3arts Announces Second Year Of $150,000 Next Level/Spare Room Awards To Three Visual Artists

3Arts, the Chicago-based nonprofit grantmaking organization, announced the recipients of the second annual 3Arts Next Level/Spare Room Award-a $50,000 unrestricted cash award given to three women visual artists who are past 3Arts awardees-during its 14th annual 3Arts Awards Celebration hosted virtually on November 1, live on YouTube. With support from an anonymous donor at the Chicago Community Foundation, this year's 3Arts Next Level/Spare Room Award honors visual artists Tirtza Even, Aram Han Sifuentes and Candace Hunter, in recognition of their outstanding work in the visual arts.

"The Next Level program is an uncommon concept in the grantmaking field in which a second award at a higher level is distributed to a past recipient," said 3Arts Executive Director Esther Grisham Grimm. "This program reflects our commitment to investing in the creative heart of our city."

During the November 1 event, 3Arts awarded 134 artists including ten 3Arts Awards recipients who received $30,000 in unrestricted cash grants. Another 121 artists were selected by past 3Arts awardees to receive $4,000 unrestricted grants through a major expansion of Make a Wave, an artist-to-artist grant program, with one-time support from Make a Wave Presenting Partner The Joyce Foundation. These announcements-together with $230,000 in emergency relief grants given to 3Arts artists in 2021-make this the largest award year in 3Arts history.

To elevate this year's awards, 3Arts commissioned three world premieres spotlighting the work of recent awardees, including: Ivelisse "Bombera De Corazoìn" Diaz, who performed with her Bomba Con Buya group; Indigenous futurist and multidisciplinary artist Santiago X, who debuted a new video work to honor Native lands; and powerhouse singer/songwriter and recording artist Meagan McNeal, who released a music video for an original new song called "Slow Life." The entire evening's celebration is available to view on 3Arts' YouTube channel, with registration at https://3arts.org/event.

Past 3Arts awardee William Estrada, Award Partner Laurel Appell Lipkin, and board member Kimberly Manuel-Dickens served as event co-chairs.

To post a comment, you must register and login.