#immigrant artist program

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Know Your Rights Sanctuary Training Essentials

Learn basic tips on how to help provide sanctuary and support to immigrant and refugee artists and colleagues.

NYFA recently held a two-hour Know Your Rights Sanctuary Training with Ravi Ragbir, director of the New Sanctuary Coalition; Abou Farman, from Art Space Sanctuary; and Geoff Kagan-Trenchard, Esq. from Anti-Violence Project. We're distilling some of the most important takeaways and encourage you to bring the Know Your Rights Sanctuary Training to your organization. To do so, please contact Abou Farman at [email protected] and Ravi Ragbir at [email protected].

The presentation contextualized a sense of urgency for the affected communities, and the conceptual work that is necessary to understand the intersectional nature of immigration matters. Kagan-Trenchard explained and showed the difference between an administrative and judicial warrant and how to recognize if you are being given a document that has no judicial significance. He provided a reminder that cultural organizations should not be asking and recording immigration status, should avoid storing such information in their database, and must certainly not share it. 

If a law enforcement officer enters your facility, there should be a designated staff member that should: 

Ask them to identify themselves (are they local police or immigration?).

Write down the full name of the officer(s) present.

Ask why he/she is there and request to see a warrant (if the officer lacks a warrant, respectfully ask that the officer leave your premises). 

It is important to be able to recognize and document whether the warrant is administrative or judicial. Try to limit interactions with the officer to specific competent individuals in the organization (counsel or director) and contact a local immigration attorney or nonprofit to advise on the situation. The designated staff member should inform all who are present that they will directly engage with the officers and issue a reminder that everyone present has the right to remain silent.

A few key points to keep in mind before an emergency occurs: 

Don’t wait until you need friends to make them.

Have a contact for an attorney and media rep ready.

Don’t wait until it’s an emergency to make a plan. 

Who is the person in charge if ICE arrives at the venue, and what are they going to say?

“You’ll need to speak with the manager” is something you can say, even if you are a manager.

You have the right to (and should) film interactions with law enforcement/ICE. It’s a good idea to have someone on staff ready for this. Don’t obstruct while filming. 

Don’t have anything to give them. 

Minimize the amount of sensitive information you have.

All social media is monitored. Act accordingly.

 Don’t be quiet about how you feel about them.

A little bit of signage goes a long way. Mark private spaces clearly. That’s where the law can’t enter without a warrant.

Best practices for supporting immigrants in your organization:

Train staff

Post notices 

Delimit public/private spaces

Be mindful of privacy & records

Create a safe environment 

Don’t require ID 

Provide resources and information 

Best practices for immigrants:

Get a New York City ID (NYC ID).

If you have valid immigration documents, show them. Always carry these with you.

DO NOT carry papers from another country: if you have these, they can be used against you in the deportation process.

You do not have to sign papers that you do not understand. Wait until you talk to a lawyer. 

Do not let anyone scare you into signing papers.

By signing something, you are saying that you read and understand the document and agree with what it says.

Emergency safety plan:

Reliable immigration lawyer’s name and number.

Someone to take care of your loved ones (especially children, elderly, and pets).

Arrange for your medical needs. 

Organize important documents in a safe place; make copies and make them accessible to a trusted person. 

Keep your Alien Registration Number (A-number) and birthdate in a place accessible by loved ones should they need to locate you. 

Community safety plan: 

Know your rights!

Develop a Buddy System and community self-defense:

Create a network of friends, family, neighbors, etc.

Put together a text tree, phone tree, noisemakers, banners, videographers, photographers, legal observers, etc.

Important resources: 

Accompaniment Training

Websites for low-cost immigration attorneys in your area:

List of pro-bono legal service providers in the USA

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Administrative Relief Resource Center

 Pro Se (Legal) Clinic

New Sanctuary Coalition Resources Directory

NYFA IAP Resource Directory - Immigrant Services

- Alicia Ehni, Program Officer 

This post is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #123. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events. Learn more about NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program.

