UMEZ and LMCC Award 58 Grantees in 2021 UMEZ Arts Engagement Program

2021 UMEZ Arts Engagement Grantee Kotchegna Dance Company. Photo by Lisa Diomande.

The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone is pleased to announce the 2021 recipients of a UMEZ Arts Engagement grant. Working with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, UMEZ awarded $375,000 to 58 individual artists, collectives and cultural groups. Recipients reflect the creative, cultural and demographic diversity of Upper Manhattan.

This marks the fourth year of the UMEZ Arts Engagement program. Originally designed as a two-year pilot initiative, 202 grants have been awarded through the program. Grantees in 2021 accounted for the most recipients in a single year since the start of the program.

The announcement comes one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused vast disruptions across the arts and culture sector. Reflecting on the importance of the program in providing support for individual artists, collectives and small nonprofit organizations in Upper Manhattan, UMEZ President & CEO, Blair M. Duncan, said: “The UMEZ Arts Engagement Grant is one of the key components of our overall Cultural Investments strategy. There’s no question that the past year has been an incredibly challenging one for the community, and in particular our arts and culture organizations and individual artists have suffered from governmental closures. We’re thrilled to be able to support the community through this program at a time when the vibrancy of our cultural ecosystem is more important than ever.”

LMCC’s Executive Director of Artistic Programs, Lili Chopra said, “We are thrilled to announce our 2021 Manhattan Arts Grants for artists and organizations who, in the face of precarity and uncertainty, inspire and strengthen their local communities. As a result of LMCC and UMEZ's partnership, $375,000 in UMEZ funding was awarded to Upper Manhattan artists and organizations this year. LMCC is proud to support artists’ essential role in the enlivening and recovery of our city, particularly in areas most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Diego S. Segalini, LMCC’s Executive Director of Finance & Administration, added, “Providing grants and making space for the Arts to thrive are essential to the recovery of New York. LMCC thanks our UMEZ partners for supporting the work of local artists and community-based organizations in Upper Manhattan, ensuring that New Yorkers continue to have access to rich creative experiences and rewarding opportunities, especially during these otherwise challenging times.”

The list of 2021 UMEZ Arts Engagement Grantees are as follows:

Dance

Dances for a Variable Population, Revival 5 Hybrid Festival
Gabrielle Lamb/Pigeonwing Dance, Pigeonwing Dance’s Carpet Series
General Mischief Dance Theatre, Get Lifted
Vado Diomande/Kotchegna Dance Company, Kekene XV – The Gathering 2021
Elliot Ortiz, 5 Paths to Uptown Stories
Oyu Oro Afro Cuban Experimental Dance Ensemble, Esperanza
Leonardo Sandoval & Gregory Richardson/Music From The Sole, Music From The Sole

Multidisciplinary and Literature

The American Slavery Project, The American Slavery Project: “Reverberation Series”
Art Crawl Harlem, Focus on Freedom…
Barrio Independent Productions, Frenzy Short Films 2021
Gwendolyn Black, Visual Arts and Jazz Day
Creative Stage Collective, The CSC Summer Shebang!
The Gatekeepers Collective, Learning to Love
HIGHER GROUND FESTIVAL, Higher Ground Festival
Korea Art Forum, For Community-Building
La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, The Kings of Salsa
NYC Kidsfest, The 16th Annual NYC Kidsfest
Pan American Musical Art Research, Inc., Latin American Cultural Week
Tami Tyree/Echoes of our Ancestors, The Frederick Douglass Continuum
Word-Up Community Bookshop, Uptown Kid Lit
Yaffa Cultural Arts, Inc., Stories for Change Celebrates Harlem

Music

Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans, Women in Latin Jazz Festival
Natu Camara and MOVE NYC, Let the Music Speak with Natu Camara & MOVE NYC
Courtney’s Stars of Tomorrow, Feel the Spirit II
DJ LiKWUiD, The Mothership
Dona Carter Ensemble, “Comfort,” Comfort for our Families
Ekmeles, Ekmeles in Upper Manhattan, 2021
El Taller Latino Americano, El Barrio Canta Su Historia III
The Harlem Chamber Players, Black History Month Concert
Harlem Presents, Inc., The Harlem Opera Festival
Jazz Power Initiative, Jazz Power ON Live Series
loadbang, loadbang Presents: Adapt/Adjust
Los Pleneros de la 21 (LP21), The Cultural Legacy Project 2021
NAMA HARLEM, SHOWTIME at NAMA HARLEM
The Overlook, The Overlook Presents: “If the stars align”
Qubit, Credo: A Surveillance Mass
SIRIUS QUARTET, Progressive Chamber Music Festival
Taikoza, Japanese Music Concert
Tenth Intervention, La operación
Alicia Waller, Louder, Then

Theater

Blackberry Productions, Inc., We Wear the Masks
K. Hernandez Friend, Rewriting Ramona
Jugando N Play, The Neighbors – Los Vecinos
LaVern Rector, Exotic Dancer From Harlem
UP Theater Company, Inc., “A Barn Play” by Lizzie Donahue

Visual Arts & Media

African Diaspora Film Festival, Inc. (ADIFF), World Black History Program
Marta Chilindron, The Neighborhood
DWYER CULTURAL CENTER, VIRGINIA: De Boriquín a Nueva York
Feggo, Portraits of my Community
Harlem Needle Arts (HNA), Painted Thread
Inwood Art Works, Film Works Alfresco
Christine Toy Johnson, EMPRESS MEI LI LOTUS BLOSSOM
Marne Lucas, Quietus
Bonita Oliver, Seeking Truth
Susan Stair, Ascending the Mountain
James Top, Graffiti. Black. Book. Word Writ Large
Carla Torres, The Patio
Venus Radio Theater (VRT), The Muck