off this organization?

I mean, I think Denise had a huge amount to do with that. In that moment, Denise was the only person who was able to speak to everybody. This is my view, but I felt that Denise was the only person who could talk to everyone. So, I felt like we were moving in the right direction, and that my being there was making things harder. It wasn’t helping for me to stay at that point.

How would you see Leeway playing a role in your own personal transformation?

It was huge, it was just huge. I so didn’t want any part of it, and it sort of like put my life into a crazy place, but everything that I love the most right now is because I went through that! I can’t even imagine what my life would be like without that experience. Because I had had this desire for rightness or justice or love, but I had absolutely no analysis of what that was or how that related to anything in the world. I was pretty much like, “let’s just all be nice to each other,” and Leeway gave me an opportunity to have really difficult conversations with people who were different than myself, begin to think systemically, and question just about everything about who I thought I was and what I valued.

What would you like to see in the next 25 years for Leeway?

You know, I’m just thrilled to think about the people who are here now, asking those questions. I think back to fifteen years ago and who was asking then, and the people asking now are people I only had the foggiest vision of fifteen years ago. I feel like there is an intention to continue to cultivate inclusiveness and justice and art – you know, art in the sense of broadly defined expressions of creativity and humanity. I see that as evolving and deepening and expanding, not in the sense of getting unfocused, but as it is lived and as people who are currently holding that charge. Because, who you are and where you all come from – it’s like a river of people! It’s not like there’s one group of people, and then bam, another group of people, but it’s like a flow of people, and that flow of people is embodying and holding – this flow will bring it to the next stage in a really beautiful way.

If Leeway were a playlist, what song would you be?

There’s this song – I think its origins are African, I don’t actually know beyond where I encountered it, but it was really helpful for me in the space I was in [when I worked with Leeway]. I went to Alternate Roots – that was my favorite conference I ever went to when I was at Leeway. They were singing this song – the version of it that moved me went: “We are going/ Heaven knows where we are going/ But we know within/ And we’ll get there/ Heaven knows how we will get there/ But we know we will.” (the song is Woyaya written by Ghanaian drummer Sol Amarifio), It really moved me because I had a feeling that something was possible, but I had no idea how to do it, and knew we were not the people to do it – but it was like, “let’s just aim ourselves in this direction, and see what happens.”

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Celena Morrison

In 2018, Leeway Foundation celebrates twenty-five years of grantmaking and community building among Philadelphia-based artists, cultural producers and organizers. To celebrate, we're highlighting some of the change makers and visionaries within Leeway's community who have helped to set the course for Leeway's own transformation.

Who are you?

I am a very down-to-earth country girl that came to the city. I was a little uneducated about the community that I was actually a part of, due to being from the south. I rose above the barriers that continued to marginalize me, and now I am the woman I knew I had the potential to be. That’s an advocate, sometimes an activist (occasionally), an educator, a sister, a mother figure to some. I guess in a nutshell, I never really know who the day is going to call for me to be, and I try to conform to what is needed because I tend to feel the need to want to please, and to want to help, and to want to satisfy, and to want to put a smile on people’s faces, and so there are times I can be very catering. That causes me sometimes to be a sort of shape-shifter.

How did you come to do the advocacy work that you do today?

Well, a lot of people don’t know this, but I was working for a trucking company before I started doing this work. And doing that work I dealt with a lot of sexualization – there was a lot of sexual harassment. And I don’t know! I wanted a change, so my mind began wandering to, you know, what else can I do? I wanted to give back and I wanted to do something meaningful, so I started to volunteer at the Trans Health Conference. So that was my first step into the nonprofit realm. My volunteering with the conference gave me insight into what was going on. And I was only a room monitor, and no one told me that – I wasn’t expecting to have to say anything like that, but the person who was actually conducting or facilitating the workshop, wanted an introduction! [Laughs] So I had to welcome people and do a little talking and then introduce this person and I was like, okay… You know, I didn’t know if that’s how things were typically done at the conference or not!

So after that, someone approached me and was like, have you ever done this kind of work? You know, speaking in front of crowds and stuff like that. And I was like, no. And they were like, “I like you and your personality – I have a position that may be coming available soon,” and it was at Mazzoni Center. And that was my first experience. That’s what got me into it. Several months went by because at the time there wasn’t a position available. So, I went back to my little trucking job, and I would look for ways to volunteer and do little things with the homeless and stuff. But I got hired at the Mazzoni Center to do part-time outreach work. From there, I started to do just outreach, then we had Sisterly Love and I facilitated that, and I learned how to put together a workshop, and do presentations and all that stuff. As time went on I just wanted to learn more and more, and the more I got involved, the more I saw a need for, you know, folks from our own community to get involved.

How did you come to be involved in the Leeway community?

It was during the time early on, when I was working at the Mazzoni Center and the Trans Wellness Project received a grant from Bread & Roses [Community Fund]. That was my initial introduction to the community, and then I started to attend the networking events that Leeway would have. I would kind of keep up, because I was really intrigued by the organization when I went to an event that was focused on women artists that were incarcerated. And being from the south, I continued to be so intrigued by all the resources and the events and the things that trans folks were actually included in. And I remember seeing that there were trans women included in that exhibit and in that program, and it put a warm spot in my heart.

And then, on top of that, I started to engage with the folks who work at the organization. I was like, “these folks are really amazing!” And it made me want to learn more, it made me want to engage with them more. I would try to be at their events that they would have where people from the community come and talk about the work that they were doing. I was always wanting to find a way to work with them or to engage with the organization, even though I’m not an artist. But I’ve always been a fan of the work that Leeway has done.

And this past year (2017) I finally got the opportunity to meet Lee Alter (Leeway founder). And that was exciting! So, I developed a real love for Leeway and the people that work there. I was invited to Lee’s apartment for an event to talk about the things going on at William Way. It was a small little networking thing with about 12 of us – we talked about programs at William Way and what brought us there, because Lee sits on our arts committee. It was a really really nice event! And her apartment was nothing short of amazing. It was really close-knit and personal – it was one of the best things that I was a part of in 2017. Because she showed us some of her art, and she told us some of the stories that were behind the pieces she showed us, and I got the feeling that I was experiencing something that not a lot of people get to experience because I know for artists it’s really personal to invite people into their space. So, to be a part of that really spoke volumes to me – furthering my love for Leeway!

How has Leeway played a role in your own evolution?

When I first started doing this work and I started attending events at Leeway, um, I really didn’t know what I was doing [laughs.] I didn’t really have a lot of experience in advocacy work. I didn’t know much about being an activist. I knew right from wrong. I knew how to express my feelings. But, I didn’t know much about networking. Attending those networking events at Leeway helped me get comfortable with talking about the work that I was doing to people that I didn’t know. And also, being able to talk and be comfortable in my skin, with my experience or lack thereof compared to others in the room. And I never felt less-than – and that also spoke volumes to me.

You know, it meant a lot to me that I was in there with people with degrees and had been on their jobs for many years and all of these experiences, and they’re well off and all of these things that I don’t have a history of being or experiencing or having. But it didn’t matter in that room. You know, we were there to talk about the work that we’re doing and to possibly see overlapping opportunities and opportunities to help our communities. And that’s what was – that was awesome to me. And it made me want to keep coming back.

If Leeway was a playlist, what song would you be?

It may not make sense to you, but it’s such a feel-good song for me, and it kind of describes the feeling that I get when I’m at Leeway. It’s “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John. That song just fills me with – I don’t know I just feel so clean and happy! And that’s the way I feel when I’m at Leeway. 

Kai Davis (LTA ‘17) Featured in Temple News

The Temple News

LIFESTYLE PROFILES

Alumna makes poetry accessible for marginalized groups

Kai Davis, a 2016 alumna, received a $15,000 grant from the Leeway Foundation for her poetry. 

by Khanya Brann | 23 January 2018

Read this article online at Temple News

On an unseasonably warm day in early December, Kai Davis opened her mailbox to find a fat envelope. It was the kind she thought could only contain good news.

Inside, Davis found a packet from the Leeway Foundation congratulating her on being one of 10 artists to win a $15,000 Transformation Award. The award recognizes women and trans artists in the Philadelphia area who have been creating art for social change for five years or more.

“I cried all the way up the stairs to my apartment, and I live in a four-story walk up,” said Davis, a 2016 Africology, African-American studies and English alumna.

Davis, a poet, author and editor at the Philadelphia-based Apiary Magazine, plans to use the grant to host a series of free poetry workshops for Black women and femmes — an umbrella term for feminine-identifying people — in the city.

Many of her poems explore the intersection of race, power, gender and sexuality and the effect it has on people’s identities and society as a whole.

Videos of Davis, a two-time international grand poetry slam champion, performing poems that are focused on her identity as a Black queer woman, like “F— I Look Like” and “Ain’t I a Woman?,” have tens of thousands of views online.

Davis shared the news of the grant in a video on Instagram, where she said, through tears, “For anyone who knows me…you know that this last year has been hard. I lost my father, I’ve been struggling trying to be a full-time artist, so this award means more than anything right now.”

Davis, a Philadelphia native, moved back in with her parents in August 2016 when her father became sick.

He died in January 2017 due to multiple organ failure. Davis was in the middle of rehearsals for “How to Take Space,” a poetry show she co-produced and directed with The Philly Pigeon, a poetry collective that runs some of the city’s largest adult poetry slam events.

“It had been the hardest year of my entire life, and at the end of it, I won this,” Davis said. “It felt like a wave of relief, like a big break that I really needed at the time.

She first learned about the Transformation Award through Jacob Winterstein, the co-founder and co-host of The Philly Pigeon, and she was later encouraged to apply by Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela, an author who received a grant from the Leeway Foundation in 2012.

“I remember writing ‘Leeway’ on a sticky-note and taping it to my mirror, and it was there for months as a reminder that despite everything I was dealing with, ‘I need to do this, I need to do this, I need to do this,’” Davis said.

Even though she has been teaching poetry workshops for people of color and creating art for marginalized communities for several years, Davis initially felt like she hadn’t accomplished enough to apply for the grant.

“The criteria asks for people who have been creating social change for five or more years, and I had, but I still didn’t feel like I deserved to apply,” she said. “There were a lot of things related to elitism in the poetry industry that I was concerned about, like not having been formally published.”

She overcame her reservations and submitted the second round of applications last October, and waited two months to hear back from the foundation.

“As a Black queer woman who has done a significant amount of work to cultivate art in Philadelphia, it’s beyond time someone has recognized her contributions and given her a grant,” said Jamal Parker, a senior Africology and African-American studies major who succeeded Davis as the artistic director of Babel, Temple’s poetry collective. “She is exceptional on and off the stage, and has a gift for bringing people together.”

Parker was also Davis’ teammate when Babel won the 2016 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational, which is an annual international tournament where poetry teams compete.

Davis is also always thinking about ways art spaces can be more accessible.

She came up with the idea to do ticket giveaways for The Philly Pigeon shows, so people who can’t afford them could have the opportunity to attend the collective’s monthly shows. They prioritize people of color, financially insecure people, people with disabilities and LGBTQ people, Davis said.

“Poetry is something that a lot of marginalized people are interested in and practice or explore on their own,” Davis said. “But because of the elitism in the poetry world, in both the slam scene or page poetry, they don’t have a lot of access to poems that might change their life or ideas that might change how they move through the world.”

Davis said she’s grateful for her mentors at the Philly Youth Poetry Movement, a nonprofit that offers literary art education for teens, for giving her the opportunity to grow as a writer, performer and teacher, especially Cait Kay, who gave Davis her first opportunity to teach a poetry workshop in 2013.

While Kay was on maternity leave last year, Davis substituted for her classes at the Academy at Palumbo, a high school on Catherine Street near 11th, and had the opportunity to connect with students.

Davis wants to continue to give Black and brown kids “a reason to speak up, to read and to question.”

“My mentors were all able to see talent and understand that it needs to be fostered,” she said. “It’s really important that we create spaces for young people to tap into their potential, and give them the tools to do so, because it really makes a difference. I want to be able to provide that for people.”

Leeway @ 25: Interview with Denise M. Brown

In 2018, Leeway Foundation celebrates twenty-five years of grantmaking and community building among Philadelphia-based artists, cultural producers and organizers. We approach this milestone as an opportunity to share Leeway’s story – a story grounded in the founder's feminist principles that explore the intersection of art, culture, community, and change. Over these twenty-five years, Leeway has become more inclusive in how it defines its community in terms of who (practitioners) and what (practice) the foundation supports; initially funding women identified artists, then expanding its criteria to embrace women, trans, and gender-nonconforming artists with a vision for social change. These changes came about as a result of the vision of those in the Leeway community committed to the use of art and culture as vehicles for social change and community transformation.

To celebrate this history, we’ll highlight examples from a series of conversations and interviews about this landmark anniversary. Each month, we’ll talk to former and current staff and board members, grantees and panelists, including Leeway’s founder Linda Lee Alter and her daughter, Sara (Becker) Milly, whose path-breaking choices set a course that allowed Leeway to transform over the last twenty-five years. We hope these conversations provide some insights into the important changes that Leeway has undergone, while giving space to celebrate the individual contributions and accomplishments of a range of artists, change makers, and visionaries. 

Who are you?

Denise Michelle Brown

The only child of Bernice C. Lewis and William Alfred Brown, Jr.; the eldest grandchild of Mildred, Edna, Clement and William Sr.; seeker, artist, cultural organizer and strategist; and Executive Director of the Leeway Foundation.

How would you define your relationship within Leeway’s community?

I come into the Leeway story out of my experience at Bread & Roses Community Fund with Sara Becker, who is the sort of second generation [of Leeway] as the founder’s daughter. I invited Sara to be a part of what was then called the Community Funding Board at Bread & Roses, folks from the community that were making the grant decisions. At that time I was managing the process, and folks on that committee were separated into working groups, they would review certain applications in-depth, do site visits, and then report back to the full body on decision-making day. Sara was part of a group that was looking at cultural organizations.

I think it was likely that she was already thinking about this, but I think her experience on the funding board of Bread & Roses really piqued her curiosity about community arts and transformation. So this is the early aughties, like 2002, 2003, and she was being invited to be really active in the leadership of Leeway at that time. So, it was really through her that they embarked on this process of investigating what it would mean to support women whose art was about community transformation – that was sort of how Sara framed it.  

They went through a process that engaged a lot of people, they started going to national convenings where people were talking about this nexus of art and social change and social justice. Places like Alternate Roots and spaces in Philadelphia; they did focus groups with people who were institutional representatives and individual art practitioners and talked through this idea, through more convenings; and in 2003 a consulting team of three women presented what was called the program design report. It was after that that I was invited to be part of the discussions with the then-board.

I kept saying, you know, you gotta be really clear if you want to do this, this is really going to shift this organization in a lot of different ways, and if you’re not really serious about it, you shouldn’t engage it! Because at that point the conversation was really about marginalized communities, and given that the mission was explicitly about women at that point, it was more about the inclusion of people of color, or people who claim certain ethnic identities. As they moved on in the process, new staff were brought on, all who had authentic relationships and connections to the field. And the transition began bringing on certain advisors (I was one of those advisors) – setting a course to shift the organization from being this family-run foundation, this one-member structure, to more of a community-based foundation.

It wasn’t long after that that the conversation began about gender. New programs were implemented in 2005, and this idea of trans inclusion became [prevalent] in 2006. The initial shift was related generally to the criteria: we support women and trans artists doing this work. And some work was done in terms of shifting the guidelines. If we had been a different kind of organization, a different kind of family foundation, that had a larger or more entrenched board, it would have been a different set of conversations. It likely would have taken longer. So we moved from that and engaged with our first community board.

Now you have an organization that’s made this decision and commitment to this constituency, that hasn’t really trained or educated itself to engage that. And so I think in my experience of it, there was some hesitancy – we had to catch up with the commitment we made... how do you do that internally, right? At different points in the process – and we’re talking about over the course of a few years – there were things like, "oh my god, I need to review the personnel policies, to make sure they’re gender neutral."  There was a lot to consider – especially in terms of the internal dynamics of the organization. How do we not continue to marginalize folks – that became part of the process. It had to be more than, “we’re saying that this constituency can apply for a grant,” but, “how do we create the same space for everyone?” And also to not think about Leeway as a trans organization; I guess we could say it’s a feminist organization that funds women and trans artists, right? I’m using feminist right now, I don’t know if we’ll come up with something else – maybe it’s about looking at gender inclusivity in a different way. And holding that as well – so the work becomes about how to build community from those constituencies.

What role has Leeway played in your own evolution?