Images from the Top: Geoff Kagan-Trenchard, Esq., Photo Credit: NYFA; Ravi Ragbir, Photo Credit: NYFA

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Conversations | Ambika Samarthya-Howard

“Without seeing yourself and your stories reflected around you, you do not find the freedom to pursue your true identity and calling.”

Born in India and raised in the United States, Ambika Samarthya-Howard is an artist, film producer, and also a mentor in our Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Performing and Literary Arts and Head of Communications at WITNESS, where she combines her passion for film and social change. She received her MFA in Film at Columbia University and has done art and media projects in Japan, Bollywood, and West Africa.

NYFA: You said once that “visibility is the first stepping stone to justice.” How does this advice relate to artists who are immigrants, international, or multicultural?

Ambika Samarthya-Howard: While I had always been drawn to the arts, I veered towards international affairs and legal studies as a means for social change. It was only after a study abroad program in London, where I was exposed to the British Asian arts scene, that I felt inspired to make art that reflected my interests and identity. I created a theatre company when I returned from the United Kingdom in the Bay Area, Arth, and when we sold out our first show to 400 people, I realized the audience was there. People were interested in my stories. That’s when I decided to pursue a career in film.

I think without seeing yourself and your stories reflected around you, you do not find the freedom to pursue your true identity and calling.

NYFA: Can you share with us some ways in which you have collaborated with other multidisciplinary artists? Were these collaborations important in furthering your career as an artist?

ASH: I love collaborating across disciplines, and find it profoundly rewarding both as an artist and as a professional. I had the opportunity to work with multi-media artist Monica Bose in filming her performance art in Miami, and I really feel part of a larger community when I get to work across disciplines. I’ve been trained in Indian classical dance and love incorporating dance into my film work. I also really enjoy writing and sharing about the process behind documentary creation.

I think people from different disciplines have a way of seeing the same content in a different dimension and that gives additional depth to the work.

NYFA: Do you have any advice for artists who are looking to share their personal story in the hopes of inspiring large social change but who do not know where to start?

ASH: I think the hardest part of sharing your personal story is that when people reject it, it feels like they are rejecting you. This is true if you are a writer or a video producer or a painter. Art is always hard because it’s a reflection of your identity in so many ways, but it’s even harder when it’s a personal story that’s already fraught with vulnerability, like stories of trauma.

My advice is to first step back and ask yourself if you want/need to tell this story. I’ve often found telling my story to be key to personal growth and very cathartic and so whether it’s accepted in a film festival or publication, I was happy to tell it.

Second, do you want to put this story out there? Artists can have personal projects that they don’t share and I think it’s worth asking especially with sensitive subject matters if it makes sense to put this out into the public. How would a public critique or rude comment on YouTube make you feel?

Lastly, connecting to community and other artists can often make this process easier and help through the journey of not only producing the work, but also the much harder process of sharing it and finding the right channels for distribution.

NYFA: Tell us about your role at WITNESS. What projects are you working on?

ASH: I currently lead communications at WITNESS. It’s incredibly exciting to work with a team of like-minded people globally who are using video for social change. The role of video and tech has changed so much over the last few decades, and it’s both fun and challenging to be on top of the wave.

I’m currently working on designing and drawing more attention to our reports and research on deepfakes, misinformation, and AI. I’m also excited to be working with the Equal Voice Network in the Rio Grande, to film stories of activists in the border community. As an immigrant, it’s work I’m quite interested in, but also an area of the country and immigrant history I am unfamiliar with so I’m learning a lot. So many of the issues people in those areas face have nothing to do with being an immigrant but are issues of people in neglected areas in the country that have had one-dimensional media attention. So rather than just talking about visas and deportation, there are very deep historic injustices around education and housing that particularly affect those border communities. I am excited to learn more and share with you in the future.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer at NYFA Learning

About Ambika Samarthya-Howard Ambika Samarthya-Howard is a video producer and currently Head of Communications at WITNESS. She was formerly the Head of Communications for Praekelt.org. She worked as a senior producer in community television in Brooklyn, with the BBC Media Action in Nigeria as a broadcast TV Trainer and with UNICEF as a Communications Specialist. She led the content curation and writing for the Medium Publication Mobile For Good, and has spoken about social good projects and inclusivity at a range of conferences globally, winning best poster at the recent University of London’s Behavior Change Conference. She co-authored two chapters in the recently published book Affordability Issues Surrounding the Use of ICT for Development and Poverty Reduction.

