Ford and Mellon Foundations Reveal 2024 Disability Futures Fellows

The Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation announced the 2024 recipients of the Disability Futures Fellowship, an initiative administered by United States Artists that is dedicated to platforming and amplifying disabled creative practitioners across various mediums and geographies.

The 2024 Disability Futures Fellowship celebrates a groundbreaking group of 20 visual and performing artists, writers, and filmmakers for their transformative cultural contributions. Each fellow will receive an unrestricted $50,000 grant, totaling $1 million in funding for this year’s cohort and $3 million distributed since the program’s launch in 2020.

Often working across multiple disciplines and endeavors, many of this year’s Disability Futures Fellows are recognized as pillars in their communities. Serving as multifaceted organizers, mentors, and collaborators, they continue to push their fields forward as well as cultivate new opportunities and audiences for other disabled practitioners. Their accomplishments reverberate across and beyond the cultural sphere, including advancing public policy, founding organizations, and catalyzing innovation across their creative disciplines. 

Launched in 2020 as a three-cycle program, Disability Futures was designed in response to the disproportionate lack of recognition, funding, and professional resources afforded to disabled creative practitioners despite their outsized cultural impact. The program emerged following a yearlong research initiative that invited dozens of disabled artists and cultural workers to engage in dialogue about how Ford, Mellon, and other philanthropic organizations could better serve disabled cultural practitioners.

The 2024 Disability Futures Fellows were selected through a process of peer nominations followed by the selection of finalists by a group of rotating panelists. Each cohort is ultimately confirmed by an advisory council of disabled creative practitioners who collectively guide the initiative. Initially launched as an application-based program, Disability Futures shifted to a nomination-driven structure for its 2022 and 2024 cohorts to reduce the labor and limitations involved in application processes, in adherence with feedback received from the 2020 Disability Futures Fellows.

“Since the program’s launch in 2020, we have seen the Disability Futures fellows’ widespread resonance throughout the cultural sphere, and are thrilled to announce another impressive cohort of creative leaders in the program’s final cycle,” said Judilee Reed, President and CEO of United States Artists. “We look forward to seeing their practices continue to grow, pushing the boundaries of their disciplines and supporting structures of care and coalition-building within their communities.”

“This third round of the Disability Futures Fellowship reflects Mellon’s ongoing commitment to the work, experiences, and visions of disabled artists – both in their individual practices and in the collective power they wield in the arts at large,” said Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation. “For too long, disabled creative workers have not received the resources and visibility warranted by their vast cultural and societal contributions. We are pleased to join Ford and USA in providing direct financial and professional assistance to the sixty extraordinary individuals supported by this initiative, who will continue to enrich and expand the American artistic landscape.”

“The visionary contributions of our Disability Futures fellows have reshaped arts and culture into more expansive and vibrant spaces,” said Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation. “As we conclude this cycle, we are immensely proud of the achievements of our fellows, and our commitment remains steadfast. We know disabled artists must continue to receive the recognition and resources needed, and we are honored to have worked closely with the Mellon Foundation and USA to ensure this fellowship underscores our enduring mission to champion arts, rights, and justice in all creative expressions.” 

Disability Futures was developed as a time-bound, three-cycle initiative, with the 2024 Disability Futures Fellows marking the program’s third and final cohort. As the program sunsets, its impact remains present through the Disability Futures Fellows’ continuous and widespread influence within the arts and culture landscape.

The 2024 Disability Futures Fellows are:

Anne Finger (she/her)
Writer
Oakland, CA

Johanna Hedva (they/them)
Writer, Artist, and Musician
Los Angeles, CA

Cara Reedy (she/her)
Journalist
New York, NY

Kay Ulanday Barrett (he/they/siya)
Poet, Essayist, and Cultural Strategist 
Rahway, NJ

Christine Bruno (she/her)
Actor, Teaching Artist, and Disability Equity Consultant
New York, NY

Kayla Hamilton (she/they)
Artist
Bronx, NY

Cyrée Jarelle Johnson (he/him)
Poet
Hudson Valley, NY

Luz Guerra (she/her)
Activist-writer, Storyteller, and Historian
Austin, TX

Day Al-Mohamed (she/her)
Filmmaker
Silver Spring, MD

Nancy Rourke (she/her)
Artist
Loveland, CO

Elliott Fukui (he/him)
Organizer and Writer
Oakland, CA

Natasha Ofili (she/her)
Actress, Writer, Filmmaker, and Producer
Los Angeles, CA

Emily Sara (she/her)
Artist and Designer
Massachusetts

Saira Barbaric (they/he/ze/she)
Mixed Media Maker
Seattle, WA

Finnegan Shannon (they/them)
Artist
Brooklyn, NY

Saleem Hue Penny (he/him/friend)
Hybrid Poet
Chicago, IL

Gabriela Cruz (she/her)
Drag Entertainer
Miami, FL

Walela Nehanda (they/them)
Writer and Cultural Worker
Los Angeles, CA

Gaelynn Lea (she/her)
Musician, Composer, Writer, and Activist
Duluth, MN

Warren “Wawa” Snipe (he/him)
Actor and Music Artist
Aldie, VA

Disability Futures is the result of a yearlong research initiative commissioned by the Ford Foundation and conducted by United States Artists that interviewed dozens of disabled artists and creative practitioners across the country to learn how to better serve disabled artists and creatives. The fellowship operates on a nomination-driven basis, originating with a group of nominators who identify eligible creative practitioners. A group of panelists then selects finalists, who are confirmed by an advisory council of disabled creative practitioners assembled to guide the initiative. After incorporating feedback from the initial cohort, the fellowship no longer requires applications, in recognition of the additional labor and barrier this represents for creative practitioners across the country.

The 2024 Disability Futures panelists are: Anaïs Duplan, Lisa/August Evans, and Jasmine Wahi. 

The 2024 Disability Futures advisors are: Elissa Washuta, Jake Geller, Jen White-Johnson,  Patty Liang, and Stephen Letnes.

To learn more about the 2024 Disability Futures Fellows and their work please visit: https://fordf.org/DisabilityFutures.

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