I think of Leeway as an incubator kind of space. We can be experimental, and I want to be able to expand while maintaining that. But that’s a question for the future. The experience of how much I’ve grown in my time here really moves me, and thinking about what a privilege it is, really, truly. I think I have this way of talking about Leeway as a learning community or at least that’s kind of how I’d like to envision it. And the learning is for everyone who’s involved with the organization. It’s not the notion of what we give grantees, its sort of what – what is everyone involved in this organization bringing to it?

So, that’s staff, board, interns, and volunteers, right? And what is each of us learning? I always say to people who work here that the goal is to support everyone’s leadership development because it’s ultimately not about Leeway. You know what I mean? In this way it’s sort of like, we’re all passing through, right? If there’s a way in which this organization can support your growth as a community leader, that you then go off and do remarkable things in other spaces, in other communities, it’s all good! So I think we can provide that kind of grounding for people, to sort of test things out about themselves.

I think for me, I found my voice in a setting and an organization [that] was primarily an all women’s organization. It was a really safe space for me to experiment with my leadership and my voice and all – and explore conflict and all that stuff. I think it was really important for me to create something similar here. We don’t and can’t always agree about everything – that’s an unrealistic expectation. But when you know, when you push back, just have thought it through!  You know what I mean? Anything is possible! So creating that is always really exciting to me.

If Leeway was a playlist, what song would you be?

Hmmm… I’m Every Woman. The Chaka version of course!

Yared Portillo Featured on Public Radio International

What does protest sound like? For this Philadelphia activist, it's the eight-string jarana. 

Yared Portillo, a Philadelphia community activist, has four of them: One she built from scratch; two others were secured from renowned artisans; the final one — received broken and in pieces from a friend — she carefully repaired and made whole again.

The repaired instrument isn’t a bad metaphor for the role the jarana has played in the US immigration protest movement for the past two decades. It's a small, eight-string instrument from Veracruz, Mexico, patterned after a 16th century baroque Spanish guitar that is often confused with a ukulele.

In the hands of Chicanos or recent Mexican immigrants, the jarana — as well as the son jarocho musical form with which it is inextricably associated — energizes rallies and undergirds the chants of those who want to repair not only a broken immigration system, but the increasingly broken relationship between two nations sharing both borders and histories.

In Philadelphia, Portillo punctuates chanting while strumming the tiny, “mosquito”-size jarana during a protest rally at a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters: Me gusta la lima, me gusta el limón, pero no me gusta la deportación. I like lime, I like lemon, but I do not like deportation.

Listen to the full story or read the transcription at pri.org. 

Erika Guadalupe Núñez and This Home Resists in Philly Inquirer

"What's behind that boy you see in South Philly windows" by Jeff Gammage, Staff Writer for Philly Inquirer

Erika Guadalupe Núñez dwells at the intersection of art and resistance.

So when the activist group Juntos needed a bold image to inspire neighborhood solidarity amid unnerving immigration raids — federal authorities snatched 107 people in a single September sweep — it turned to her.

The result: a full-color placard for households to display in their front windows, alerting all, “This home resists.” It anchors a “community resistance zone” that Juntos has launched across a large swath of South Philadelphia.

One side of the poster shows a young Latin boy standing in front of a brick rowhouse, his hand raised as if to say, “Stop.” On the back, in English and Spanish, is a list of “Do’s and Don’ts” if immigration agents or police come pounding on the door.

Tip No. 1: Don’t open the door.

“It speaks across languages,” said Núñez, 26. “It’s community members saying, ‘We have to start looking out for one another.’”

She enveloped the poster boy with an elliptical, blue background, as a way to make him more prominent. But others see the sacred, an outline similar to the aureole that surrounds the Aztec goddess Tonantzin or the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Núñez swears that was unintentional.

Whether secular or religious, that art now hangs in an outsized gallery: The windows and doors of shops and homes from Third Street west to Ninth Street, and Washington Avenue south to Oregon Avenue.

There Juntos has created its first “resistance zone,” a block-by-block effort to oppose the Trump administration’s tough stance on immigration and undocumented immigrants. During one weekend this month, Juntos’ volunteers knocked on 3,000 doors, handing out posters as they went.

They trained people how to protect their rights and those of their neighbors, should they be approached by local police or agents from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.

“It was really important to have something you put up in your window, so that when they’re at your door, and they might be banging on the door, that you’re reminded of your rights,” said Juntos Executive Director Erika Almiron. “It was important for community members to see these posters in the windows and know our neighbors and friends have committed to be our allies."

Read the full article here.

Leeway Foundation Awards Ten Philadelphia Artists with $15,000 Transformation Award

Today, Leeway Foundation announced $150,000 in grants to 10 women and trans* artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, acknowledging their commitment to art and social justice that impacts a larger audience or community. This year’s recipients work in an array of disciplines, including visual arts, literary arts, and performance. 

The 2017 Leeway Transformation Award (LTA) recipients are as follows (in alphabetical order):  

    Ana Guissel Palma of West Kensington, Crafts & Textiles and Visual Arts
    Catherine Pancake of West Philadelphia, Media Arts and Visual Arts
    Cynthia Dewi Oka of Collingswood (Southern New Jersey), Literary Arts
    Dinita “Princess Di” Clark of Mantua, Performance
    Erika Guadalupe Núñez of South Philadelphia, Visual Arts
    Eva Wŏ of West Philadelphia, Visual Arts and Media Arts
    Kai Davis of West Philadelphia, Literary Arts and Performance
    Nehad Khader of West Philadelphia, Media Arts and Literary Arts
    Sheena Sood of West Philadelphia, Folk Arts and Literary Arts
    Tawanda Jones of Parkside (Southern New Jersey), Performance

A national panel of artists and cultural producers convened to review applications and work samples in this two-stage process. The 2017 panel consisted of Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed; Philadelphia-based movement performance artist Lela Aisha Jones (LTA '15); Brasilian-American filmmaker Luisa Dantas; Chicago-based queer Latinx artist and organizer Monica Trinidad; and Oakland-based writer, public health consultant and cultural competency trainer Willy Wilkinson. Queer black feminist love evangelist and prayer poet priestess Alexis Pauline Gumbs facilitated the panel’s second stage. 

The next Leeway Transformation Award deadline is May 15, 2018. In addition to the Transformation Award, Leeway offers the Art and Change Grant two times per year. These project-based grants of up to $2,500 are awarded to women and trans* artists in Greater Philadelphia. The 2018 Art and Change Grant deadlines are March 1 and August 1. Both applications are available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling 215.545.4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a foundation staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at 215.545.4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*Leeway is a trans-affirming organization committed to gender self-determination, and we use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth. 

Download the 2017 LTA Press Kit (PDF)

Leeway Foundation Announces Fall 2017 Art and Change Grantees

18 women and trans artists and cultural producers receive project-based grants to further social change in Greater Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $43,500 in grants to 18 women and trans* artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues.

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Greater Philadelphia region. The grant supports artists practicing a variety of disciplines including performance, crafts and textiles, and visual arts.

The following 18 artists and cultural producers were awarded grants (in alphabetical order):

Adonis BC Okonkwo of West Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Amy June of West Philadelphia, Visual Arts/Media Arts, $2,500

Ana Martina of Kingsessing, Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Annie Mok of West Philadelphia, Media Arts, $2,500

Ants on a Log of West Philadelphia, Music/Performance, $2,500

Barb Baur of Mayfair, Media Arts/Crafts & Textiles, $2,500

Bonita Elaine Taylor of Chester, Folk Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500

Boston Gordon of Center City, Literary Arts/Performance, $2,000

Denise Allen of Jenkintown, Multidisciplinary, $2,500

Erika Guadalupe Núñez of South Philadelphia, Visual Arts, $2,500

Heather Raquel Phillips of South Philadelphia, Media Arts/Visual Arts, $2,500

Hye-Jung Park of West Philadelphia, Media Arts, $2,500

Juliana Reyes of Cedar Park, Literary Arts/Media Arts, $2,500

Kathryn Smith Pyle of Center City, Media Arts, $2,500

khari jackson of Glenwood, Visual Arts, $2,500

Maria Dumlao of East Kensington, Visual Arts/Literary Arts, $2,500

Mary DeWitt of Media, Visual Arts/Media Arts, $2,500

Mina Zarfsaz of Kensington, Media Arts/Visual Arts, $1,500

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel. The Fall ACG 2017 review panel consisted of arts administrator and nonprofit development professional Amanda Morales Pratt, vocalist and pianist Dena Underwood (ACG ‘16), and social research activist artist Julie Rainbow (LTA '16, ACG '14).

Applications are available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling (215) 545-4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at (215) 545-4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit www.leeway.org.

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Download the Fall 2017 Press Kit.

Reflections on the Allied Media Conference

Sarah Mueller (ACG ’16) 

In June, thanks to a generous gift from Leeway Foundation, I had the incredible privilege of traveling to Detroit with my partner to attend the Allied Media Conference (AMC). I had long heard of AMC and have always wanted to attend in order to experience the real Detroit.

The most resonating impact of AMC is that this annual gathering of community builders, activists, media makers, is perfectly housed and grounded by the great city of Detroit with its rich history of resistance—a history that is as complex and politically-tainted, as it is beautifully intersectional and perseverant. The 2017 AMC, in particular, was wildly special, as this Summer marks the 50th Anniversary of the Detroit Uprising—a title which, all these years later, even in the wake of the Ferguson and Baltimore, is still controversial and debated as to whether it was a riot or a rebellion.

There are a lot of different things that a lot of different people will tell you about this city. They will tell you it’s broken and that it is spent. You will hear that it’s been abandoned and blighted. You’ll also be pitched that it’s a “blank slate,” that it is up-and-coming. 

Corporations, like those that abandoned the very People—black, brown and indigenous—whose labor they exploited and the booming economy they milked, are now returning and “re-discovering” Detroit. So, we must ask the question with all histories—Who gets to control the narrative? AMC centers the People, as the gatekeepers of Truth.

The guidance and lens provided by AMC showed me, in my short residence, that while a myriad of lower case t truths proliferate and coexist, we must continually fight for the illumination and (re)centering of Capital T Truth. AMC provoked us, as storytellers and narrative keepers, to ask the questions, first proposed by vital feminist, activist and writer, bell hooks—in her coining of the Oppositional Gaze—“Who is looking? What are they seeing?”

It is true that large swaths of Detroit are abandoned and do appear broken beyond repair. It is true that miles of former bustling shopping districts and blocks on blocks of handsome brick homes are shuttered closed. Places like these are where seeds of the lies of the American Dream were sown and the fruits of which were destroyed. 

No one can fault a family for leaving for more and better paying work. No one ever willingly abandons the happy home they’ve created. My limited observation has shown me that it is nothing short of a miracle that folks have remained, continue to organize and rally for Justice there. Native Detroiters, like Arabs in Occupied Palestine, possess a wild sumud or perseverant steadfastness — in that, their very existence and refusal to leave their land is their resistance. 

The power of Detroit and of the Allied Media Conference is in the People. It’s beauty stretches back to trailblazers like James and Grace Lee Boggs, who proudly called Detroit their home. We were reminded that the Struggle is on going and that while long from over, it is easier and better fought when we all come together—fighting for one another’s liberation. 

Detroit activist and healer, Charity Hicks, first issued the call to “wage love” in the ongoing fight against water shut-offs. It is in this spirit that I close and encourage us to in all aspects of daily work and practice continue to … #WAGELOVE.

Announcing July’s Window of Opportunity Grantees

Our Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant launched earlier this year as a six-month pilot program. Open to previous Leeway grantees only, the grant was meant to fund time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice.

The pilot program is now closed. We are currently evaluating the program and will make an announcement should we decide to continue in 2018. 

We are happy to announce July's grantees.

Carman Spoto (ACG ’17, ’15) has the opportunity to utilize camera and lighting equipment donated by a vendor to shoot her feature film What Color Is Blue this August, which centers on the life of a black transgender woman in West Philly. These funds will allow Carman to purchase the required production insurance in order to use the equipment, which will increase the production value of the film as well as its chances of being shown in festivals, picked up by a distribution company, and seen worldwide.

Stephanie Amma (ACG ’17, ’10, ’08, ’06) teaches African dance and drumming to students at Eleanor Emlen Elementary Public School’s Arts and Culture Club. The students have been invited to perform at the very first Black Expo America Inc., which will be held in Philadelphia on October 14 and 15 in partnership with the Philadelphia Black Entrepreneurs Network. These funds will allow Stephanie Amma to purchase fabric and accessories and make 30 costumes for the students’ performance, since otherwise they would not be able to afford them. 

Reflections On The Urban Bush Women Generative Dancer Workshop

By Stephanie Amma Young (ACG '17, '10, '08, '06)

Urban Bush Women Founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and dancers are fierce, fabulous, and on fire. I am extremely grateful for Leeway's lottery to the Generative Dancer: Black Radical Traditions of Practice & Thought opportunity. The Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Faculty facilitated a comprehensive nine-day intensive. We had daily technique classes and learned to generate movement through UBW's process and learning. It was rigorous for me because of the modern and ballet classes taught which are not my dance forms, and enlightening because I was challenged do work outside my comfort zone. I had many "A HA" moments.

The Generative Dancer: Black Radical Traditions of Practice & Thought is a full day workshop experience from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM for intermediate/advanced choreographers and performers who want to deepen their practice through participation in an immersive learning environment. The choreographic intensive did just that. Scholars were brought in to give us research and experiences in music, dance history, writing, and drama and put us to task to create.

Everyday Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar was present to impart her knowledge, wisdom, experience, and passion--a treasure for me and I am sure for all those who participated. I will forever keep the experience in my heart, replay it in my mind, and rejoice in my soul because Jawole kept her knowledge alive in her dance, lived in her knowledge, and is totally about the knowledge she creates stories from to share with the world. It’s amazing to learn how to really tell a story verbally and amazing transferring it into movement UBW style; that was simply a divine highlight for me. It’s a transcribing transformation process that happens on the dance floor. I can’t stop talking about my experience and encouraging other dancers to check out the Urban Bush Women’s programs. I knew they were good; I did not know how great their art form was.

UBW’s work is important and translates our African American heritage into a creative language that gives a voice to our African American ancestors, our history, struggle and victory, culture, cultural norms, music, language, poetry, and stories. UBW has an impact on any dancer with African American or African diaspora roots, or enthusiasts.

Each one of the Urban Bush Women and men were fascinating artists; I could have watched them all day. It is especially awesome to participate in the first UBW Summer Choreographic Intensive program hosted by the UBW artisans; I truly love them all. They had energy, vitality, and boldness and were humble, helpful, and always willing to share their skill and knowledge. Thank you, and much more continued success to Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and staff, all the professors, and cohort.

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The Generative Dancer: Black Radical Traditions of Practice & Thought workshop intensive was held from June 24 through July 2, 2017 at the Mark Morris and Gelsey Kirkland studios in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more about Urban Bush Women at urbanbushwomen.org.

Announcing June’s Window of Opportunity Grantee

Our Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant launched earlier this year as a pilot program. Open to previous Leeway grantees only, the grant is meant to fund time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice. We are happy to announce June's grantee.

Nehad Khader (ACG ’08) will travel to Chicago in July to document a farewell event held in honor of Rasmea Odeh, Palestinian American community organizer, former political prisoner, and elder, who will be deported and stripped of U.S. citizenship this August. Nehad will continue to deepen her relationship with Rasmea, her supporters, and the Palestinian American organizing community in Chicago. Nehad will produce media that she hopes to share with Palestinian communities across the country.

2017 Spring Art and Change Grantees Featured in Philadelphia Gay News

"Trans, queer projects get boost with Leeway funding" by Ray Simon for Philadelphia Gay News (May 31, 2017)

The Leeway Foundation, a Philadelphia nonprofit supporting women and trans artists, recently awarded $47,500 to 22 local artists.

The recipients are the latest group of artists to receive Leeway’s Art and Change Grant, which is awarded twice a year, in the spring and again in the fall. 

According to Denise Beek, Leeway’s communications director, the Art and Change Grant is “a project-based grant up to $2,500 to women and trans artists who have an idea for a project that intersects with art, culture and social justice within 11 Social Change Intents.”

The Leeway Foundation was begun in 1993. Its original purpose was to support women artists working in the greater Philadelphia region. In 2007, the nonprofit broadened its mission in two significant ways. First, it placed a greater emphasis on social change; second, it began making its resources available to trans artists.

Leeway defines trans in the broadest possible sense, Beek explained. “We actually make a point to not say transgender, because we feel like the term trans should be an inclusive word to mean if you identify as transsexual or transgender or genderqueer or two-spirit people.”