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #117. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events.

Photos from top to bottom: Behind the scenes shot of Jalobayu during Art Basel-Miami Beach, Photo by Peter Samarthya-Howard; Courtesy of Ambika Samarthya-Howard

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Conversations | Musah Swallah, Rupy C. Tut, and Jason Wyman

"Sharing the impact of personal narratives and challenges on the work being presented and pointing to the smaller narratives that the work is visually and symbolically built on keeps the audience engaged, and offers to share the layered existence of immigrant artists.” – Rupy C. Tut

Visual artist Musah Swallah (IAP Newark ’18) recently collaborated with Rupy C. Tut (IAP Oakland ’19) and Jason Wyman (IAP Oakland Mentor ’18 and ’19) on a virtual studio tour and conversation about his art. The event was a great success, and the trio has much wisdom to impart on showcasing one's artwork in a live, online setting.

NYFA: Tell us about your process of coming together to collaborate on this project.

Musah Swallah: Our participation in the NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring program is what brought us together to collaborate on this project. Check-ins from NYFA program organizers such as Judy Cai regarding updates on my artistic career allowed us to stay connected and eventually collaborate on this project.

Jason Wyman: In 2019, I was a Mentor Artist in NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program in Oakland, CA. There, I met artist Rupy C. Tut. At the end of the program, I asked if any mentee would be interested in co-designing some sort of virtual convening of the immigrant artists in NYFA’s programs nationally, and Rupy stepped up.

Over the fall of 2019, Rupy and I—in collaboration with Judy Cai and Felicity Hogan—designed a series of Video Roundtables on topics including values clarification, opportunity identification, and decision making. We began these virtual conversations in February 2020 as COVID-19 started appearing in New York and shelter-in-place orders spread across the country, including the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rupy and I offered to continue convening immigrant artists nationally, centering on the question, “How do we support each other during this pandemic?” Musah attended one of our open sessions, and on the call he mentioned that he wouldn’t be able to showcase the art he created during his residency because COVID-19 made art openings impossible. Rupy and I offered to support Musah in hosting a virtual studio tour and artist talk.  

NYFA: Do you have advice on how to put an online show together? For example, what platforms to use, length of time, ways of organizing, what works to show and the ones you shouldn’t, etc?

JW: My main piece of advice is to ask yourself, “what do I want to get out of showing my work online?” Musah wanted to share the paintings he created during his residency (and some from before his residency) with his community. This helped us focus the online show because we knew what works would be shown and who would be in attendance.

For Musah’s show, we determined that about 60 minutes would be best and a platform like Zoom would be the easiest. Zoom allowed us the opportunity to have both a gallery view of Musah’s whole community, but also a presentation view so we could show his artwork. We showed photographs of work and live views of the physical works. This allowed us to be able to both look at the pieces at a distance and see elements like paint strokes and materials up close.

Rupy C. Tut: I believe that the key to putting on an online artist talk/show is audience engagement and meaningful storytelling. In the context of immigrant artists, sharing the impact of personal narratives and challenges on the work being presented and pointing to the smaller narratives that the work is visually and symbolically built on keeps the audience engaged, and offers to share the layered existence of immigrant artists.

Communication can be a barrier within the art world for immigrant artists, especially when referencing cultures, traditions, and art forms that represent non-Eurocentric parts of the world. To address this barrier, I suggested guiding questions that can allow enough depth to share aspects of the rich cultural roots of the immigrant artist and their artwork, but also allow for a perspective on how their current work relates very crucially to the issues at hand in the larger global community. Guiding prompts can include sharing a unique origin story, purpose for approaching an opportunity or work, the evolution of thought on their journey, challenges and accomplishments, as well as impact on the future of their artistic practice.

