James Clements Recognized With $5k City Artist Corps Grant From NYFA And DCLA

Theatremaker James Clements is one of 500 New York City-based artists to receive $5,000 through the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre.

Clements, a Scottish actor, writer and director based between New York and the UK, was recognized for "Ellis Island," which will be re-imagined as a free public screening followed by a talkback and an interactive process workshop with co-creator Doireann Mac Mahon and director Marc Atkinson Borrull in Brooklyn in the coming months.

Originally commissioned by Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre and the NY Theatre Salon to be streamed in the June 2021 Global Forms Theatre Festival, "Ellis Island" is an interview-based theatrical film that examines why we leave the places we are born, why we go to the places we do and how our sense of self is maintained in our new homes. Told through the experience of two immigrants - a Scottish man and an Irish woman - arriving in New York in 1921, "Ellis Island" asks prescient questions about belonging, prejudice and identity. Set in the quarantine hospital on the titular island, a truly global story emerges - one of leaving, arriving and waiting. Folk music is woven throughout, along with verbatim monologues from a range of diverse contemporary immigrant voices from around the world. Set throughout the last century, this timely piece speaks to modern audiences across time and space in the face of both COVID-19 and the constant fluctuations in US immigration regulations still present today.

Clements' creative public engagement is a free screening of "Ellis Island" specifically serving immigrant communities in the city, followed by an audience Q&A and interactive workshop led by Clements, Mac Mahon and Atkinson Borrull. This event is designed to bring together immigrant communities, uplift immigrant voices and empower immigrant citizens. For more information on Clements' work, please visit www.james-clements.com.

Over the course of three award cycles, more than 3,000 artists will receive $5,000 grants to engage the public with artist activities across New York City's five boroughs this summer and fall. Artists can use the grant to create new work or phase of a work, or restage preexisting creative activities across any discipline.

Members of the public can participate in City Artist Corps Grants programming by following the hashtag #CityArtistCorps on social media.

City Artist Corps Grants was launched in June 2021 by NYFA and DCLA with support from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre. The program is funded by the $25 million New York City Artist Corps recovery initiative announced by Mayor de Blasio and DCLA earlier this year. The grants are intended to support NYC-based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. It is strongly recommended that a portion of the grant be used to support artist fees, both for the applying artist and any other artist that are engaged to support the project.

The Cycle 2 application will open on Tuesday, July 6 at 10:00 AM EDT and will close on Tuesday, July 20 at 10:00 AM EDT. The Cycle 3 application will open on Tuesday, July 27 at 10:00 AM EDT and close on Tuesday, August 10 at 10:00 AM EDT. Please visit NYFA's website for full details and eligibility requirements.