The recipients of this spring’s Art and Change Grant are working in a wide range of disciplines, including music, performance and visual arts. Carman Spoto, a queer trans woman from Downingtown, will use her grant to make a feature-length film about queer and trans youth. And Alex Barrett and Kris Moore of University City will be working on a book about gender-nonconformity for youngsters, along with an accompanying curriculum guide for parents and teachers. 

A significant aspect of Leeway’s Art and Change Grant is what it refers to as Social Change Intents. All applicants are asked to select three from a list of 11 possibilities.

“What we mean by that is basically focuses, ranging from cultural preservation to environmental justice to displacement and immigration issues to transgender justice and gender self-determination,” Beek said.

Before this year, Beek noted, Leeway categorized LGBTQI social movements and transgender justice and gender self-determination under one rubric. This spring, however, it was agreed that they should be two separate Social Change Intents. 

That was partly due to Leeway’s longstanding recognition of the importance of gender self-determination. But it was also a response to societal threats to the trans community, from so-called bathroom bills to outright violence against trans women.

“We thought that was a very important change to make to the application,” said Beek, who pointed out that six current grantees selected transgender justice and gender self-determination.

Kayleb Rae Candrilli is one of them. Candrilli, whose preferred pronoun is they, is a trans, gender-nonconforming poet living and working in the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia.

“My poetry is pretty much directly in conversation with trans rights and trans joy,” they said when asked to describe their work. “So it’s what I do and it’s my personal politics.”

Candrilli applied for Leeway’s Art and Change Grant to work on a book of poems in dialogue with the paintings of Hernan Bas. They described Bas as a wonderful painter whose work celebrates queer bodies.

“I wanted to write an entire collection that was focused on the queer body and the trans body as one of joy,” Candrilli said. “I think too often trans people are reduced to their trauma, and I didn’t want to write that book.” 

The Art and Change Grant is a boon to Candrilli, giving them time to work on the book, a chance to visit a current Bas exhibit and a financial cushion as they look for a publisher. Overall, their experience with Leeway has been so good that they wholeheartedly recommend it to others.

“I would really like to encourage female-bodied and trans artists to apply to this, pretty much no matter what,” Candrilli said. “I think that writing about your work and applying to something, even if you don’t get it, teaches you a lot about who you are as an artist and what your intentions are.”

That’s timely advice. The deadline for Leeway’s fall Art and Change Grant is Aug. 1. Beek urges artists from Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs to give it a shot. 

There will even be an applicant-support session on July 19 at Historic Germantown, 5501 Germantown Ave. It is open to anyone, whether they’re in the process or filling out an application for the Art and Change Grant or still just considering the idea. It makes no difference, Beek said; Leeway staff will be there for advice, feedback and help.

“You do not need an appointment, you don’t need to necessarily say that you’re coming, you can just pop in, talk to somebody,” she said.

To learn more about the Leeway Foundation and the fall 2017 Art and Change Grant, visit www.leeway.org. 

7 Artists and Organizers Who Work on Reentry Issues in Philadelphia

Far too often, the contributions to social justice movements by artists and cultural producers are seen but uncelebrated. In recognition of Philadelphia Reentry Month, Leeway spotlights just a few individuals who believe that social change happens when we work together to dismantle oppressive power structures and see possibility beyond the confines of stigma associated with people in reentry.

Do you know of other women and trans artists doing work in communities affected by incarceration? Encourage them to apply for the Art and Change Grant, deadline: August 1. 

1. Faith Bartley (ACG ’15): Faith is an organizer and multidisciplinary artist who creates resources for women living in halfway houses. Working with The People’s Paper Co-op – an initiative by the Village of Arts and Humanities that works directly with individuals impacted by incarceration to develop the tools, skills, and networks to advocate for themselves and their loved ones- Faith uses the process of papermaking, gatherings, and speaking engagements to provide information and tips meant to ease the process of reentry for formerly incarcerated women. Faith aims to heal, unite, and empower women who have been oppressed all their lives. 

2. Mary DeWitt (ACG ’16, ’15, ’09, LTA ’10, WOO ’03, ’00): Since the late 1980's, Mary has repeatedly painted portraits and collaborated with women serving life without parole in Pennsylvania. Her goal is to show their depth and humanity through exhibitions and YouTube videos of developing portrait images paired with their voices. Currently she is painting ceramic tile mural portraits of  the women who are juvenile lifers, to be installed around the city of Philadelphia.  Philadelphia has incarcerated more juveniles to life without parole than any city in the United States- over 300. The murals with narrative will include her websites www.juvelinelifers.com and www.lifersontile.com where viewers can hear and learn more about the women and this crisis so relevant to our city.

3. Ras Mashramani (ACG ’16): Ras is a writer and co-founder of the DIY sci-fi collective, Metropolarity. She believes that sci-fi is a technology that allows those without a way forward in the economic and criminal justice systems to build futures where they are alive and thriving. Ras is currently working on a dystopia sci-fi novel that explores the intersection of mental health treatment, mass incarceration, racism, and poverty from the perspective of a social work trainee at a local juvenile detention center. Ras aims to raise awareness around issues of surveillance and violence in poor communities and amplify the voices of both survivors and workers who are impacted by these systems in hopes to promote solidarity.

4. Courtney Bowles (ACG ’16): Courtney is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and community organizer. She is the co-director of The People's Paper Co-op and the Philadelphia Reentry Think Tank, a project that connects returning citizens with artists, activists, and legislative experts to destroy stereotypes about returning citizens, connect them with organizations and individuals in power, and advocate for platforms that will help those in reentry succeed. At the core of her practice is the belief that those most impacted by systemic social issues are the experts society needs to listen to, and that by connecting those directly affected with a multitude of community experts and political stakeholders, change can happen on personal and systemic levels.

5. Romeeka Williams (ACG ’16): Romeeka is an organizer who is creating a collection of writing and poetry from workshops with youth within the Philadelphia prison system. Romeeka uplifts the voices of young people tried and incarcerated as adults by sharing where these young writers come from, how they got to this point in their lives, and what trauma they experienced that influenced their decisions. As a supervisor at the Youth Arts Self-empowerment Project, Romeeka talks to student groups about the school-to-prison pipeline and offers support for those returning from prison.

6. Emily Abendroth (ACG ’15): Emily is a poet, teacher and anti-prison activist. Her project, entitled LifeLines: Voices Against the Other Death Penalty, is a media/cultural project intended to inform and transform the nature of public discussions and understanding of Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentencing in Pennsylvania. Emily conducted written and audio interviews with people serving life in Pennsylvania, which she used to create a pamphlet that can serve as a tool to inform campaign strategy, educate, and generate dialogue with people across the state. Emily believes that successfully defeating LWOP will require a profound cultural shift as well as artistic collaborations that engage people on both sides of prison walls.

7. Rachel Zolf (ACG ’16): Rachel is a literary artist who developed and piloted an eight-week writing group with incarcerated women at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Philadelphia. The group, called FreeWrite, fostered creative expression, critical thinking and community building as the writers responded freely to writing prompts drawn from published poems, fiction, and memoirs by formerly incarcerated people and other writers. Rachel and her co-facilitator, Penn student Camara Brown, coordinated FreeWrite for a second ten-week session, and the group will start up again this fall.

Announcing May’s Window of Opportunity Grantees

Our Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant launched earlier this year as a pilot program. Open to previous Leeway grantees only, the grant is meant to fund time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice. We are happy to announce May's grantees:

Judith Sachs (ACG '15) has the opportunity to attend The International Society of Gerontology World Congress, held this July in San Francisco. The Congress is the largest group of individuals working for the advancement of the elderly, and this year it features Age Stage, where those, like Judith, involved in fostering creative aging will speak and perform. Judith will take part in a variety of improvisatory sessions with them, and will also be able to network and expand the scope of her adaptive dance program and her founding group, National Council on Creative Aging, internationally.

Judith Schaechter (LAE ‘99) Featured on Articulate

Judith Schaechter (LAE '99) is featured on Articulate, an Emmy® award-winning arts and culture show nationally syndicated on PBS. Art, according to Schaechter, is a way of bridging the gap between mind and body. Judith sat down with Articulate to discuss the simultaneously cerebral and emotional nature of her work, the importance of process, and how she has stretched the boundaries of her art form. 

Watch the segment at pbs.org.

Songs in the Key of Free Featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer

Songs in the Key of Free is the first formal music program at Graterford Prison in more than a decade. The program was founded by August Tarrier (ACG '12) and Miles Butler in October 2016. 

[T]hrough it, inmates have already written and recorded an EP of original songs, with a lyrical focus on issues like mass incarceration and systemic racism, and they are working on a full album. They also have two concerts prepared: one to be performed inside Graterford by the men, and a parallel performance-by-proxy, featuring professional musicians, video clips, and the EP release on June 16 at the Painted Bride.

August Tarrier, who founded the program with Butler last fall, says the goal is artistic, with a side of advocacy.

“It’s countering the idea that people who end up in prison, who made a mistake or a bad decision, that they deserve for us to lock them up and throw away the key,” said Tarrier, an editor and writer who has taught writing courses at Graterford for Villanova University. “What we’re trying to do is make an intervention and to bridge the divide between inside and outside.”

Continue reading the full article at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Underground Railroad Game Ties for the Obie Award

The Underground Railroad Game, written by Philly thespians Scott Sheppard and Jenn Kidwell (ACG '15) and produced by their Philly company, Lightning Rod Special, tied Monday night for the Obie Award for best new American theater work. The Obies reward excellence in Off-Broadway productions.

Read the full article at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Temple University Awards Lela Aisha Jones a Reflection:Response Choreographic Commission

May 2, 2017

The Temple University Department of Dance, Institute of Dance Scholarship, is delighted to announce the sixth Reflection:Response Choreographic Commission has been awarded to Lela Aisha Jones/FlyGround.

Building on her current series of episodic works, Plight Release & the Diasporic Body, Jones will create Ancestral and Everyday Saturday, new works that traverse, through the body and movement, what the black/African Diaspora offers as an archive of and guide towards individual and collective transformation. Jones is asking, “what if keepers of cultures in societies also let traditional practices breathe and become tapestries grounded in histories and discoveries that collide, merge, diverge, and converge?”

The Reflection/Response Choreographic Commission includes a cash award of $5,000 and access to rehearsal space at Temple University throughout summer 2017. Past commission recipients include Laura Peterson, Charles O. Anderson, Tatyana Tennenbaum, Jennifer Weber, and Kathy Westwater.

Ancestral is an interlude and cast-specific movement experience that purposefully brings performers and audiences together around their practices of honoring ancestors to create pathways for understanding and connection along with problems and challenges in U.S. society.

Everyday Saturday works to capture and imagine the gestural, common, and less visible locations of black/African diasporic movement. It is inspired by the Saturday morning clean up ritual that took place weekly in the Southern U.S., North Florida city of Tallahassee, in the Jones home. Cleaning up was/is a time to get down to LPs, cassette tapes, CDs, and eventually streaming. Singing and dancing while cleaning goes way back and makes work feel like family. Students of the Temple University Department of Dance will join Jones and her company in Everyday Saturday.

In addition to the premiere of Ancestral and Everyday Saturday, Jones will perform her critically acclaimed trio, Jesus & Egun (2016).

Performances will take place in Temple University’s Conwell Dance Theater on Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23 at 7:30 PM. Additional public programming includes a Round Table Discussion on Saturday, Sept 23 from 4-6PM, and a public workshop on Sunday, Sept 24 from  2-5PM.

Camae Ayewa’s Performance at Moogfest Featured in NY Times

DURHAM, N.C. — On Thursday afternoon at Moogfest, electronic sounds whooshed and crashed and videos of waveforms flickered and rippled behind Camae Ayewa, a musician, producer, poet, rapper and community organizer based in Philadelphia who records as Moor Mother. From her nest of equipment, she layered tumultuous beats and brittle electronic loops, and she declaimed ideas about history, racism, memory, technology and transformation. “Everyone is at home deleting the human parts of themselves/Control-Alt-Delete,” she intoned.

Moor Mother was playing a “durational performance,” one of the marathon four-hour sets that are a highlight of Moogfest, which took place Thursday through Sunday across downtown Durham, N.C. 

Continue reading the full article at nytimes.com.

Leeway Foundation Announces Spring 2017 Art and Change Grantees

22 women and trans artists and cultural producers receive project-based grants to further social change in the Delaware Valley.

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $47,500 in grants to 22 women and trans* artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues, from immigration and transgender justice to cultural preservation and environmental justice. 

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Delaware Valley area. The grant supports artists practicing a variety of disciplines including performance, visual arts, and literary arts.

The following 22 artists were awarded grants (in alphabetical order):

@Pormisjoyas of West Philadelphia, Folk Art

Alex Barrett and Kris Moore of University City, Literary and Visual Arts

Amber Emory of West Philadelphia, Performance and Literary Arts

Ana Guissel Palma of West Kensington, Crafts & Textiles and Visual Arts

Carman Spoto of Downingtown, Media Arts

Carolyn L. Payne of Chester, Multidisciplinary

Cassendre Xavier of University City, Multidisciplinary

Davy Knittle and Mel Bentley of Cedar Park and Allegheny West, Literary Arts and Crafts & Textiles

JBK of North Philadelphia, Visual Arts and Folk Art

Kara Crombie of East Kensington, Music and Performance

Kayleb Rae Candrilli of Point Breeze, Literary Arts and Performance

Leah Stein of South Philadelphia, Performance and Music

Li Sumpter of Walnut Hill, Multidisciplinary

Meg Lemieur and Bri Barton of Fishtown / Port Richmond and Norris Square, Visual Arts and Performance

Nkechi of Germantown, Multidisciplinary

Priscilla Anacakuyani of Grays Ferry, Visual Arts and Performance

Stephanie Amma of East Mount Airy, Folk Art and Music

Stephanie Yuhas of West End, Media Arts and Performance

Susan Lankin-Watts of Ardmore, Music

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel.  The Spring 2017 review panel consisted of arts administrator and nonprofit development professional Amanda Morales Pratt, vocalist and pianist Dena Underwood (ACG ‘16), and social research activist artist Julie Rainbow (LTA ‘16, ACG ‘14). 

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at (215) 545-4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit www.leeway.org.

Download Spring 2017 Press Release, Infographic, Project Descriptions, and Panelist Bios

Announcing April’s Window of Opportunity Grantees

Our Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant launched earlier this year as a pilot program. Open to previous Leeway grantees only, the grant is meant to fund time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice. We are happy to announce April's grantees:

Elizabeth Hamilton (ACG '15) has been invited by the Immigrant Affairs Department of City Hall to create a Mini Museum exhibit in Chinatown and host a free community art making workshop in June as part of Immigrant Heritage Month. Mini Museum is a project that focuses on exhibiting miniature art works, no greater than 6 x 6 inches. The works are created during free community workshops and installed in publicly accessible areas, dismantling boundaries around who can be exhibited and what it means to “be in a museum.” Funds will be used for weather-proof exhibition installation materials, framing and presentation, documentation, and workshop supplies.

Jos Duncan (LTA '13, ACG '11) has the opportunity to have her work as a cultural producer documented by a filmmaker and videographer. A series of short videos will be made during her event, 11 Days of Love Stories, that she’s directing with her nonprofit social enterprise Love Now Media, which will be held over 11 days (July 5 - 15) in 11 locations throughout Philadelphia. Each event or workshop will be free, open to the public, and hosted in partnership with a group that is making a social impact. The focus is to engage these community groups in her art for social change practice, which centers love-activism and the power of love-based storytelling and media-making within social justice work. Video documentation will affirm this practice and help Jos develop it as something that could be implemented in other cities.

Mayada (ACG '16) has the opportunity to exhibit her paintings at Philadelphia Folklore Project in June. Mayada will be able to use video projection to present Iraqi songs, lyrics, and stories bilingually in English and Arabic, and will also serve Iraqi tea and cookies (klecha) to accompany the songs. Mayada has also been invited to participate in the Letters from Iraq event at International House Philadelphia in May. In conjunction with a musical performance by Iraqi musician Rahim Alhaj, Mayada will display her paintings centering Iraqi folklore. Funds will be used to frame the art, rent easels, and purchase exhibition supplies.

Announcing March’s Window of Opportunity Grantees

Our Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant launched earlier this year as a six-month pilot program. Open to previous Leeway grantees only, the grant is meant to fund time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice. We are happy to announce March's grantees:

Melissa B. Skolnick (ACG ’12) has been invited by LEA (Latinos and Education in America) to travel to Austin, Texas to share her multimedia work and conduct a training with local Latinx immigrant youth in the Austin Public Schools in May. Melissa will participate in a panel and screen her film The Engine of My Life, the story of how two immigrant sisters in Philadelphia fight for their rights (co-directed by Milena Velis/Media Mobilizing Project). Melissa will also conduct a training with Austin youth on how to document their stories through photography. These stories will be shared with Latinx immigrant youth in South Philly, as Melissa develops a tool and collaborative process for sharing these stories across cities.