NYFA: Rupy and Musah, as immigrant artists, what lessons or experiences can you share that might be useful for our readers to hear about? 

MS: My advice for immigrant artists is to be patient, focus on your craft, and understand that regardless of the challenges you face, you will persevere. It is important that you persevere as an immigrant artist in order to share your story and the stories of those you represent in your art with the world. In order to persevere you need to find a niche—a community of like-minded artists who will offer support and advice when you need it the most. As an immigrant artist you will experience discrimination, but don't let that hold you back. Use it as inspiration. Use your art as a form of activism and bring to light the injustices you and others face as immigrants. Be patient, humble, and keep practicing your craft.

RCT: The most important lesson I have learned as an immigrant artist is the importance of my unique voice in my work and the presentation of my work as authentic to my individual mix of cultures and identities. I think immigrant artists have an individual voice that is also sometimes inclusive of family and community-centric values. The art world sometimes deludes us into diluting our stories to offer a version more “fitted” to the language and positionality of our surrounding art world pockets. I would advise immigrant artists to stay clear of this delusion and to avoid changing the core of their creative narratives to tailor to opportunities that fulfill a false sense of acceptance. Authentic work leads to a more successful life-long creative journey.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer and Kyle Lopez, REDC Fellow

This post is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #131. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events. Learn more about NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program.

Image: Musah Swallah, Photo Credit: Fatoumata Magassa; Rupy C. Tut, Photo Credit: Lara Kaur; Jason Wyman, Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist

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Conversations | Ahmed Moneka and Martita Abril at Toronto Arts

The Iraqi-Canadian performance artist and the Mexican-New York based dancer participant of NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program (IAP) discuss their arts mentorship experiences.

Since 2010, Neighbourhood Arts Network, a strategic initiative of the Toronto Arts Foundation, has offered accessible arts programming, awards, and exciting partnership opportunities to Toronto-based artists, arts educators, and arts organizations.

The portal for their Community Arts Award opens at the end of June. This award—presented every fall—celebrates an arts organization that has made a significant contribution in Toronto by working with, in and for communities, while creating access and inclusion to arts and culture. Additionally, in July, they are continuing to offer their Mentor in Residence program, which will include mentoring sessions for artists hoping to create and direct newcomer artist organizations in Toronto.

Recognizing the alignment between NYFA and Toronto Arts in working to mentor newcomer artists, Neighbourhood Arts brought Iraqi-Canadian performance artist Ahmed Moneka and Mexican-New York based dancer Martita Abril (participant of NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program) together for a conversation about their arts mentorship experiences, moderated by William Huffman of Dorset Fine Arts. This was just one program of Neighbourhood Arts Network’s Newcomer Week: Virtual Edition, a lineup of events meant to center artists not necessarily new to their craft, but new to a place. Below are a few select highlights of this enlightening collaboration, divided into three topics.

Newcomer Strategies

Ahmed Moneka spoke to starting out in Toronto, searching all over the web for theatre arts opportunities, and initially not finding anywhere that seemed like the right fit for him. Neighbourhood Arts Network supports Toronto Arts Council’s Newcomer Mentorship program by matching newcomer artists with mentors. They matched Moneka with Jeremy of Driftwood Theatre, which began a beautiful mutually beneficial mentorship where both artists could provide their expertise on their home theatre scenes.

Martita Abril spoke to the necessity of asking as many questions as possible in order to get accustomed to the art world language of a new place. Putting herself out there by saying yes to as many opportunities as possible allowed her to absorb information from many different sources.

Moneka also highlighted the importance of cultural immersion outside of the art world, in order to develop ways of responding and reacting in a new language, as well as writing art proposals in one’s new context. Working closely with people from the area, not just newcomers, helps a great deal. “Newcomers have to learn a lot of things about the environment, about the culture, about the connection and network with the other people, to figure out how to survive in this life,” explains the artist.

