UMEZ and LMCC Award 2020 UMAE Grantees

Los Pleneros de la 21, 2020 UMAE Grantee. Photo courtesy of grantee.

Los Pleneros de la 21, 2020 UMAE Grantee. Photo courtesy of grantee.

The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of the UMEZ Arts Engagement Grant. Working with the program’s administrator, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, UMEZ awarded $375,000 to 54 individual artists, collectives, and cultural groups. Recipients reflect the cultural and demographic diversity of Upper Manhattan.

Initially designed as a two-year pilot initiative, UMEZ recently renewed support for the Arts Engagement Grant program. Fiscally-sponsored artists, collectives, and cultural nonprofits will be able to apply for up to $10,000 to support public engagement with their artistic project through 2021.

“We believe the UMEZ Arts Engagement program enhances the artistic vibrancy of our communities through funding the work of artists and cultural organizations that live and work in Upper Manhattan,” said Blair M. Duncan, president and CEO of UMEZ. “Our partnership with LMCC provides a supportive platform for all applicants and a competitive, juried process to select grantees. Congratulations to this year’s recipients.”

“LMCC’s grant programs are central to our mission to serve artists and communities and facilitate these connections. We are thrilled to continue this partnership with UMEZ in support of this year’s artists and organizations who are deeply embedded in their communities, caring and nurturing for the artistic and creative lives of their neighborhoods,” said Lili Chopra, executive director of Artistic Programs for LMCC.

“Through an exceptional mix of public-private partnerships, LMCC continues to advance arts programming throughout the borough, our partnership with UMEZ helps to ensure that across Upper Manhattan there are opportunities to engage in the creative process and celebrate the depth and diversity of our City’s cultural life,” added Diego S. Segalini, executive director of Finance & Administration for LMCC.

The list of 2020 UMEZ Arts Engagement Grantees are as follows:

Dance
Dances for a Variable Population, NEW MUSIC/Wise Bodies
Harlem Dance Club / HDC, MOTHERSHIP THREE
Kotchegna Dance Company, Kekene XIII – The Gathering 2020
Leonardo Sandoval and Gregory Richardson, Partido
Navarra Novy-Williams and Carlos Johns-Dávila, While You Wait…Look Around
Cassie Norddgren / ThruLines Dance Initiative, Danza Highbridge

Multidisciplinary and Literature
Ben Arthur, SongWriter
Dominican Writers, Uptown Lit Crawl
The Gatekeepers Collective, Inc., Harlem Renaissance 2.0
Jazz Power Initiative, Intergenerational Jazz Jam
La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, The Kings of Salsa
Latino Film Market Inc., Latino Film Market (“LFM”)
Living Away, Living Away Festival
Kanon Sapp / looseKANONDance, F U Z E
NYC Kidsfest, NYC Kidsfest
Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria, Uptown Kid Lit
Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, The MOVING MEMORY Project
Sarah Cameron Sunde, 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea

Music
The Art Song Preservation Society of New York, Inc. (ASPSNY), Spring Into Art Song Festival 2020
Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano, Music Appreciation Through Concerts
Cornerstone Chorale, Celebrate: Cornerstone Chorale’s 30th, Beethoven’s 250th!
Courtney’s Stars of Tomorrow, Feel the Spirit: The Art of the African-American Spiritual
Taikoza, Concert Series
Ekmeles, Ekmeles Uptown 2020
Fair Trade Chamber Music Society, Fair Trade at MOSA
The Harlem Chamber Players, Inc., 4 Concerts during The Harlem Chamber Players’ 2020 Season
Harlem Presents, Inc., The Harlem Opera Festival
Jazz WaHi, Inc., The WaHi Wednesday Weekly Jazz Jam
El Taller, El Barrio Canta Su Historia
loadbang, Plays Well With Others
Los Pleneros de la 21 (LP21), LP21’s Cultural Legacy Initiative Project 2020
Makam New York, Inc., Kervan (caravan)
NAMA Harlem, NAMA Harlem 20/20
New York Scandia Symphony, Scandinavian Music Festival 2020
Christine Pulliam Melamed / Prelude Opera, Little Red Riding Hood, A Children’s Opera
PUBLIQuartet, MIND | THE | GAP: Reflections on Beauty
Tenth Intervention, Songs for the Resistance
Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Pieces of Us | Piezas de Nosotros: WHCO Winter-Spring 2020 Concerts

Theater
The American Slavery Project, Black Women and the Ballot
Barrio Independent Productions, Frenzy Fest
Clutch Productions, Inc., empowHER Reading Series
Melinda Hall / Willfull Pictures, The 10th Annual Shakespeare’s Birthday Sonnet Slam
People’s Theatre Project, Doña Carmen (World Premiere)
UP Theater Company, “Barn Play” by Lizzie Donahue

Visual Arts and Media
African Diaspora Film Festival, Inc. (ADIFF), ADIFF 2020
ArtCrawl Harlem, Inc., ArtCrawl Harlem Presents Harlem Renaissance 2020 Art Exhibit
Paul Deo, Virtual Harlem Renaissance 2020
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance, The Dyckman DISCOVERED ARTS
Harlem Needle Arts (HNA), UpSouth
Zaq Landsberg, Reclining Liberty
Marcus Garvey Park Alliance, Inc., Renaissance Women
Marcie Revens, Letters to 125th Street
Omanut: Jewish Uptown Arts, The Uptown Jewish Film Festival
While We Are Still Here, The 53rd Year: A Kamoinge Collective Retrospective

Cultural Investments, PressUMEZ