Michelle Angela Ortiz (ACG ’13, ’12, ’05, LTA ’08) has been invited by Taller Puertorriqueño to create a solo exhibition in May, her first solo exhibition in six years. Michelle has the opportunity to collaborate with an animator and video mapping projectionist to create some of the content of the exhibit. Quizás Mañana will examine memory and the act of narrative retelling through the creation of visual artifacts and installations.

Sistah Mafalda (ACG ’13) has the opportunity to travel and teach in a cultural dance exchange project with the Obatala group in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Obatala, a group of Afro-Mexican women who are dancing to reconnect with their African roots, have invited Sistah Mafalda to teach them African drum and dance and share their own dance practices with her in June.

Applications will be accepted May, June, and July on the 15th of each month. Learn more and apply online.

Betty Leacraft (LTA ‘11, ACG ‘16, ‘14, ‘09, WOO ‘99) Interviewed by The Galleries at Moore

Betty Leacraft (LTA '11, ACG '16, '14, '09, WOO '99) talks fibers, family, ancestors and Philadelphia Assembled in this podcast by The Galleries at Moore TGMR radio project, recorded February 21, 2017. Listen here.

Monnette Sudler (LTA ‘11, ACG ‘15, ‘14) Featured in WHYY-FM Interview

Monnette Sudler (LTA '11, ACG '15, '14) was interviewed by Alex Lewis for a WHYY-FM / NewsWorks broadcast. Listen to "Musician and composer Monnette Sudler is Philadelphia’s 'First Lady of Guitar'" here. (March 1, 2017)

Monnette Sudler says the guitar feels less like an instrument and more like a part of her body.

“Because now, at this point in my life, when I pick it up, it just feels natural,” she says from her apartment in Germantown. “I'm supposed to hold it, and it's really just an extension of myself now. Whatever I'm trying to convey — if it's excitement, or if it's love or blues, happy times or gratefulness — I believe I convey that.”

Announcing February’s Window of Opportunity Grantees

Leeway’s Window of Opportunity (WOO) Grant launched this earlier this year as a six-month pilot program. Open to previous Leeway grantees only, the grant is meant to fund time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice. We are happy to announce February's WOO grantees:

Catherine Pancake (ACG '16) will prepare a rough cut of her feature film, Queer Genius, for a residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Heidi Saman (LTA '09) will prepare her first feature film, Namour, for distribution by ARRAY and Netflix.

Pia Deas (ACG '16) has an opportunity to host an artists' roundtable at the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia on March 25, 2017 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tentatively titled Power to the People: Celebrating The Black Imagination, this event will feature five Philadelphia artists speaking about their work, the importance of the Black imagination, and how it informs their art and their activism. 

Applications will be accepted from March through July on the 15th of every month. Learn more and apply online.

M. Asli Dukan (LTA ‘16, ACG ‘16, ‘14) Featured in Geek of the Week

M. Asli Dukan (LTA '16, ACG '16, '14) is featured in Geekadelphia's Geek of the Week (March 1, 2017).

Geekadelphia: Why do you feel that a documentary such as “Invisible Universe” is important in this day and Time?

Dukan: I think it is important because it is not just about speculative fiction, it is ultimately about Black speculation, basically the capacity of Black people to imagine different worlds and futures for ourselves. It’s not new for us. In the United States, Black folk have always lived in a kind of state of emergency, so we have always had to use our imaginations as the first step towards recovering our full humanity in a society that has never really valued it. So for me the documentary is important because it is a document of our resistance to what I call the “white fantastic imagination” or white supremacy that is inherent to the genres of speculative fiction, and consequently in the society we live in. It’s ultimately important because for Black creators,Black struggle and Black speculation, have often gone hand in hand.

Read more.

Leeway Foundation’s Statement on Power and Values

Leeway Foundation stands with our community alongside those most often marginalized and demonized by power — gender non-conforming, trans and LGBQI folks; immigrants and refugees; women and girls;  the disabled, and people of color — by supporting work that intends a social impact by challenging or questioning societal norms including prevailing attitudes about race, religion, class, gender, sexuality, identity, age, and ability.

“…. Leeway dreams a world
Where the communities
That have been blanketed in silence
Are finally heard
To be screaming.
Where no one owns our bodies
And the community owns
The pieces of it that go out into the world
Where art knows the heavy
And joyful
Responsibility it carries.
We dream a world where
The one is part of the many
Like rivulets of water
That forms a raging ocean….”

 - excerpted from Leeway's Vision Poem by Walidah Imarisha

LaTreice Branson (LTA ‘16) and Drum Like a Lady at the Women’s March on Philadelphia

LaTreice Branson and Drum Like a Lady did an extraordinary job kicking off the Women’s March on Philadelphia yesterday, setting a tone that was energetic, positive, and truly inclusive.

Read the full article "Drum Like a Lady at Women’s March on Philadelphia: Photos and an open letter" by Jack Firneno for Medium.

Pia Deas’ (ACG ‘16) “Contemporary Black Canvas” Podcast Featured in Generocity

Dr. Pia Deas' (ACG '16) "Contemporary Black Canvas," with its focus on modern-day Black artists and intellectuals, is bringing some much-needed diversity to podcasting.

Read Donte Kirby's full article at Generocity: "How this podcast is fighting underrepresentation, one artist at a time"

Leeway Foundation Awards 10 Philadelphia Artists with $15,000 Transformation Award

The 2016 awards were presented to a diverse group of artists and cultural producers who have worked for five years or more to further social change in the Delaware Region

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $150,000 in grants to 10 women and trans* artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, acknowledging their commitment to art and social justice that impacts a larger audience or community. This year’s recipients work in an array of disciplines, including performance, media and folk arts. 

The 2016 Leeway Transformation Award (LTA) recipients are as follows (in alphabetical order): 

    Indah Nuritasari of Center City, Literary Arts and Media Arts

    Julie Rainbow of Germantown, Media Arts

    Kavindu “Kavi” Ade of West Philadelphia, Literary Arts and Performance

    Ksenya Leah Basarab of West Philadelphia, Music

    LaTreice V. Branson of Mantua, Music and Performance

    M. Asli Dukan of West Philadelphia, Media Arts

    Marie Nyenabo of Southwest Philadelphia, Music and Folk Art

    Merián Soto of Mt. Airy, Multidisciplinary

    Misty Sol of South Philadelphia, Multidisciplinary

    Noelle Hanrahan of Frankford, Media Arts and Literary Arts

“The 2016 Transformation Awardees are all artists that represent what is at the core of Leeway’s mission: visionary, community-based cultural work,” said Sara Zia Ebrahimi, Leeway’s Program Director. “Each of these artists practice their own craft as well as mentor, teach, or bring others together. Their artistic practice is not in isolation; they understand that social change does not happen by exceptional individuals, but rather by strong communities that work together.”

A national panel of artists and cultural producers convened to review applications and work samples in this two-stage process. The 2016 panel consisted of Chicago-based Palestinian author and graphic novelist Leila Abdelrazaq; queer, trans, Filipino multimedia artist and Director of Operations and Communications at the Trans Justice Funding Project Marin Watts; New-York based, Caribbean-born choreographer Paloma McGregor; 2016 Doris Duke Artist and Creative Capital awardee Sharon Bridgforth; and poet, author and Pew Fellow Trapeta Mayson (ACG '14, LTA '07). Advocate, educator, doula, and facilitator Erme Maula facilitated the panel’s second stage. 

Applications are made available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling 215.545.4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. The next Leeway Transformation Award deadline is May 15, 2017. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a foundation staff member for one-on-one support. 

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at 215.545.4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

Download 2016 LTA Press Release and Panelist Bios

Yolanda Wisher (ACG ‘08) Featured On CBC Radio

Dear President-Elect: Our Pilot Has Shown Up - Cussing, Snorting, Handsy, Full Of Spite and Trifles

By Yolanda Wisher for CBC Radio
November 9, 2016

Yolanda Wisher is the poet laureate of Philadelphia. Here is her letter to president-elect Donald Trump, commissioned by The Sunday Edition. 

A Letter to the President-Elect and to All of US

November 9, 2016

Dear Co-Pilot(s) of These Upper Ethers & Downy Domains,

Before I knew about Peter Pan or Dorothy's tornado, I knew about The People Who Could Fly. Magic folk, ancient people who possessed the knowledge of flight. Slavery took their wings but some still remembered how and flew away from the lash. The griot Virginia Hamilton wrote that they flew like blackbirds over fields. Black, shiny wings flappin' against the blue up there. 

America is a flight of fear and a fear of flight. Democracy is this plane we're on. This air we're in. At our worst here. 

This is Democracy formerly known as the journey, The Promised Land. Formerly known as the slave ship.  Formerly known as the railroad car. Democracy formerly known as the bus, get on to the back now. Not the freight train Elizabeth Cotton called to carry me home. 

This plane runs on our fossilized dreams and the oil squeezed from our wings. And if I forget my place back here, it could all explode or combust. 

They say it's the pressure that keeps the plane in the air.. This pressure, this cramping, this root canal, charley horse, blood clot country that is supposed to be about freedom, but is so confined, so hampered, so suspect. Guards up. We've had so much reality, nobody believes in the myth of flight anymore. 

*       *       *

And now our pilot has shown up. Looking a lot like the other good old boys in the air up there. Cussing, snorting, handsy, full of spite and trifles, lumbering up a flimsy moral ramp to the cockpit, joining a fraternity in the clouds. This election was all turbulence and fog, people deboarding the plane before it took off. Millions didn't get on board at all. Some folks swear they'll never get back on board again. The smell from the toilets funked up the whole joint, even reared its ugly head in First Class. The masks forgot to fall.  We expected Her to crash us through, see us through the blue up there.

For the last eight years, I've been Theo's mom and Theo (a boy born in America with the blood of Black farmers, Scots, Irish, Arawak Indians, and Garifuna medicine men running in his veins) has only known Barack Obama as his president. He knows knock-knock jokes, but he doesn't know the centuries-old parodies about black presidents and power, never tasted the primordial minstrel stew we call this Birth of a Nation. He was conceived in the weeks before Obama's inauguration, when we felt the country's chest swell up and the guardians of history sigh with wonder and relief. He looks up to Obama. Obama is Theo's personal president. And it's hard to let go. Theo and Jasper and Jericho, first graders, gather at recess to discuss the country and where's it going. They believe in Democracy. They still have wings. They believe that girls can fly, too. 

*       *       *

But today we woke up to rain in America. When Theo came into our room, and Mark told him who won, he started crying. He asked, Will we have to leave? I said, No, baby, this is our country, too. We cuddled in the 6 a.m. sheets, and when they were heading out the door for school, Mark reminded me about that day when we came home to towers falling on TV just days after we had decided to split up and go our separate ways. I remember how fear flew in from all sides as we looked across the room at each other and said, let's stay together. 

And now I'm saying, y'all: Get on, strap in, and let's ride this sucker. Let's push the call button and clog the toilets. Be unruly and unruled. Let's give the pilot hell back here. I am willing to forget my deepest fears of flight, that angst of no return, the snapping ties of my heart as the wheels tuck under and out. I know what to save. 

"Hello, this is your co-pilot speaking. Welcome to America. We could be our best up there, down here. 

Thank you for flying." 

Sincerely,
Theo's mom
Philadelphia, PA

Read and listen to the original article here.

Kay Wood (ACG ‘16, ‘14) Featured In Chestnut Hill Local

‘A Brutal Year’ For Mt. Airy Artist/Author/Radio Host

By Len Lear For Chestnut Hill Local
October 28, 2016

Mt. Airy author, graphic artist and radio show host, Kay Wood, has had, in her words, “a brutal year… It was just so horrible in so many ways.” Wood’s husband and companion of 35 years, Michael Silverstein, a business writer and former senior editor at Bloomberg’s Market magazine, died on Sept. 27 of lung cancer at the age of 75. “But even during Mike’s grueling battle with cancer, he always encouraged me to keep up with the (radio) show…

“We’re so great together,” Wood told us in an interview last year. “We encourage each other. I realized I could make a story out of the struggle for corporate greed over human sanity (in her first graphic novel, ‘The Big Belch,’ a satirical adventure of environmental crime fighters that was awarded a Leeway Foundation Arts and Change grant in 2014 and is available on Amazon.com). Laughing at the world and what people do seems the only way to stay sane …

“(And) Mike advised on the radio show all the way till he could no longer do it, and it gave him a good thing to focus on – a distraction we both needed.” (Kay’s radio show, “Planet Philadelphia,” which is one year old, streams 4 to 5 p.m. on gtownradio.com the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month. Podcasts of the live shows generally become available the day after they broadcast at planetphila.com or gtownradio.com. Wood recently was awarded another Leeway Foundation grant for $2,500 for “Planet Philadelphia.”)

In addition to being a business writer, Silverstein was a poet, editor, humorist, social commentator and humanitarian. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he might have stayed there had he not been inducted into the Army. He served honorably as a Military Policeman in West Germany, for which he remained proud the rest of his life.

Upon discharge, he went on to live in a lighthouse in Spain, in London, New York again and Boston before finding his home in Mt. Airy. His varied career included serving as a senior editor for Bloomberg News and writing a dozen books, serious and comic, fiction and non-fiction, in poetry and prose, on subjects ranging from politics to the financial derivatives market, the environment, solar energy, etc.

Hundreds of his articles and op-ed pieces appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Constitution and Christian Science Monitor. He was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and Boston Phoenix and was a regular commentator on National Public Radio.

According to Kay, “He was almost certainly the only person to ever covet the title ‘America’s Best-Loved Financial Poet,’ but he was always more interested in promoting good ideas than in personal advancement. So he would move on to something new whenever he saw that others were catching on, never sticking around long enough to take credit or cash in.” (Silverstein’s final book was his entertaining personal memoir, “Gorilla Warfare Against the Bureaucratic State; Confessions of a Lefty Libertarian.“)

Wood, 64, who has lived in Mt. Airy for more than 20 years, was always a talented graphic artist but had never worked in radio until “Planet Philadelphia.” Her twice-a-month show is a mix of environmental news, interviews, music, poetry, etc. What prompted her to want to host a radio show in her mature years?

“Over the last several years,” she explained, “I’ve met many people who are incredibly dedicated in their efforts to help clean up our world, both physically and socially. They are my inspiration in creating, producing and hosting the radio show that I will be doing for the foreseeable future. I do everything to make it as engaging as possible.”

Wood’s first graphic novel, ‘The Big Belch,’ a satirical adventure of environmental crime fighters, has earned rave reviews, including one from Signe Wilkinson, Chestnut Hill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist.

In a typical program last Friday, Wood interviewed Christine Dolle, a field organizer for “Moms Clean Air Force,” about how our children are not now getting the clean air or water the PA Constitution is supposed to guarantee — and the power of parents to change this sad state of affairs.

Wood, a native of North Jersey, originally studied illustration at Philadelphia College of the Arts (now University of the Arts) and made a living painting and drawing, mostly medical or scientific illustrations, for more than 40 years. After three-and-a-half years of hard work and a successful Kickstarter funding campaign, Wood published “The Big Belch” in July, 2014.

The title refers to “a hastily concocted and volatile new oil spill cleanup method” that releases possibly harmful methane gases when oil-eating bacteria are unleashed into the waterways. How has the book done? “Pretty well,” Wood said, “considering I had no experience whatsoever doing a graphic novel and starting on my first in my 60s. I got some pretty fine reviews.”

According to Signe Wilkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and a Chestnut Hill resident, “Kay Wood’s graphic novella pits a gang of haplessly humorous activists against an environmental Armageddon in the making. In the ‘Big Belch,’ the stakes are high, but so are the spirits of characters bumbling their way to a better world.” (See other reviews on kaywoodart.wixsite.com/thebigbelch)

Wood said the best advice she ever received was “probably something I should be doing right now — not to hold on to anger, and as my Uncle Harold told me in my 20s, ‘In this life you just have to shake the blood out of your eyes and keep on going.’”

Planet Philadelphia’s listener comment line is 484-278-1846. One can record a message anytime.

Read the original article here.