Ways to Improve Support Systems

When Abril arrived, she felt that there weren’t many grants for immigrant artists available that would make it possible for them to focus on their art. She said that many grants are allotted for institutions, but not as many for individuals, and definitely not dancers who are not also choreographers; so, increased opportunities for individual artists in more disciplines would help newcomers gain autonomy more quickly.

Moneka spoke to the difficulty of surviving on an entry-level arts salary. He found out about and applied for a grant from Youth Employment Services, an organization that provides grants to companies that have hired young people, so that they can pay them a higher salary. Artists could always have more support in writing these grants, especially with regard to the language barrier.

Mentorship vs. Apprenticeship

Abril described a mentorship as more intimate and one-on-one, and as a place where one can build artistic community while receiving honest, generous feedback. She has been closely mentored by Ephrat Asherie through NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, and through Yanira Castro through Dance New Amsterdam.“In the performing arts and dance scene, an apprenticeship would be when you’re with a company, so before they hire you to be a full-time company member, you do an apprenticeship. It leads to a job,” explains Martita Abril.

Moneka states that a mentor just guides, with no expectation of getting anything in return. Mentors give individualized, expert input, without any boss-employee dynamic. He suggests that mentorship also operates in a bigger picture for an artist than an apprenticeship, since the guidance extends to many different areas as opposed to a focused apprenticeship.

About the Speakers

Since arriving in Canada from Iraq just four years ago, Ahmed Moneka’s contributions as a performing artist in music and theatre have been notable and welcomed. The scene has warmly embraced his Afro-Iraqi artistic heritage—its stories and songs—into its own growing cultural narrative. Moneka is one of the founders of Moskitto Bar and the creator-leader of Moneka Arabic Jazz. He has been an Artist-in-residence with Driftwood Theatre Group and Stingray Rising Stars winner (2019) at TD Toronto Jazz.

Martita Abril is a performer, choreographer, and teaching artist from the border city of Tijuana, México. Her work considers abstract elements of physical and cultural boundaries. She’s been a mentee and mentor for the NYFA Immigrant Artist Program and a volunteer interpreter aiding families seeking asylum at a Dilley, Texas detention facility. Find her at martita-abril.org.

- Alicia Ehni, Program Officer and Kyle Lopez, REDC Fellow

This post is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #130. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events. Learn more about NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program.

Images from left to right: Ahmed Moneka, Photo Credit: Matthew Manhire; Martita Abril, Photo Credit: Aram Jibilian

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Conversations | Advice for Immigrant Poets from Toluwanimi Oluwafunmilayo Obiwole

“The more I told my story, the more it resonated with people: other immigrants and other people of color started reaching out to me because their story was similar to mine.”

This October, the Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) Preconference in Denver brought extraordinary immigrant artists together, including Toluwanimi Oluwafunmilayo Obiwole, a Nigerian-born, Colorado-raised poet, educator, and organizer. Introduced to us by PlatteForum, our Denver partner organization, Toluwa, as her friends call her, became Denver’s first Youth Poet Laureate in 2016. This opened a world of opportunities for her, including resources, spaces, and a community. As much as she feels supported now by the city, Toluwa believes she was one of the lucky ones and aims to share as much of her knowledge and resources with others in need. Read on to learn more about her story, the challenges she faced during her first years in Denver, and her mission to help immigrant artists in her community.

NYFA: As an immigrant, what were the challenges that you faced when you first came to the U.S.?

