NALAC Awards $309,500 to 49 Artists and Organizations

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is pleased to announce $309,500 in grants to 49 artists and organizations through three grant programs: the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA), Transnational Cultural Remittances (TCR) and Diverse Art Spaces (DAS). These grants support projects taking place through 2017 in all creative disciplines and advance NALAC's commitments to support Latino artistic production.

The contributions of thousands of Latino artists and hundreds of Latino arts organizations in the U.S. remain underrepresented in the systems and structures that support the mainstream arts sector. NALAC asserts that art and culture are at the core of sustaining community and perform a vital role in modeling a framework for ethical policies and practices that achieve justice and economic equality.

"Our grants serve as a catalyst for innovation and are designed to help artists and arts and cultural organizations develop their creative capacity and make lasting contributions to their communities and to society as a whole," says María López de León, NALAC President and CEO.

Selected through a competitive peer-review process, the new cohort of grantees demonstrates creative and artistic excellence in more than forty communities-- from Dearborn to Mexico City, Boston to Honolulu. The artists represent many Latinidades, self-identifying as Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Caribbean, Argentine, Chicana, Chilean, Cuban, Huichol, Latinx, Mexican-American and Peruvian. Photos and profiles of each grantee project are available online at www.nalac.org.

NALAC is the only organization in the country that is offering targeTed Grant support to Latino/a artists and arts organizations on a national level. Support from national, regional and local funders makes this possible. Through the NALAC Fund for the Arts, to date grantees have leveraged over $9 million dollars through NALAC's $1.4 million investment, providing financial resources across geographies, aesthetics, cultures, generations, disciplines and economies through Latino arts and cultural production and collaboration.

NALAC FUND FOR THE ARTS (NFA)

Two Master Artist grants of $15,000 from the NALAC Fund for the Arts will support equitable collaborations between master artists and mentees. Thirteen grants of $5,000 from the NALAC Fund for the Arts will support emerging, mid-career and established artists. Ten grants will support Latino arts organizations in multiple disciplines.

With support from the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture, five grants of $5,400 from the NALAC Fund for the Arts will support San Antonio-based artists. In Michigan, thanks to support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, four grants of $5,000 will support Latino arts organizations and projects in the Detroit area.

TRANSNATIONAL CULTURAL REMITTANCES (TCR)

Nine grants will support exemplary exchanges that promote grassroots artistic collaboration and strengthen social networks between the United States, Mexico, and Central America. This year's grantees represent communities in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Since its inception in 2008, TCR has provided nearly half a million dollars in support to 100 communities. Past projects have served as a bridge across the border, linking communities through cultural practice.

DIVERSE ARTS SPACES (DAS)

Six Diverse Arts Spaces grants will be awarded to organizations across the country to present or commission work by Latino artists. Diverse Art Spaces is a funding initiative open to Ford Foundation Diverse Arts Spaces organizations and to LINC Space for Change Planning and Pre-Development grantees.

The full list of grantees is below. To learn more about each of the grantees, visit our site to see photos and read about each project.

2016 NALAC GRANTEES

The awardees of the NALAC Fund for the Arts Master Artist Grant are:

Adriana Yvette Monsalve, Laredo, TX

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, Cupertino, CA

The awardees of the NALAC Fund for the Arts Artist/Ensemble Grant are:

Adriana Sanchez Alexander, Santa Ana, CA

Daniela Rivera, Wellesley, MA

Gary Soto, Berkeley, CA

INCA, the Peruvian Music & Dance Ensemble, Los Angeles, CA

Jailton Bispo Macedo, Philadelphia, PA

Jose Torres-Tama (ArteFuturo Productions), New Orleans, LA

Juana Valdes, Miami, FL

La Liga Zine, Baltimore, MD

Mauricio Arango, Brooklyn, NY

Sarah Zapata, Brooklyn, NY

Veronica Majano, San Francisco, CA

Virginia Grise, Bronx, NY

William D. Caballero, Newark, NY

The awardees of the NALAC Fund for the Arts San Antonio Artist Grant are:

Mari Hernandez, San Antonio, TX

Marisela Barrera, San Antonio, TX

Pablo Miguel Martínez, San Antonio, TX

Raul Gonzalez, San Antonio, TX

Sarah Castillo, San Antonio, TX

The awardees of the NALAC Fund for the Arts Organization Grant are:

About Productions, Pasadena, CA

Borderlands Theater, Tuscon, AZ

Cafe Cultura, Denver, CO

Floricanto Dance Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

Latina Women's League, Gainesville, FL

Oyu Oro Afro Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble, New York, NY

Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Los Angeles, CA

Spanish Theatre Repertory Company, Ltd. (Repertorio Español), New York, NY

Su Teatro Inc., Denver, CO

Teatro Visión, San Jose, CA

The awardees of the NALAC Fund for the Arts: Michigan Organization Grant are:

COMPÁS,Detroit, MI

Garage Cultural, Detroit, MI

Motor City Street Dance Academy, Detroit, MI

Southwest Urban Mural Arts Project, Detroit, MI

The awardees of the NALAC Transnational Cultural Remittances Grant are:

Amigos Car Club, United States (CA)

Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán, Mexico

Fuerza Unida, Inc., United States (TX)

GALA Theatre, United States (D.C.)

Nameless Sound, United States (TX)

Sayre Quevedo, United States

Self Help Graphics and Art, United States (CA)

Stefan Benchoam & Jessica Kaire (on behalf of NuMu), Guatemala

Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras, United States (CA)

The awardees of the NALAC Diverse Arts Spaces Grant are:

Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI

Efforts of Grace, Inc., New Orleans, LA

Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, San Jose, CA

PA'I Foundation, Honolulu, HI

Pregones + Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Bronx, NY

Youth Speaks, San Francisco, CA

SUPPORTERS

NALAC's targeTed Grant support to Latino/a artists and arts organizations in the US and internationally is made possible due to generous support from national, regional and local funders.

The 2016 NFA cycle is supported by the Ford Foundation, The Surdna Foundation, Southwest Airlines, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture. The 2016 TCR cycle is funded by the Ford Foundation and Southwest Airlines. The 2016 DAS cycle is funded by the Ford Foundation.

ABOUT NALAC

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is the nation's premier nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field. In this capacity, NALAC stimulates and facilitates intergenerational dialogues among disciplines, languages, and traditional and contemporary expressions. For 26 years, NALAC has delivered programs that stabilize and revitalize the US Latino arts and cultural sector by providing critical advocacy, funding, networking opportunities, leadership development and professional training for Latino artists and arts organizations in every region of the country.