Camae Ayewa (LTA ‘15, ACG ‘07) Featured In Pitchfork

Moor Mother: Hardcore Poet

By Jenn Pelly for Pitchfork
October 26, 2016

“Basic” may be the most chilling pejorative of our time. And it is never more severe than when Philadelphia’s Camae Ayewa, aka Moor Mother, churns it out on one austere, Nicki Minaj-sampling single from last year: “Look ma, we made it/Only lost a hundred thousand coming over on them slave ships/That’s just one ship,” she booms. “Muhfuckas, I’m jaded/I’m in one big room, and everybody basic.” Ayewa articulates so lucidly and irreducibly that it’s like she is writing with a ballpoint pen; if you have chosen to remain silent in the face of injustice, which is to say in the face of our world, this artist is staring you in the eye.

On a weekday night on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Ayewa caps off a performance at a stranger’s apartment—10 foldings chairs, Christmas lights, a bevy of plants—with “Basic.” Her set, which is part of a series highlighting politically-oriented artists, is a mix of soundscapes and poetry. Phrases I jot down during the show include: “no more androids for president, no more zombie artists”; “cops are grim reapers, violence costs nothing”; “the public housing of minds”; and “at what age do we teach our daughters to play dead?” Reality is rendered as hard as it ought to be. “Everything I do is a true story,” she says to the crowded living room. “I just tell the truth.”

After a decade spent in the Philly underground—as show-booker, community organizer, punk musician, rapper, poet, and multidisciplinary visual artist—Ayewa’s work has coalesced into a total vision. It is concrete-heavy, abrasive, and generative. Ayewa reimagines protest songs as radical electronic noise montages, but her lyrics about systemic racism and historical trauma are searing Afrofuturist statements. Take, for example, this incendiary line from Fetish Bones, her recent solo debut: “I’m bell hooks trained as a sniper,” Ayewa snarls, transmuting the intersectional feminist theorist into a warrior. She then declares herself “Sandra Bland returning from the dead with a hatchet,” referencing the 28-year-old black woman who was found dead in jail after being pulled over for a minor traffic violation last year. Befitting the tremendous fire of Ayewa’s words, a 122-page book of poetry was released alongside Fetish Bones.

“I let these stories pass through me—I’m the narrator,” Ayewa tells me over Skype a couple of weeks after her house-show set. In conversation, she is a calming and genial presence; she measures her thoughts, and when she mentions Alice Coltrane, it’s not hard to imagine her in graceful meditation like the cosmic jazz swamini herself. This is in utter contrast to the unwavering anger of Ayewa’s staggering performances. “I start out so smiley, but as soon as the lyric comes, I’m pissed,” she says of her live shows. “When you’re telling the truth, and trying to be respectful to the things that are happening around you, it comes out like that.”

For Fetish Bones, Ayewa was awarded a grant from the Leeway Foundation, which supports women and trans artists whose work promotes social justice. This allowed her to create a studio from scratch in a closet of her North Philadelphia home. The process of making Fetish Bones coincided with Ayewa’s process of learning to produce electronic noise, practicing on her hardware and drum machine. “There’s so many mistakes,” Ayewa says. “Limitations helped it.” But she’s learning everyday. She mentions a recent trip to Rotterdam, Netherlands, where she had access to a studio full of synths; she used the tools to blend the Dutch version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin with her own “noisy techno craziness.”

In March, Ayewa began a performance art series called “HOUR/SHIFT.” The first piece was a 14-hour endurance test, a “sonic act of protest” in solidarity with survivors of domestic and sexual assault; the second was Ayewa’s attempt at resurrecting the unmarked graves of Potter’s Field, a burial place for poor black people before the Civil War. In addition to her art, Ayewa’s projects include Black Quantum Futurism—the name under which she and partner Rasheedah Phillips lead community workshops. In June, they opened a physical space called Community Futures Lab in North Philly, which also offers discussions, exhibitions, readings, performances, and housing resources. Beyond that, by day, Aweya coaches soccer and basketball at a Quaker school; even there, her lessons naturally transcend athletics. “These kids are never meeting anyone like me,” she says with a laugh. “One of them came up to me right before a game once and she was like, ‘You know, I really didn’t like Lemonade that much,’ and then just ran onto the field.” The awkward moment eventually led to a discussion about alienation in music.

These projects all speak to Ayewa’s desire to make noise that is practical, that processes history, that can actually teach. She raises her voice and the voices of her community so that they may beget more like their own. She solidifies stories that would otherwise evaporate. She performs magic.

Born in the small town of Aberdeen, Maryland, Ayewa came up around gospel music; she sang in choir and had a rap group with friends called Sister Soldier. But when rap started sounding too “poppy” to her, she sought out harder, political artists. She ultimately got into reggae, ska, and punk via Operation Ivy, 7 Seconds, X, Sleater-Kinney, and Bikini Kill. Riot grrrl particularly inspired her song “Of Blood,” an eerie psalm for menstrual cycles. “I love how everything women were supposed to hide, riot grrrl was just like, ‘No, shove it in their fucking face,’” Ayewa says.

She eventually relocated to Philly to study photography at the Art Institute. “I grew up with not a lot of photographs of myself,” she says. “So I wanted to be a part of helping to document people who don’t have records of their families, stuff that’s not seen—but that’s really expensive, so I got kicked out of school.” She still does photography, though, and her work as a preservationist continues with Fetish Bones.

For six years, Ayewa toured as bassist and vocalist in the DIY punk bands Girls Dressed as Girls and the Mighty Paradocs. In 2012, Moor Mother grew from her desire to say much more; she’s posted some 100 recordings to Bandcamp, with samples ranging from children’s hand games to Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” bassline to the poets Maya Angelou, June Jordan, and Ntozake Shange. The poetry energizes her most. “That’s the stuff that gives me life,” she says. “Poetry is my hardcore. I will rage to that stuff.” But she brings the unsparing spirit of punk to her spoken-word: “People are so confused every time I play a show. They’ll be like ‘What? You just started screaming!’ I scream! I do poetry and I scream.”

“I’m pissed because people who are supposed to be doing what I’m doing—their lyrics are mad soft. I feel like it’s getting there, it just takes time to get back to a more political place. But with this election, it seems like people are honestly worked up about it—and not just worked up as a trending topic.”
Pitchfork: What was your introduction to protest music?

Moor Mother: My family used to listen to scary gospel—Mahalia Jackson, people who were not just waiting for Jesus to come, but being like, “This is what we’re living with, we’re going to push through. I’m climbing up the rough side of the mountain, and we’re going to get into this chariot and go to a better place.”

I grew up in Maryland right by the Chesapeake Bay, and my family was involved with the church in the 1700s. Everyone participated in these prayer choirs—where a group of women, or healers, or priests come together at your deathbed and say this soft prayer, but it’s almost like a song. That’s a tradition of the area. By the time I was coming up in the church, it was no more, but I was in the choir. I love that stuff. Not so much that I was a Christian, even as a kid—I had too many questions that just seemed weird—but I loved the music.

How else did growing up in Maryland shape you as an artist?

My neighborhood offered endless inspiration. My area didn’t have stores close by, so people would open up stores within their apartments: the candy-apple lady, the guy selling cigarettes, the guy that fixes your bike, the guy that is like the cab service, but not the cab service. That’s just so inspiring to me, how we can create our own marketplace and be there for each other without outside help. All that stuff is so vivid and beautiful.

And most of my family were not born in a hospital, like my mom, because [my grandmother] wasn’t allowed to go there. So the doctors had to come to the house. We’re still in that house that my grandmother had owned. Everyone has been born there.

What kind of music were you into playing in Maryland outside choir?

The number one goal was to try and be in a punk band. That was everything. But nobody was into punk or even knew anything about it where I grew up. So I just searched and searched. With ska being the influence of early Jamaican music and punk, I was able to find groups like the Specials. I liked Operation Ivy so much, they weren’t under any rules. Where I grew up, it seemed that you almost couldn’t do anything. You had to stay within rules just because it was, like, hood. I would get on the bus, and they would be like, “You’re gonna get out of this [punk] phase soon.”

When you were younger, was there anyone in particular who warped your brain or changed the way you thought about music?

I saw Patti LaBelle live, and she had these huge high heels and she kicked them off, and she was holding this note and slammed down on the stage and was rolling around. And I was just like: Yo, you can do anything you want. She wasn’t trying to be classy. All these people dressed in drag were giving her flowers. And I was like, I want to be like that. But I can’t sing like Patti LaBelle.

You have said that you’re interested in honoring music made by people who came from nothing, and music that is made from nothing. Can you elaborate on that?

Let’s start with tap dancing—that’s just your feet. You can put soda pop tops on and just go. I’ll sample that all day. And chain gangs—I love that all day because it’s in response to so many things: “I’m working, keeping busy at this hard task, with the chain on my ankle to the hit on the metal, like some beautiful music.” It’s every person’s history with the prison system.

One of my favorite instruments is the water drum. There’s tribes in Africa where women just play on the water. [makes sounds] There’s so many different sounds than a splash. I love that. I didn’t have instruments growing up. I didn’t know that I could ask for them. It was like this thing behind a glass case, like some Tom Hanks movie where you have to go to some fancy big store in New York to find some. So I would just fool around—pencils, desk, the wall, anything.

What was your first instrument?

A desk and a broom? I did get a broken guitar. I was using tapes to make things off the radio, but it didn’t make sense. I just didn’t know a lot. I still don’t, but it’s cool to work through trial and error. I never had a computer, but I saved up for an iPad. I used that thing up.

Do you have a personal definition of protest music?

It’s like the heartache and the troubles of the people trying to find their way. The true testimony of the people. Stuff that is heavy, that affects so many people, like breast cancer—but there’s not many breast cancer songs. Women need to be the ones doing protest music, really. I’m not trying to alienate anyone, but I feel like that would be the perfect definition: A woman singing trials and tribulations.

I read that you did a 14-hour performance to honor women who face domestic abuse and sexual assault. How did it go?

It was my protest for them. I was using sound to almost shut that man’s mouth, or make that home peaceful for that night. Because [women suffer abuse around the world] every nine seconds. That’s so much. It was an electronic set, all improv. I had a record player, this one Sun Ra record, a drum machine, every synth I had. I had this film playing the whole time, about a woman who killed her husband and was in prison for a long time; the husband was sexually assaulting the kids.

The day after the performance, I went to thank the gallery and I just cried and cried. It just all hit me what I was trying to do. The blessing was the messages of people saying: “Today, no one commented on my body going around the neighborhood.” Or hearing about the case of a woman facing 60 years for killing her abusive husband, and she got off, which never happens. That really touched me, but it was draining.

There’s a great place in Philly called Women Against Abuse, but you need a million of those. Say you finally decided to leave a [domestic abuse] situation—there’s a waiting list to find another place to live. It’s crazy. We’ve done events for people to move, to buy the U-Haul. And it’s like—why are we doing this? It happens so often, you would think [the city] had some sort of plan for this. It’s very archaic. I’ve gone to do workshops at places that are off the grid because women are in hiding from their abusers. You’re speaking to someone that had to go into hiding. It’s things that so many of us have experienced as kids of abuse. These cycles just keep coming up. It’s every woman’s story in a sense.

Have you always been interested in processing history through music and art?

Always. When hip-hop went dance, there was no story there, and that’s why I got into punk and Bob Marley, because I needed to hear the history—otherwise, where was I going to hear it from? Music is the way that I’m informed. It helps me know what is happening.

What do you want your own music to inform people about?

I’m trying to get to the level of being as simple as possible, telling a unified story. Everything is a reflection, or a ripple, a wave, the quantum mirror. It’s circular. We’re all more interconnected than we think. I’m trying to get to that every-person story. But we’re slow to honestly reveal what we’re going through. That’s one of the hardest things. We think we’re so isolated or alone in our issues. I try to tell the truth, the stories that haunt me.

It’s interesting to hear you say the story’s not linear. In your music, too, the way it’s structured is also very nonlinear.

It’s just because of my means and how I’m not that smart at this stuff. I’m just teaching myself. I listen to music that I can’t make. I can’t do Alice Coltrane. I have a heart, but I still can’t do it.

Alice Coltrane’s whole situation is inspiring to me. I just think about the time that she was making music, and artists who were making music a little before, like Billie Holiday. They stifled and continue to stifle women’s voices. Today we have Kesha, a pop star in a rough situation with a contract, and that’s very difficult—but do you know they killed Billie Holiday? Imagine the government being against you for singing a song. Imagine people trying to drug you and all these shady situations. In that time, you were used and left behind. It was such a struggle to be a woman making music. The fact that she was able to persevere touches me so much. Because so many did not. And there’s so many that are still unknown.

I saw you post on Facebook: “If we don’t forgive our mothers, we cannot forgive ourselves.” What did you mean by that?

There’s a war against women right now. There’s a war against mothers, and single mothers. I see it every day. We’re just throwing each other away. We’re breaking down roles of gender, but one simple disagreement and we will cast off our own mother. We are connected to our pasts, but we are taught to hate yesterday and hustle for the next. It’s like we’re writing off our mothers. The conversation needs to expand. What are we disconnecting ourselves from when we say these things?

So many people are hurt, hating their mothers, no respect for the elders in their community, for the elders in their art scene. Like when I was talking about Patti LaBelle—she is a rock star. She paved the way. But then she’s gonna be invited on “The View” to cook potato salad. That’s ridiculous. And I would like to eat her potato salad, too.

Is your name Moor Mother linked to this—honoring people who came before?

Definitely. I’m influenced by space and time and growing up, but that’s what it’s really all about: honoring the mother. If you just look at some of these statistics happening with women, it’s outrageous. Everything’s taboo. Menstrual cycle’s taboo, breast cancer’s taboo. Losing your hair and having to deal with that. It’s affecting so many of us. Why are we hiding?

One line that completely gripped me from the album is, “I’m bell hooks trained as a sniper/Sandra Bland returning from the dead with a hatchet.”

I wrote that, and then all of a sudden I get an email about opening up for bell hooks. So I’m like, “Oh shit. I hope she doesn’t hear this song—or maybe I should tell her about it.”

After that line, I say that “lyrically only I can match it.” It’s a very hip-hoppy thing to say, but I’m not playing when it comes to the lyrics. I’m so interested in spreading positivity, but that’s how I felt. I’m angered by feeling like I’m the only one saying this shit. I’m pissed because people who are supposed to be doing what I’m doing—their lyrics are mad soft. It’s mad basic to me. I feel like it’s getting there, it just takes time to get back to a more political place. But with this election, it seems like people are honestly worked up about it—and not just worked up as a trending topic.

I think music is going to get more literal, and then I hope that it can start getting practical, where we could actually take these songs into a workshop or into the community and be like, “This is a song that we can use to teach about history or what’s happening, not just a hook.” It’s so easy to say a bunch of bullshit and then just have the hook be “Black Lives Matter” and that’s it. That’s cheap. I want to encourage people to dig deeper lyrically. I want to encourage myself to write better. I love finding anyone better than me.

You have a new space in North Philadelphia called Community Futures Lab—what has that taught you as a musician? Has it informed what you want to do with your music?

Yeah. The whole idea is making it practical. I want to make things or create spaces where you don’t have to be on the internet and you don’t need some sort of degree. The space is there, you can just come in. We live in this community and this is where we work—the part of town I live in is one of the highest crime, lowest-income areas, and they just moved 1,300 people out of their homes. It’s this barren area at the moment.

Community Futures Lab is showing me that there’s not a lot of spaces for discussion between people of color. We do a lot of stuff—zine making, dream workshops, we have a library. We’re also recording stories of the community. We’re asking questions that deal with temporality, the memory, creating future memories for the neighborhood that we’re living in. It’s going through such rapid development. There was a house that Malcolm X spent some time in that just got knocked down. Across the street was a boxing gym where Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier would work out, but there’s no plaque. It’s really slow in North Philly as far as marking these historic moments.

That’s really what we’ve always been about: collecting memories, doing workshops to show kids and adults, “Why do you think this way about the future? Why are you not included? What can you do about it? What’s the importance of writing yourself in the future, under your own definition, not what people have prescribed for you?” So many people, when we ask the first question—“how do you see the future?”—it totally mimics popular movies. The Hunger Games is a main one. In that movie, certain people are in these districts, certain people are farmers, and all the black people die first. These movies prescribe what so many of us think about the future, especially people of color. Being so disconnected from so many of our histories, as far as what’s beyond our great grandmother. It’s very dire times for us keeping track and documenting what we’re going through and what we’ve been through. That’s what the lab is there for.

What does the title Fetish Bones mean to you?