Toluwanimi Oluwafunmilayo Obiwole: When my family and I first came to Colorado, it was a challenging time, having to go through the hardships associated with citizenship, education, being young, and adjusting to the social climate. There were very few people of color in my school and I went through a cultural shock—I wasn’t speaking well and had a strong accent. My mother’s solution for me was to read the dictionary every single day, section by section, to get familiar with all the words that I could possibly use in this language, and how to pronounce them. I developed a love for words, reading and writing, and by the time I got to school, I was ahead of many of my classmates. I was always creative when I was younger—I did photography, film, writing poetry and plays, visual arts—I wanted to be everything, making art made me feel free and I knew this is what I needed to be doing. My parents believed art can only be a hobby and I had to get a “real” degree because as an immigrant, you’re already limited in this country and you have to prove yourself in order to be able to do anything.

I studied Architectural Engineering and later became interested in Ethnic Studies, which became my main focus. My art just added to it—as a poet, I wrote about migration, my identity, the feeling of home on two continents at the same time, and community. The more I told my story, the more it resonated with people: other immigrants and other people of color started reaching out to me because their story was similar to mine. I made it my mission to not only become successful in my art, but to also create opportunities and facilitate spaces where other people that were also told their art or their voices didn’t matter can flourish, thrive, say, and create what they needed to and draw power from that—both economically and socially.

NYFA: Was there a lot of support for the artists in Denver, or was there a mentor that has significantly impacted you?

TOO: I’m the type of person that if I want to do something, I am going to do it. I started going to poetry shows and the older people in the community started to take notice and started talking to me, mentoring and encouraging me. They became different sets of parents for me—Suzi Q Smith, Ken Arkind, Bobby LeFebre, and others. Ken Arkind was one of my main mentors in poetry. He started the Youth Poet Laureate Program, connected to programs in New York City, Maryland, and Massachusetts, giving a chance for young people to represent their youth literary community. In 2016, I became the Denver Youth Poet Laureate, which opened a world of opportunities for me. At the same time, I realized that there were many people who needed to have access to all those amazing resources and mentors that didn’t have it. I started peer mentorship, taking the knowledge and resources I was privileged to receive and funneling them back to my community to other young creatives. Denver was incredibly supportive to me as a city, but at the same time, I was one of the lucky ones who received this support.

NYFA: What advice would you give to immigrant artists that are looking to push their career forward?

TOO: The most important thing to have as an immigrant artist is a community. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’m doing today. Even if you don’t necessarily have access to those resources, start to find your community. Even if they are not in your state or city, connect with artists on the Internet, through Instagram, direct message people. I am always happy to offer a helping hand if you are in search of community or resources. Connect with me on Instagram and I will connect you to other people that might help. Once you have a community, you can form a collective and a collective allows you to do much more. I founded the Palm Wine Collective, which allowed me to start amassing resources in a pointed and directed place to then spread our beacon to the community. It’s all about bringing together the collective knowledge and power.

NYFA: Any upcoming events you’d like to share?

TOO: The PanAfrican Arts Festival will take place in Denver in August 2020 and will be announced on social media soon. Follow me on Instagram; I’m always posting updates about what I’m doing in the city, sharing newly-discovered resources for immigrant artists. Stay tuned for more!

About Toluwanimi Oluwafunmilayo Obiwole Toluwanimi Oluwafunmilayo Obiwole is a Nigerian-born, Colorado-raised poet, educator, and organizer. She was Denver’s first Youth Poet Laureate in 2015-2016. In 2016 she co-wrote and co-starred in a play called How I Got Over, which was featured at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. In 2017, she was announced as one of The Root’s “25 Young Futurists.” She was a member of SLAM NUBA from 2015-2017, and is co-director of the Slam Nuba organization. In 2017, she was awarded the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award by the University of Colorado Boulder as well as the Black Excellence Award by the University’s Black Student Alliance. She is a two-time TEDx Mile High speaker and is the author of two chapbooks: OMI EBI MI and How to Become a Lightning Storm. Her project to create and launch a PanAfrican Arts Festival in Denver was recently funded by Arts in Society.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer at NYFA Learning and Maria Polonetskaya, IAP Intern

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #122. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events. Learn more about NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program.

Image: Toluwanimi Oluwafunmilayo Obiwole, Photo: Magdelena Fountukidis

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Conversations | Keren Anavy, Israeli Artist and IAP Alumna

“I see collaboration as another way of making art and developing as an artist in a broader community."

Keren Anavy is an Israeli painter, installation artist, and alumna of NYFA’s 2017 Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. Her work explores the dynamic relationships between nature, culture, and site. Anavy is interested in how cultivated landscape, as well as wild nature, can function as cultural agents in Eastern and Western societies. For her recent exhibition at the Sunroom Project Space in Wave Hill, she created an immersive installation.

On March 10, 2019, Utopia, a new interdisciplinary work and Anavy’s collaboration with choreographer Valerie Green, will be performed by Valery Green/Dance Entropy at Pioneer Works.

NYFA: Can you tell us about your collaboration projects in Mexico and New York, including the upcoming Utopia at Pioneer Works?

Keren Anavy: Alongside my work as an individual artist, I have developed two significant collaborations in recent years. Utopia is a collaboration with Valerie Green/Dance Entropy based in Queens. Choreographed by Valerie Green with original music by Mark Katsaounis, the evening-length work explores the idea of a perfect place through dance and visual art. The piece questions whether Utopia is an internal place, investigated through personal and intimate moments and alongside the community. 

I turned my large-scale paintings into 10-foot cylindrical pillars to be used throughout the performance. The original paintings were exhibited at my solo show, Garden of Living Images, at the Sunroom Project Space in Wave Hill (2018), which references Chinese scrolls and the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The pillars act as an extension of the internal world, constantly forming barriers, spaces, and other environments for the dancers to both react to and orchestrate. The notion of what it means to be safe persists inside a dynamic art installation which is in perpetual motion, being constantly built and dismantled. Utopia challenges the viewer’s conception of how art, dance, and design interact with and influence one another. Utopia has been shown at Danspace Project, St. Mark's Church, New York and at the Queens Museum, among others, and is going to be performed at Pioneer Works’ Second Sundays on March 10.

My second collaboration is an established ongoing collaboration for the past eight years with Tal Frank, Israeli born sculptor, currently based in Mexico City. Our research-based projects explore the dynamic relationship between nature and culture through the lens of specific sites and locations. Our recent exhibition, Compositions for Stones of Gold (2018), supported by Asylum Arts’ New York grant, was a site-specific installation in a historic building in Mexico City. We investigated archaeological sites of water-related structures such as aqueducts and ruins both in Mexico and Israel in order to scrutinize the relationship between place, nature, and identity. We’ve had exhibitions in Mexico and Israel as well as a formative experience at the Everglades National Park residency in Florida (AIRIE Program), where we further perfected our work process dynamics for a month at the reserve.

NYFA: You are an alumna of NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program (IAP): Visual Arts. How did participating in this program help your career?

KA: First and foremost it allowed me to be part of a valuable community of international artists who care about each other and are willing to share ideas and contribute from their knowledge and experience. The possibility of being in dialogue with additional practitioners about career development strategies as an artist helped me to grow professionally.

I greatly appreciated the feedback I received during some of the meetings with the mentors and mentees. I deeply benefitted from these conversations. Learning from the experience of the whole community of artists (mentees and mentors), originally from many different places, showed me various career paths to learn from and provided me with confidence and lots of inspiration.

NYFA:  How do you find opportunities and resources? 

KA: There are social media accounts, of course, and newsletters from wonderful organizations such as NYFA (the best!), Residency Unlimited, Res Artis, and many more, but this is basic in order to get to know the field. I think an artist should focus on places that are relevant to their concepts and practice, research them in depth, and learn what they have to offer specifically. Another great resource is the resumes of artists you admire and who are interested in issues similar to yours. It is a great way to discover programs and places that can be relevant for you.

NYFA:  Any advice to immigrant artists living in NYC who are interested in collaborations? 