Fetish Bones is how I think about the way we sell ourselves. Like, using each other. Being a musician, I see a lot of this. I see the way we fetishize over our skin color, over how we dress, over class. All of these ways that we toss people aside if they’re what we deem not useful. I just feel like we look at each other like meat. All across the board. We look at our own selves, our own culture, just like meat that is there to devour and not there to be preserved. Everyone wants to burn everything, and eat everything. Eat each other, the whole thing.

That goes back to the woman—just because you are the creator, you’re not everyone’s savior. At the end of the day, you’ve been used and ran through. No. I’m not even a mother of children. After I did my recent festival, I was like, “I want to go home and feel inspired. I don’t want to go home used, crying about not being appreciated.” Traditionally, mom is supposed to be in the kitchen with little whoever on their titty and daddy on their lap. It’s time for women, for everyone, to start walking in that space—we’re not going to be used. Redefining all of this. Having more compassion. Redefining what that means, when everything can be a meme of everything. That’s what Fetish Bones is. Feeling like a hunk of bones.
 

Read the original article here.

Leeway Foundation Announces Fall 2016 Art and Change Grantees

26 women and trans artists and cultural producers receive project-based grants to further social change in the Delaware Valley

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $54,975 in grants to 26 women and trans* artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues. 

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Delaware Valley area. The grant supports artists practicing a variety of disciplines including performance, crafts and textiles, and visual arts.

The following 26 artists were awarded grants (in alphabetical order):

Anne Harrison of South Philadelphia and Linda Fernandez of West Philadelphia, Multi-Disciplinary

Betty Leacraft of North Philadelphia, Crafts & Textiles/Visual Arts

Catherine Pancake of Cedar Park, Media Arts/Music

Courtney Bowles of Kingsessing, Multi-Disciplinary

Cynthia Dewi Oka of Collingswood, Literary Arts/Performance

Debbie Rudman of Kensington, Media Arts

Dena Underwood of Italian Market, Music/Performance

Diane Monroe of East Norriton, Music/Performance

Emily Bunker of Fishtown, Media Arts/Crafts & Textiles

Jai Arun Ravine of West Philadelphia and Coda Wei of Upper Darby, Media Arts/Performance

JD Stokely of West Philadelphia, Performance

Kay Wood of Mount Airy, Media Arts

Lauren Vargas of Hunting Park, Visual Arts

Li Sumpter of Abington, Multi-Disciplinary

Mayada of Northeast Philadelphia, Visual Arts/Folk Art

Nanci Hersh of New Garden, Visual Arts/Literary Arts

Pia Deas of Art Museum, Media Arts

Romeeka Williams of North Philadelphia, Literary Arts

Shivon Pearl Love of Brewerytown and Khaliah Pitts of East Mount Airy, Folk Art/Literary Arts

Tessa of Southwest Philadelphia, Visual Arts/Media Arts

Yasmine Awais of West Powelton and K.C. Wuebbling of Cedar Park, Visual Arts/Literary Arts,

Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel.  The August 2016 review panel consisted of playwright and devised theater maker MJ Kaufman (ACG ‘13), educator and community organizer Rochelle Nichols-Solomon, and folklorist and curator Selina Morales. 

Applications are made available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling (215) 545-4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support. 

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at (215) 545-4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit www.leeway.org.

Download Fall 2016 Press Release, Project Descriptions, and Panelist Bios

Dr. Yaba Blay on Professional Black Girl in Ebony

‘Professional Black Girl’ Is a Love Letter to Black Women Worldwide

Josie Pickens for Ebony Online
September 9, 2016

In her 1975 Choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf, feminist author and activist Ntozake Shange demanded—through her character lady in brown—that “somebody/anybody sing a Black girl’s song.” Here we Black women are, some 40 years later, still fighting to be seen, to be recognized for all we give to this nation (and the world!) by way of our loving, sacrificial battles for Black lives, our endless contributions to Black culture, and especially our effortless beauty—which is constantly and savagely co-opted every damn day.

What we have learned, and certainly what Ntozake Shange was trying to teach us all those years ago, is that we have to be willing to sing our own songs, to ourselves and one another. And there aren’t many sisters to who sing to us in the ways that educator, cultural critic, producer and activist Dr. Yaba Blay does.

Dr. Blay loves us Black girls how we deserved to be loved.

Whether she is talking the politics of colorism in our collective communities, teaching our young, gifted and Black as the Daniel T. Blue Endowed Chair of Political Science at North Carolina Central University, or filling our social media feeds with the kinds of gorgeous images of Black womanhood often overlooked in the mainstream media and beauty industry, Blay’s love for Black women is bone marrow deep.

The ultimate Black girl lover has penned a new love letter to Black women through her original video series Professional Black Girl, which seeks to, “celebrate everyday Black womanhood, and to smash racist and ‘respectable’ expectations of how they should ‘behave.'” For the series, Blay interviewed 15 Black girls and women (who range in age from 2 to 52) asking each participant to talk about what makes them, and all Black women, professional Black girls—Black girls who take their style, beauty and cultural expression of Blackness to expert levels.

“When I say I’m a Professional Black Girl, I’m not identifying myself as someone who is well-accomplished in her job, her career, or her profession,” Blay explains. “Though I am – Be clear. When I say I’m a Professional Black Girl I’m announcing myself as someone who takes being a Black girl very seriously. Like to professional levels. So WHATEVER it means to be be a Black girl, I’m THAT.”

While Blay is a fierce advocate for Black women and girls, she didn’t intend to create this new series.

“I didn’t originally set out to produce Professional Black Girl. I was actually producing another original series and had planned to end each episode with a Professional Black Girl segment,” she tells EBONY.com. “But the more interviews and conversations I had about the project in general, and with the women themselves, the more I began to feel like this was something of its own.”

Instead of forcing the segments, or worse, shortening the conversation, Blay decided to turn the discussion and insights into its own project, especially when she saw the topics she wanted to cover resonating on social media.

“The kind of joy it brought me made me think of the many times in my social media experience where me and another sister (or two or ten) in my age set would start reminiscing about our teen years. We’d have 100+ comment threads discussing old hairstyles and hair products, what we used to do, the music we used to listen to. For some reason, those moments make me happy,” says Blay. “Just from the comments sisters make, I can tell whether we would have been good girlfriends back in high school, whether we could be good girlfriends now. It’s not only a vibe, or a shared experience, but the value we all place on that experience.”

And according to the mother and grandmother (who is most interested in created a better, brighter world for the #ProfessionalBlackGirls to come—through her own lineage and through our communal ones) we desperately need to tap into the joy these kinds of conversations create.

“We use a lot of language to describe and define Black girls, very little of which is affirming of who they are. Bad. Grown. Fast. Ghetto. Ratchet. And when we say those words, we spit them out with a type of energy that somehow distances ourselves from those Black girls,” Blay explains. “Listen, let’s not act like we weren’t bad, grown, fast, ghetto, or ratchet. I know I was, at least according to the adults in my life. But really, I wasn’t any of those things. I was simply a master of the art and the science of Black girl culture.”

Dr. Blay speaks what we all know: Black girls begin to wrestle with misogynoir at such a young age, by the time we become adults we are trying to piece together our fractured identities and (often) attempt to shame and distance ourselves from the kinds of Black girls and women we have been pushed to believe aren’t respectable, and thus aren’t lovable and worthy of praise. She hopes to mend our broken relationships with one another by challenging us to face our sisters and ourselves in this new series, by simply making space for us to celebrate our full selves.

“I think it’s important to contextualize Professional Black Girl within the context of the current #BlackGirlMagic moment that we’re in. While I am a card carrying member of the #BlackGirlMagic Executive Board, I recognize that when we share stories, images, or videos on social media and use the hashtag #BlackGirlMagic, we tend to only highlight examples of what is widely perceived as ‘excellence,’ she says.

For Blay, being an every day, around the way, dope Black woman or girl is enough–no special magic or achievements necessary.

“Being a Black girl IS our excellence. I want ALL of us to be able to connect to #BlackGirlMagic as a reflection of our everyday lives, not just an aspirational goal,” she says of the hashtag movement that has spread widely across social media. “Have you seen how Black women do hair? All over the world? Who does hair like us? NOBODY. And the little girl in her mirror fixing her hair for school has inherited some of that magic. She should know. So I’m celebrating the culture of being a Black girl in all of its excellent and unique ways – our hairstyles, our adornment, our style, etc.”

Sounds amazing, right?

Watch the first episode of the series below, and get your #ProfessionalBlackGirl merchandise here.

Read the original article here.

Generocity Interviews Leeway Board Member Rasheedah Phillips

Here’s Your Primer on Afrofuturism

August 18, 2016
Julie Zeglen for Generocity

How do Rasheedah Phillips’s two passions — law and Afrofuturism — relate? Easy. As she’s seen in many of her clients at Community Legal Services, those who are oppressed are typically “denied access to the future.” Afrofuturism can offer that access.

For those who don’t know, Afrofuturism is a future-focused and speculative culture and genre of art examined “from the concerns of Black people across the diaspora,” as Phillips puts it.

Phillips is both the managing attorney of landlord-tenant housing at CLS and the founder of The AfroFuturist Affair, which brings the ideas of Afrofuturism to underserved communities that might not have access to them — for instance, those who don’t have access to the internet, and therefore can’t easily read speculative stories.

In her Around the Corner interview with Generocity Community Manager Mo Manklang, Phillips explains the benefits of Afrofuturist thinking and the impetus for the Afrofuturist Affair’s newly opened Community Futures Lab in North Philadelphia.

ATC: Afrofuturist Affair from PhillyCAM on Vimeo.

Read the original article here.

Faith Bartley, Vashti Dubois, Yolanda Wisher Featured in WHYY

Every ZIP Philadelphia’s Storytelling Block Party: “Stories For Our Younger Selves” at The Village of Arts & Humanities, 19133

Alex Lewis for WHYY

Our second public storytelling event was held on June 18th, 2016 in scenic Ile Ife Park at The Village of Arts & Humanities in North Philadelphia.

For nearly two months, we collaborated with The Village to put together this event that would highlight their organization’s people and initiatives through live storytelling, music, food, and an array of community-based activities. The event was hosted by Philadelphia Poet Laureate Yolanda Wisher, the music was provided by DJ Dilemma, and many people from The Village, WHYY, and from across the city contributed as well. Thanks to everyone who performed and to the warm audience who made the event a resounding success.

This page is designed to document and celebrate the Storytelling Block Party. Below you’ll find full versions of each live story alongside photos and other media from the event. The theme of the day was: “stories we would tell our younger selves”.

Introduction: Yolanda Wisher

Philadelphia Poet Laureate Yolanda Wisher emceed the storytelling program. She started the event by reading this poem by a young woman who had recently passed away. Yolanda had mentored her in a poetry workshop the previous summer. She follows that poem with a poem of her own.

Jasmine Combs

Poet Jasmine Combs was the afternoon’s first storyteller. She’s a recent Temple University graduate and a rising force in the local poetry scene. She shared her story about becoming a poet. It’s a montage of growing up and finding your voice as an artist.

Tony Jones

Tony Jones helps lead the Men’s Group at Serenity House in North Philly. He gave his story the title “The Young Boy and The Bus”. It’s a short, harrowing coming-of-age story about learning from our mistakes. As Tony says, “What I know now… is that our actions, everything we do, affects others.”

Vashti Dubois

Vashti Dubois is a multidisciplinary artist and non-profit leader. She founded the Colored Girls Museum, which she runs out of her home in Germantown. Here, she talks about what inspired her to start the Colored Girls Museum and shares a list of advice for her younger self.

Michelle Scales

Michelle Scales is a member of the People’s Paper Co-Op at The Village of Arts & Humanities. She told a story entitled “Around The Corner” about getting lost and finding herself again.

Jacob Winterstein

Jacob Winterstein is a poet, teaching artist, and event producer. His story featured three teachers from his childhood. It’s equal parts a tribute to the important mentors in our lives and a reminder to always think outside the box.

Faith Bartley​

Faith Bartley was the final storyteller of the Block Party. Like Michelle Scales, she’s also a longstanding member of the People’s Paper Co-Op. Faith shared a story about her mother and the lessons we must learn about ourselves again and again.

Closing Statement: Yolanda Wisher

To conclude the storytelling program, Yolanda Wisher shared this short poem by the late poet Lucille Clifton entitled, “won’t you celebrate with me”.

Tina Morton Featured in Essence

Filmmakers Julie Dash and Tina Morton Talk The Great Migration Project & Inspiring Beyonce's 'Lemonade'

July 26, 2016
Rachaell Davis for Essence

Taking the time out to celebrate pivotal movements in African-American history that laid the foundation for all that we've achieved is a must and The Great Migration Project is doing just that.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the mass migration of African-Americans from the south to the north, west and midwest, Scribe Video Center founder Louis Massiah put together The Great Migration Project as a collaborative exhibition of extraordinary artifacts, short films, photographs and art displays examining several aspects of what The Great Migration was like for those who lived it. ESSENCE caught up with talented filmmakers Julie Dash and Tina Morton, both of whom have film shorts included in The Great Migration Project, to find out more about their visuals.

According to Tina, producer Louis Massiah used a completely organic method to jumpstart the research process for each individual short film. “How he set it up is, he had different artists get involved with different Black institutions in Philadelphia that were instrumental in helping migrants when they got here. So, the place that I was assigned was The Philadelphia Tribune, which is the oldest continuously circulating Black newspaper in the nation. So, when folks would come here, the Tribune would show them where people could have housing, safe places for women to go and just different institutions like that that they kept them in contact with,” she tells ESSENCE.

For Julie, her involvement with the project seemed a natural next step, given that The Great Migration was one of the underlying themes in her critically acclaimed 1991 indie favorite Daughters of the Dust. “The whole Great Migration, I’ve been working with that for many years. That was one of the main themes in Daughters of the Dust,” Julie says. “My family is also from the lower country of South Carolina and they migrated north during the great migration. So, I definitely wanted to be involved with it. It was exciting.”  

Julie’s film, Standing at the Scratch Line, highlights the role of the Black church in the journeys of travelers during the great migration, while the title itself serves as a metaphor of the film’s message. “Remember back in the day when people would draw a line in a sand before beginning a race? That’s what the scratch line represents,” she says. “They were waiting to migrate and make that decision whether they were going to change their life and the lives of their families. Imagine just packing up your family and children and not knowing, really, what you’re going towards. It was a one-way trip for most people. They put all their money together to make this trip and it’s not like they could go back because there was nothing to go back to. And they were going towards…hope. That’s all they had. There were not jobs waiting for them, most of the time.”

Rather than chronicle the travels of actual people through the use of actors, Julie and her crew developed the creative idea to tell the story through the “eyes” of a suitcase. “We follow, a traveler, lets say. We follow the [traveler] from the low country as he prepares to migrate from the Emmanuel Church to Mother Bethel in Philadelphia. Since [the film] was so low budget and I only had about 2 or 3 days to shoot it, I decided to follow the movement of a suitcase. So, the suitcase is symbolic of a traveler and we follow it all the way to the big city, where we get a look at the path of the slaves and some of the things that were happening at that time.” Describing the important role of the Black church relative to The Great Migration time period and her film, Julie says churches were vital to the shelter and survival of the travelers.

“I think the church has always played an important part in the social and cultural history of African-Americans,” she said. “Even during the period of enslavement, it was place of solace, comfort, escape and hope for the future. During migration, it was very difficult for people to travel from south to north, or from south to west. They went from church to church where you could find refuge because at that time, the country was not a friendly environment at all for people of color. So, the church has always been there.”

For Tina, gathering the necessary information to bring her visual, When We Came Up Here, to life involved having many introspective conversations with people who lived through The Great Migration and translating their experiences on screen. “What I did was find people to interview because my focus was finding people who were a part of the migration and finding people who, when they came here, the Tribune was important to their arrival. So, the way I found folks was to just asked elders in the community: Where did you come from?’ ‘When you arrived in Philadelphia, was the Tribune part of your journey?’ And through those two questions, I found a lot of people who loved to share their stories.”

Tina’s research also led her to learn more about a Philadelphia establishment known as The Association for the Protection of Colored Women. The organization, founded in 1905, was a safe haven for women and their children who were migrating to freedom. While speaking to one woman in particular, Tina says she was amazed at how vividly the woman remembered some of the events that took place despite the fact that she was just -years old at the time of her family’s journey. The woman’s memory of the time period was connected to her grandfather’s brutal beating at the hands of a mob for his role as an advocate for voting rights of Black people. “One of the women who I interviewed -- I thought it was amazing that she knew the exact date. When I asked her how she remembered the exact date, she said: “Because my grandfather was beat up by a mob and we had to flee up here.” He was beaten one day and they fled the next day. And he was beaten because he was an advocate for voting. I thought, ‘wow, that’s like today.’ And then I read another article where they said a man hung himself in jail and committed suicide, but his family said that wasn’t what happened. I know we’ve made progress but, we’re still facing some of the same issues [today].”

In speaking with many of her subjects while researching for the film, Tina says a common thread between each of them was the vital role their family members played in their journeys to freedom. She says the family connection within the Black community is something we should all remember today when searching for ways to move forward and remain steadfast in the fight for social justice. “I think one of the important things we need to utilize is the family connection. Most of these people came through a family member and you know, the family member set them up in their house for a while until they got a job. And not only the connection of family, but the community. I asked one woman I interviewed, ‘how did the Tribune find you?’ She couldn’t remember for sure because she was only 9 years old at the time but, she said, “I really think it was the porter at 30th Street Station.” She said he saw how disheveled they were when they arrived. She said, “we were fleeing for our lives and I think he must have told someone at the Tribune.”

Julie’s film Daughters of the Dust is set to be re-released in theaters this fall, just five months after Beyonce paid homage to the film in her visual album Lemonade. Julie says seeing the film inspire such a bold project was quite the experience. “I was so pleased, not just by the portion that was a homage to Daughters of the Dust, but by whole Lemonade journey. The extension, the boldness of it..it was political, it was an extraordinary visual…it was an event! And it was a new way of speaking to everyone. Through song, through visual, through dance, through movement, through costume…it was extraordinary.  I just loved it. I wanted my braids like that, I wanted anything Formation [laughs]. It was all so tough and just spoke to so many different levels of the diaspora experience. “

The Great Migration Project is set to premiere on August 6 at the Fifth Annual Blackstar Film Festival in Philadelphia.

Read original article here.

Cheryl Hess (WOO ‘03) Named Recipient of AOL Charitable Foundation Award

2016 Gucci Documentary Fund Grantees Announced

$150,000 to be Awarded to Documentaries that Highlight and Humanize Global Social Issues

* * *

AOL Charitable Foundation Awards Given to Projects that Showcase Women’s Impact Around the World

[New York, NY – 7, 26, 2016] – Tribeca Film Institute® (TFI), Gucci, and the AOL Charitable Foundation today announced the 2016 grant recipients for the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and its subsection, the AOL Charitable Foundation Award. The fund provides production and finishing finances, along with year-round support and guidance, to feature-length documentary films that highlight and humanize critical domestic and international social issues. Seven projects have been selected to receive a total of $150,000 in grants.

Now in its ninth year, the fund has supported 73 films and provided more than $1.15 million in grants. This year the jurors unanimously decided to give larger quantities of financial support to fewer films than in years past in an effort to effect the greatest impact on the grantees’ capabilities to bring their important stories to audiences. 

The AOL Charitable Foundation joins the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund for the second year to present the AOL Charitable Foundation Award grants to three filmmaking teams of the seven total, whose documentaries illuminate the lives of women and youth around the globe, and spotlight the ways they are working to improve their communities and futures.

The grantees were selected by a jury comprised of: filmmaker SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY (SAVING FACE, A GIRL IN THE RIVER: THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS), Producer DEDE GARDNER (THE BIG SHORT, THE NORMAL HEART, 12 YEARS A SLAVE), SIMON KILMURRY(Executive Director, International Documentary Association), Actor JOSH LUCAS (A BEAUTIFUL MIND, AMERICAN PSYCHO), DYLLAN MCGEE (McGee Media & Founder and Executive Producer, MAKERS).

This year’s grantees showcase a variety of world affairs, domestic issues, and social conflicts, including: the recent Malheur Refuge standoff in Oregon, a group of immigrants’ attempts to be deported to Mexico, a woman fighting to be in the Palestinian Security Force, and a marital counseling center in India. In addition to funding, grantees will each receive year-round support from TFI including one-on-one guidance and consultations to help each film reach completion, enter the marketplace, and find the broadest audience possible.

“At a time of extreme social divisiveness both domestically and abroad, we are proud to be able to grant these filmmakers the opportunity to tell such important stories through the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and the AOL Charitable Foundation Award,” said Amy Hobby, Vice President of Artist Programs at TFI. “These films tackle issues from around the world, and the backgrounds of the directors and producers reflect a wide diversity of those with important stories to tell. Thank you to our partners on this project – without Gucci and the AOL Charitable Foundation, the support of these films would not be possible.” 

“A key pillar of the AOL Charitable Foundation's mission is centered on improving the lives of women, girls, and underserved youth through cultivating creativity around the world,” said Sara Link, President of the AOL Charitable Foundation. “Recognizing that women and girls are often underrepresented in the stories that are written, produced, and directed, we are proud to work with the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and Tribeca Film Institute to tell these life-changing stories that are deeply captivating to a global audience. By supporting the work of these ground-breaking filmmakers, it is our aim that their experiences and messages help to empower women and girls from all backgrounds. ”

“The power of a documentary film is its ability to reflect on otherwise fleeting issues that we see or hear about every day in the news,” said Obaid-Chinoy. “It is their ability to draw you in – whether through in-depth interviews or silent poetic shots that speak for themselves. THE INFILTRATORS, MALHEUR, MY COUNTRY, NO MORE, ONE BULLET AFGHANISTAN, MARRIAGE COPS, RADICAL BROWNIES, and WHAT WALAA WANTS each accomplished this flawlessly. ”

2016 Recipients of the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund

• THE INFILTRATORS, Directed and Produced by Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera. THE INFILTRATORS is a docu-thriller that tells the real – and surreal – story of a group of immigrants in America who got themselves apprehended by Border Patrol to 'infiltrate' secretive, for-profit detention centers, and to help other detained immigrants get free.
• MALHEUR, Directed and Produced by David Byars; Produced by David Holbrooke and Morgan Spurlock; Edited/Co-Produced by David Osit. Bitter antagonism between right-wing militia and the federal government has boiled over into rebellion and bloodshed. MALHEUR follows this insurrection, from inception to demise, and explores the elements that made it possible.
• MY COUNTRY, NO MORE, Directed and Produced by Rita Baghdadi and Jeremiah Hammerling. Generations of family farming tradition go up in flames as the North Dakota oil boom leaves human memory, culture, and identity scorched in its wake. MY COUNTRY, NO MORE follows one family’s path of resistance, raising a fundamental question: what are we willing to sacrifice in our pursuit of progress?
• ONE BULLET AFGHANISTAN, Directed and Produced by Carol Dysinger; Produced by Su Kim. One bullet, fired into darkness, hits a boy on a residential street in Afghanistan sending him into the path of a woman filmmaker following the American military. This begins an intimate, longitudinal look at a family in crises through the eyes of its matriarch – Bibi Hajji – and an accidental friendship between two women, worlds apart.

2016 Recipients of the AOL Charitable Foundation Award

• MARRIAGE COPS, Directed and Produced by Cheryl Hess and Shashwati Talukdar. In a small city in Northern India unhappy couples seek relationship advice in the most unlikely of places.
• RADICAL BROWNIES, Directed and Produced by Linda Goldstein Knowlton; Produced/Edited by Katie Flint; Executive Produced by Grace Lee. Radical Brownies follows the creation of a troop of 8 to 12-year-old girls of color – the Radical Monarchs – in Oakland, CA. A social justice-oriented alternative to the Girl Scouts, the Monarchs still earn badges – not for sewing or selling cookies, but for units on Black Lives Matter, Radical Beauty, being an LGBTQ Ally, and Environmental Justice.
• WHAT WALAA WANTS, Directed by Christy Garland; Produced by Anne Köhncke. Raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank while her mother was in prison, Walaa is determined to become one of the few women on the Palestinian Security Forces – a big challenge for a girl who breaks all the rules.

About Tribeca Film Institute

Tribeca Film Institute champions storytellers to be catalysts for change in their communities and around the world.  Through grants and professional development programs, TFI supports a diverse, exceptional group of filmmakers and media artists, providing them resources needed to fully realize their stories and connect with audiences.  The Institute’s educational programming leverages an extensive film community network to help underserved New York City students learn filmmaking and gain the media skills necessary to be productive citizens and creative individuals in the 21st century.  Featuring hands-on training and exposure to socially relevant films, the Institute administers programs to more than 25,000 students annually.  TFI was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001 and is a 501(c)(3) year-round nonprofit arts organization.

About Gucci

Founded in Florence in 1921, Gucci is one of the world’s leading luxury fashion brands, with a renowned reputation for creativity, innovation and Italian craftsmanship. Gucci is part of the Kering Group, a world leader in apparel and accessories that owns a portfolio of powerful luxury and sport and lifestyle brands. For further information about Gucci, visit www.gucci.com. 

About AOL Charitable Foundation

AOL Charitable Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation committed to creating opportunities for women, girls and investing in the next generation of young leaders through grant making to exceptional nonprofit organizations focused on these communities. The Foundation allocates its resources in four strategic areas, including fostering leadership and empowerment, improving economic opportunity, increasing access through education and technology, and cultivating creativity. For additional information on the AOL Charitable Foundation please visit http://corp.aol.com/our-values/corporate-citizenship.

For the original article please click here.

Report Back: 2016 Allied Media Conference

In June, Julie Rainbow (ACG '14), Marta Sanchez (LTA '10, ACG '06, WOO '02), and Melissa Beatriz Skolnick (ACG '12) were selected from a grantee lottery to receive full registration to the Allied Media Conference (AMC) in Detroit, MI. Here is what Julie and Melissa had to say about their experience.

Allied Media Conference: An Awesome Experience

by Julie Rainbow

The 2016 Allied Media Conference was an awesome experience.  With over three hundred workshops, entertainment activities and meet-up groups, it had something for every activist.  Whether you are a seasoned activist or a novice, the workshops were engaging and informative.  The workshops were presented so that attendees were actually participated while learning.  Additionally, the AMC organizers were insightful to include workshops that focused on developing technical skills, enhancing leadership capacities and ways to integrate self-care tools, so that we remain inspired while doing compellingly difficult work. 

The workshop “MIT Open Documentary Lab: Incubating Documentary Forms and Processes,” was particularly interesting to me as my work seeks to amplify the voices of elders and share their wisdom broadly.    The presenters provided documentarians and community organizers with innovative, interactive, participatory tools for developing a platform to share their work.  Another workshop of particular interest was, “Chant Down Babylon: Yoga Mantras for Movement Builders,” as it engaged participants to recite mantras and use breathing techniques to keep one grounded, focused and effective while doing the work, which at times can be overwhelming. 

Throughout the four-day experience there was a feeling of collective unity, as if you were among other kindred spirits devoted to creating a world where all are treated with dignity and respect.  Upon returning to Philadelphia, I am full of inspiration that will inform my activist actions of sharing the voice, images and wisdom of elders.  AWESOME!

Allied Media Conference 2016 Reflection

by Melissa B. Skolnick

The Allied Media Conference focuses on how we use media-based organizing across communities and social justice issues in collaborative ways. After wanting to experience the magic behind the conference for myself, I finally got the chance to attend, thanks to the Leeway Foundation!

My first day began by stumbling upon the impressive Detroit Industry Murals by Diego Rivera at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Seeing a snapshot of the history behind industrialization reminded me how art can serve as a powerful tool for capturing stories.

The next day, once the AMC officially began, I spent my time at an assembly with the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net). MAG-Net is the largest multi-issue action network for communication rights, access, and representation in the U.S. During the gathering, we talked about the importance of media justice and what drives us to do this work. I was reminded that we must not only create our own stories, but also educate others of the history of bias behind mainstream media.

During the conference, I also had the chance to screen a film that I served as a Story Producer for with Media Mobilizing Project. We screened the film Groundwork: Justice in the Birthplace of America, and spoke with the audience about how the groups featured are connected across the issues they are fighting for, including immigrant rights, education equality, and environmental sustainability.

One of my favorite sessions at the AMC included “The Revolution Will Be Podcasted,” where we learned what it would take to launch our own podcasts. It was empowering to not only start to learn a new skill, but to be inspired to create new ideas and continue working toward social justice in alternative ways.

There were so many powerful folks doing work across issues and mediums at the AMC. Being around that energy in person and learning about the work of other artists and organizers was re-energizing in a way that I appreciated. As artists, we need moments like these to come together, spark and bounce ideas off one another, and return to our work with a clearer vision of how we can all work together toward the common goal of a more just society for all. 

Leeway Featured In Philadelphia Gay News

Leeway awards several LGBT projects

Erin Bernard (ACG ’15) Featured on Generocity

Why the Philadelphia Public History Truck’s latest exhibit examines displacement in Chinatown

Camae Ayewa (LTA ’15, ACG ’07) and Leeway Board Member Rasheedah Phillips Featured in HyperAllergic

An Afrofuturist Community Center Targets Gentrification

June 22, 2016
by Hyunjee Nicole Kim for HyperAllergic

The bus dropped me off a block away from 22nd Street and Ridge Avenue in North Philadelphia, where Community Futures Lab is located. A metallic-red, heart-shaped balloon tied to a chalkboard announcing the grand opening bobbed cheerily in the wind. A couple of smiling skaters sat outside the storefront, and a chubby toddler ambled through the entrance, under ghostly peeling letters that indicated the storefront’s former occupants: a pawnshop.

Black Quantum Futurism (BQF), along with the AfroFuturist Affair, both activist-oriented collectives celebrating and disseminating black science fiction culture, has opened a community resource space envisioned as a “time capsule” in Sharswood/Blumberg. The North Philly neighborhood has seen much socioeconomic strife over the years and is now undergoing a $526 million dollar redevelopment project that cleared thousands of residential units via eminent domain. The Community Futures Lab was created in response to this reality and is also asking the neighborhood what potential needs the lab can fulfill, from organizing housing resources workshops and skill-sharing panels to zine brunches and yoga classes. Located next to Temple University, the blocks around the lab are tempting land grabs for thirsty real estate developers — in this case, the Philadelphia Housing Authority — who want to wipe the slate clean of the poverty and inequality that have long plagued the area. But the city neglects to consider the chaos that the displacement of human beings and communities causes to the residents who are uprooted. Personal stakes are ignored and buried under the rubble in the name of profitability.

Black Quantum Futurism encompasses the work of the lawyer-activist-writer Rasheedah Phillips and musician-designer-photographer Camae Ayewa, as well as the efforts of others who have collaborated with the two artists. Phillips is the founder of the AfroFuturist Affair and published the Black Quantum Futurism manifesto, which proposes a creative and critical vision that values and rewrites black diasporic history through an Afrofuturist lens. She has participated in The Shadows Took Shape, the group exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem that explored Afrofuturist aesthetics, as well as the yearlong Octavia Butler celebration at Clockshop in Los Angeles. Ayewa performs and tours as Moor Mother, a solo music project creating memorial soundscapes and what she calls “slaveship punk,” and cofounded Rockers! Philly, a festival devoted to marginalized artists.

In addition to her artistic practice, Phillips is the managing attorney for the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, which ties her intimately to the concerns of locals who are left helpless in the state of the current housing crisis. She also attended Temple University for both her BA and JD, and has lived about 10 blocks from Community Futures Lab for the last six years. Phillips says, “utilize me,” and wants her neighbors to know that she has a stake in Sharswood/Blumsberg and intends to facilitate change through civic engagement.

To kick off Community Future Lab’s opening, Phillips read her definition of “future,” published in Keywords for Radicals (AK Press, 2016), which included many references from Afrofuturism, science fiction, black history, quantum physics, Western artistic movements, and beyond. Phillips and Ayewa’s project “Community Futures: Time & Memory in North Philly,” supported by a fellowship from A Blade of Grass, continues the programming thread initiated by the AfroFuturist Affair by offering workshops like quantum event mapping, which asks participants to let go of notions of linear time in their creative writing, and “Science is Fiction!” which examines how women and people of color are shown in mainstream science fiction and shares examples from Afrofuturist texts that can empower the marginalized. Seeking to positively change the physical landscape and protect the psychological landscape of North Philly, the BQF collective and the space’s interns are also collecting “oral history/future interviews” from former and current residents of Sharswood/Blumberg.

Throughout Phillips’s performance, Moor Mother supplied a musical accompaniment: a fuzzy radio-electronic set that hypnotically traversed space, time, and the present reality. Phillips’s voice was clear, full of conviction, and the support from the crowd was palpable. Afterward, people milled about the space, perusing the bookshelves of the lending library, sipping refreshments, chatting, and popping into the back rooms to record their memories of North Philadelphia and watch the looped footage of March’s demolition of the Norman Blumberg towers, which put hundreds of families out of their homes.

As the Community Futures Lab launches its initial six-month run, it plans to collaborate with other North Philadelphia-based arts organizations, such as The People’s Paper Co-op of the Village of Arts & Humanities. This is not the first time an artistic group has targeted discrimination and gentrification in specific communities; initiatives in other cities include Decolonize L.A. and El Museo de los Sures in New York. However, Community Futures Lab is unique for its specific Afrofuturist vision, one that does not elevate above those who need and crave it the most, and that transfers a complex theory to an engaged, critical practice.

Community Futures Lab is located at 2204 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia. With the assistance of volunteers, the space will be open a few days a week and most Saturdays. Check for Community Future Labs and Black Quantum Futurism updates on Facebook. Instagram: @communityfutureslab and @blackquantumfuturism.

Read original article here. 

Michelle Ortiz (ACG ‘13, ‘12, ‘05, LTA ‘08) Featured In Philadelphia Inquirer

Local artist recognized for work on immigrant crisis

June 21, 2016

by Alexandra Villarreal for the Philadelphia Inquirer

Read original article here.

Leeway Foundation Announces Spring 2016 Art and Change Grantees

31 women and trans artists and cultural producers receive project-based grants to further social change in the Delaware Valley

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Leeway Foundation announced $66,985 in grants to 31 women and trans* artists and cultural producers in Greater Philadelphia, supporting their work to address a range of social change issues. 

Leeway’s Art and Change Grant provides project-based funds of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists and cultural producers who: propose a project that impacts a larger group, audience or community; have financial need; and live in the Delaware Valley area. The grant supports artists practicing a variety of disciplines including performance, crafts and textiles, and visual arts.

The following 31 artists were awarded grants (in alphabetical order):

• Alisha Adams of Kensington, Perfomance and Literary Arts
• Ants on a Log of West Philadelphia, Music and Performance
• Beth A. Uzwiak and Laurian R. Bowles  of Germantown, Media and Visual Arts
• Chaska Sofia of Southwest Philadelphia, Music and Visual Arts
• Donna Oblongata of West Philadelphia, Performance
• Gabriela Sanchez of Overbrook Farms, Music
• gina kathleen of West Philadelphia, Multi-Disciplinary
• Iris Devins of West Philadelphia, Media Arts
• Kate Black-Regan of West Philadelphia, Multi-Disciplinary
• Kathryn Pannepacker of Germantown, Crafts & Textiles
• Kristin Schwab and Laquanda Dobson of The Bottom, Folk Art
• M. Asli Dukan of West Philadelphia, Media Arts
• Maori Karmael Holmes of Spring Garden, Media Arts
• Marcelline Mandeng and Zubeyda Muzeyyen of Lawncrest, Multi-Disciplinary 
• Mari Morales-Williams of Hunting Park, Multi-Disciplinary
• Maria Khristina Acosta of Garden Court, Literary Arts
• Marion Bell of West Philadelphia, Literary Arts
• Mary DeWitt of Media, Visual and Media Arts
• Misty Sol of West Philadelphia, Multi-Disciplinary
• Rachel Zolf of South Philadelphia, Literary Arts
• Ras Mashramani of Cedar Park, Literary Arts
• Sarah Mueller of Brewerytown, Media Arts
• Shira Walinsky of Fairmount, Media Arts
• Sonja Claxton of University City, Media Arts
• Tristan Powell of Furlong, Media Arts and Performance
• Viji Rao of Northeast Philadelphia, Folk Art
• Vashti DuBois of Germantown, Multi-Disciplinary

​Art and Change Grants are distributed twice a year and evaluated by an independent peer review panel.  The March 2016 review panel consisted of playwright and devised theater maker MJ Kaufman (ACG ‘13), educator and community organizer Rochelle Nichols-Solomon, and folklorist and curator Selina Morales. 

Applications are made available on the Leeway website, and may also be obtained by calling 215.545.4078 or emailing info@leeway.org. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend one of the many support sessions offered throughout the year, or schedule an appointment with a staff member for one-on-one support. The next Art and Change Grant deadline is August 1, 2016.

Press inquiries and photo requests should be directed to Denise Beek at (215) 545-4078, ext. 14 or dbeek@leeway.org.

*We use the term “trans” in its most inclusive sense, as an umbrella term encompassing transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit people, and more generally, anyone whose gender identity or gender expression is nonconforming and/or different from their gender assigned at birth.

ABOUT LEEWAY

The Leeway Foundation supports women and transgender artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. For more information about Leeway, its grant programs, grantees and events, visit www.leeway.org.

Download Spring 2016 Press Release

Download Panelist Bios

Download Project Descriptions  

Stefani Threet (ACG ‘06) Featured in Grid Magazine

Adversity has only hardened the resolve of ceramics artist Stefani Threet

March 31, 2016
by Marilyn Anthony for Grid Magazine 

Life-threatening health issues. Gun violence. Racism. All of them could have molded ceramic artist Stefani Threet into a very different person. But at every turn of fate’s wheel, she countered her challenges: with strong ties to family, friends and other potters, her love of nature and with her talent and positive energy—the last of which comes beaming through in what her mother Jacqui Simmons calls her daughter’s “Cherry Kool-Aid smile.” 

Over the last three decades, Threet has managed to grow from a sickly kid interested in art into an established artist. During the recent Picasso exhibit at the Barnes Foundation, her mastery of sgraffito, a freehand method of carving fine lines into clay, was on display in her distinctive platters, mugs and bowls in the museum gift shop. 

While she says that “silence and nothingness” inspire her organic patterns of swirling concentric circles, she often listens to world music while working, and also has what she calls her “Beyoncé and Bruno Mars days” to keep her energy up. She spends at least 40 hours weekly in the West Philadelphia Cedar Works studio space she shares with 11 other potters. 

Happily listening to music while she works has come after a series of hardships that would have broken many people.

“My story,” says Threet, “is about overcoming adversity. I’m 36 now, and I’m where I thought I’d be in my 20s. It’s been a long journey getting here.” 

Challenges came early. The youngest of three siblings, Threet was ill so often that Simmons recalls “living” at Children’s Hospital. In 1988, at 8 years old, Threet and her family were devastated when they lost her 15-year-old brother to gun violence. 

There were positives: An early private school education exposed Threet to arts and culture. But when her parents separated, she had to transfer to public school in West Philadelphia, and there she stood out as “the kid who spoke too proper and was interested in weird things,” says Threet. Her mother tirelessly sought out enrichment programs to provide more than the neighborhood streets offered, waiting hours in pouring rain to enroll her daughter in the Fleisher Art Memorial programs and spending Saturdays trekking across town on SEPTA for the free art classes. 

When Threet was 15, her essay for the Academy of Natural Sciences Women in Natural Sciences program won her a life-changing trip to Belize. Threet describes crawling into holes in the ground that opened up into caverns with “humongous pots stuck into the wall.” These ancient Mayan pots left a lasting impression.

Threet, the first person in her family to attend college, chose to study ceramics at Alfred University. She’s also lived in Mexico—where, she says, after much black and white ceramics work, “my world became colorful.” She’s also spent time in Seattle and at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee, where she encountered influential potters Sana Musasama, Margaret Bohls and Philadelphia potters Sandi Pierantozzi and Neil Patterson. 

As Threet recalls, Pierantozzi and Patterson saw the need for more African-American artists teaching at the college level and encouraged Threet to return to Alfred. She did, but soon chafed at Alfred’s lack of diversity, receiving her degree but deciding against an academic career. 

She returned to Philadelphia, in order to care for her parents, who were now located on two different coasts. Her father passed away, and a new round of setbacks hit. Threet recalls 2014 as a “rock-bottom year.” That June, she had major surgery. In August she was laid off from her job as a Mural Arts teaching artist working with marginalized youth. In October, a cab struck her, leaving Threet barely able to walk. Months of intense physical therapy, shiatsu massage and support from her mother and boyfriend restored her health. 

Threet decided this was her moment to pursue pottery full-time. 

Despite her many challenges, Threet identifies one in particular that held her back. “I always felt that the only thing standing between me and doing [pottery] full-time was finances,” she says. A loan from a friend enabled her to apply to higher caliber craft shows, and in 2015 she threw herself into a grueling April-to-December production schedule, selling pots at over 40 shows across the mid-Atlantic region. 

This broad exposure brought the lack of diversity in the craft world into focus again for Threet. 

“I’m very much aware that in the craft market circuit I am one of a few—if not the only—person of color. For some reason I have been able to break some of those racial barriers... My mom fought very hard for racial equality, and she’s taught me a lot. For my own progression, I’ve sort of silenced that voice...if I listened to it a little bit too loud then I wouldn’t be able to do the things that I am doing.” 

Her mother is still her biggest champion, but her perseverance, talent and willingness to give back have earned her widespread respect. Multimedia artist and mentor Leroy Johnson, 78, who remembers being “the lone black ranger” in the arts and crafts scene, calls her “a role model for young craftspeople.” Hope Heffner, a former student of Threet’s, agrees with Johnson. 

“[Stefani] loves her craft, not to further her own agenda, but to help the community,” she says. “She wants to help other people to connect and find art as a way to enhance life.”

For the original article please click here.

Kay Healy (ACG ‘08) Featured in NAPOLEON

The Soft Inside Meets the Hard World: Kay Healy’s ‘What is Real’

An Essay by Daniel Olivaa

Kay Healy wall relief would not hurt you if it fell off the wall and landed against your body. Her stuffed textile sculptures hide their hanging hardware and sometimes appear to hover, like memories, and they promise to cushion your hands if you touch them, which people have been known to do. Healy’s new work continues to expand towards a figurative area of soft-sculpture, often using found textiles sourced from thrift stores to cover armatures of Polyfill, a white billowy material perfect for stuffing sacks or standing in for a cumulous cloud.

To gaze upon Healy’s current work is to fill your senses with softness and to delight in shifting textures, from the organized rows of corduroy to the even hum of black velvet. A Healy piece confronts you gently, and as she moves away from depicting household objects and towards figures, we begin to recognize that her pieces can relate directly to us, to our own bodies. These works are supremely poised between two hard surfaces, the white wall and your tough skin.

Healy’s previous works found their genesis in the stories and memories of people she interviewed. In an early installation, Coming Home, she interviewed four Philadelphians from different socio-economic, cultural and geographic backgrounds, recreating furniture based on descriptions of their childhood homes. In a 350 square foot diorama installed in the Philadelphia International Airport she placed hand-drawn and screen-printed fabric representations of sinks, stoves, hutches and love seats into four elaborate interiors. By combining their memories into one installation, Healy found commonalities between people of different backgrounds. She is now mining more of her own memories, which include recollections of her parent’s divorce when she was six years old. She has found garments in thrift stores that remind her of her mother and father, but as an artist who pays close attention to a material’s associations she recognizes that these “pre-loved” garments are already stretched by other elbows or kneecaps; they come with their own history. When she began pulling the stitching out of one suit jacket several business cards belonging to the previous occupant slipped out of the pocket. Healy held them for a moment and placed them back into the pocket, asserting the material’s own memory. She sometimes even sews the original label back on the clothing she has disassembled, hidden from view but there nonetheless.

As her work develops, we see that it is no longer so much an interpretation of memories as an interpretation of dreams. The adherence to mimetic reality has given way to an exploration of emotional states through a combination of architectural and figurative elements. Healy is interested in exploring the surrealistic notion of a body in union with its favorite furniture, embedded in a wall, or turned in with the sheets. Healy’s figures and objects become unified, a person can be made of cedar shingles while a camera which is both an object and a face, can glance at you shyly as it prepares to snap a shot.

Healy responds sensually to her materials. Her Mom Bust is a stuffed black velvet bust with a blond wig representing her mother. She relishes rubbing her hand gently up the velvet to draw out its softness, like petting a cat to elicit a purr. While velvet is a material she associates with her mother, corduroy is a material that evokes her father. She taps her fingers against the pocket sewn into the face of Corduroy Bust, which jingles because she has filled the pocket with loose change, about as much as her father used to keep in his pockets. “People touch my art all the time,” she says, admitting that the everyday materials and stuffed doll aesthetic beckon viewers to engage with the work.

She uses her own head and body as a template for the figuration, bringing the size and scale of her work into the real world. In this way her work evokes the full-body indexes of Ana Mendieta’s body forms, though both artists use vastly different materials. Mendieta explored the fusion of feminine forms with nature’s earth, wood, flora and fire, navigating in a world apart from the mundane. Healy, in contrast, suggests that the everyday is almost a “natural” state, she embeds the textures of our clothing deep into our psyche. Healy’s work plays with the simulation of domestic materials by using drawing techniques of hatching and shading, typically used to create the illusion of three-dimensional form on a flat surface, but as Healy uses them they suggest awkward flatness on stuffed objects that bulge roundly towards the viewer. The symmetrical, straightforward presentation and life-size scale directly confront the viewer and invade our actual space. Her work can be so confrontational that it resembles a reflection; we may feel that we are looking into a mirror and begin adjusting our own limbs in relation to the image facing us. Healy says of her work that, “it competes with your world because it’s the same size as you. The scale is the same.”

Healy is very focused on the ways in which we interpret our relationship to our bodies. Body-oriented metaphors yield material for Healy to explore. She is particularly fond of sayings such as, “finding your feet”, which suggests finding confidence and solid ground in a new situation. Another artistic influence on Healy is the sculptor Robert Gober, whose sinks without drains or faucets and legs popping out of walls (wearing old-fashioned pants, socks and shoes) have informed her surrealistic tendencies. She explores the acts of carrying and building in her piece, Carry, a bust with arms that is holding (its own?) legs and is also covered in a brick pattern. Does the brick add weight to the legs, strength to the arms, or both? Healy, who often has to carry “limbs” while making her work, explores both a parental gesture of support and an artist’s necessary motivation in building one’s own body (of work) while living within it.

“What is Real” is not a question and a yet it is also not entirely a statement. By refusing to include a question mark in this phrase Healy suggests that real is a slippery term, she says that her work, “becomes real in going from the drawing to creation”. Her objects have all begun as sketches and developed through smaller maquettes towards their endpoint, which is the size of our “real” world. Healy admits that the representation always fails because it’s unmistakably made of cloth. In this current body of work she is trying “replicate the feeling”, using the object to capture emotion. While Healy’s work develops in the direction of our reality, once it has arrived we, as viewers, are welcomed to slip back towards a surreal state. While we contemplate the form’s state of being, we can also recognize the way Healy powerfully weaves the twin senses of longing and hopefulness by creating intimate material associations.

Healy has found a way to explore themes of memory and loss while continuing to expand her toolkit. Her works are no longer obligated to express another person’s recollections and yet the previous owners of used clothing are welcomed by Healy as contributors to the growth of each sculpture. With each new combination of limb, gesture, clothing and object Healy expands the narrative possibilities of her work, and invites the viewer to add their imprint, or at least to take a new memory with them as they leave the show.

About the Author: Daniel Oliva is an artist and writer based in the Philadelphia area. He was the Curatorial Assistant at The Galleries at Moore and is a professor at Penn State Abington.

Read original article here.

Leeway Appoints Sara Zia Ebrahimi as Program Director

PHILADELPHIA – Sara Zia Ebrahimi (LTA ‘14, ACG ‘13, ‘09), a filmmaker and curator, stepped into the role of Program Director on Monday, April 18, 2016.

“My ability to articulate the cultural strategy of my filmmaking practice emerged because Leeway pushed me to name it. Leeway made me apply the strategic thinking I had encountered in the activist world to my art. The grant application process is not just a transactional exchange reserved for those awarded with a grant, it is a means of movement building for all involved. The process requires artists to strategize. It makes us place ourselves both in the context of history and in our vision of the future. It helps solidify that pathway navigating in between the art world and activist world.

I am excited to join the staff and board members of Leeway in asking questions about how the organization’s programs can continue to be more than a transactional exchange for artists. I want to help Leeway grow in a way that weaves together the cultural strategies of hundreds of artists like me into something strong and durable.”

Sara Zia Ebrahimi has produced film screenings and exhibits in the Philadelphia area for over a decade. An MFA graduate of Temple University, her own short films have screened internationally and been awarded grants from Chicken & Egg Pictures, Rooftop Films and the Leeway Foundation. Her recent work includes Bailout, a web series she wrote and directed, and The FBI Blew Up My Ice Skates, an animated short film co-directed with Lindsey Martin. 

Sara Zia returns to Leeway after a two-year outreach and events consultancy with the organization in 2010. Since then, she’s provided social media and community engagement consulting to individual artists and arts and cultural organizations; produced film screenings including the Flickering Light and Kinowatt series; and taught media production at Temple University. Most recently, Sara Zia was the Social Media Specialist at American Friends Service Committee.