KA: Residency programs are a good place to start developing connections with different art professionals and to establish future collaborations and projects. I really believe in the residency framework and I think it's a format that gives a significant anchor to an immigrant artist in an artistic metropolitan area like New York. The programs are very different from one another, I suggest that artists explore the existing programs and try to find one that fits their character, practice, and artistic goals. Research is one of the most important things and if you can visit the program in open studio days, I highly recommend it. It helps to feel the vibe of the place, and it’s also fun as an artist to be from time to time on the other side. I learned a lot from these events. In general, in New York, there are many open studios events in studio buildings (not limited to residency programs). Visiting them can be very rewarding since in a relatively short time you can see a lot of artists with different approaches and connect after the event with potential collaborators and with those who have similar interest.

See as much art as you can and be open-minded about other mediums. Visit venues that show multidisciplinary art, for example, BRIC, Flux Factory, Pioneer Works, The Kitchen, and many more. Also, visit non-profit art organizations that focus on a particular medium or specific technique (print, textile, etc) and that you might have the interest to collaborate with. Last (but which actually needs to be first in order of priority) are my favorites, the most friendly and important for your development as an artist in a community, the artist-run galleries.

Utopia will be performed at Pioneer Works’ Second Sundays on March 10, 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM.

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #114. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events.

Images from Top: Keren Anavy in collaboration with Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, Utopia, 2018, documentation of performance at Danspace Project, St. Mark's Church, New York, Photo Credit: Stephan Delas Heras; Keren Anavy in collaboration with Tal Frank, Compositions for Stones of Gold, 2018, installation view, site-specific installation, The Gallery of the Cultural Institute Mexico-Israel, Mexico City, oil on linen, wood, Pyrite stones, video animation screening, Photo credit: Zony Maya, Keren Anavy, Garden of Living Images, 2018, (detail), site-specific installation, Wave Hill, Sunroom Project Space, ink and colored pencils on transparent Mylar, polyethylene ponds full of water with ink, vinyl cover the windows, Photo credit: Stefan Hagen, courtesy of the artist and Wave Hill

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Conversations | Interview with Adriana Rios, Grants Program Manager at NALAC

The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), one of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field, is one of our partners in San Antonio, TX, supporting the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program.

With over 400 applicants this past year, the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) is the only national grant program investing in Latinx artists and nonprofit arts organizations in the United States.

During the first weekend of IAP San Antonio (meet our newest cohort here!), we had a chance to speak with Adriana Rios, NALAC’s Grants Program Manager, about the application process and other opportunities the organization offers. As an advocate for stronger representation and equity in the arts and a film lover at heart, Rios also gives us insights into the Adán Medrano Legacy Award in Film.

NYFA: Did you see any trends in past applications for The NALAC Fund for the Arts? What are some of the issues/themes that Latinx artists are interested in these days?

Adriana Rios: We were very excited to see the number of applications that came in for this year’s grant cycle! They came from all over the country and Puerto Rico, and it’s always incredible to see what Latinx artists are creating in their communities. In terms of trends, we definitely see an influx of applications coming in from states that have high Latinx demographics such as Texas, California, and New York. However, we’re also starting to notice an increase in applications from other parts of the country—such as the Midwest and the South—which are not always immediately thought of as areas with a high Latinx concentration. For our team, receiving applications from these states allow us to get a glimpse into what Latinx cultural production looks like across different areas and how NALAC can start to build relationships with artists producing important work in those places. We believe Latinx artists are often at the forefront of directly addressing the issues that are taking place in our current social and political climate, so we did see migration, immigration, history and human rights arise as consistent themes in the applications we received this year.

NYFA: Can you tell us what made some projects stand out during the review process?

AR: Of course! NFA applications are evaluated through the following criteria: Artistic Merit, Funding Impact, and Capability. We find that applications that rise to the top are able to successfully demonstrate how their work addresses each category. On a technical level, we saw that applications that stood out were succinct and clear. We make it a point in our review process to acknowledge that artists start at different places in the grant-writing process, some may have more experience writing grant proposals while others may be first-time grant writers. However, regardless of experience, the applications that always rose to the top were the ones that were able to paint a full picture of what the artist intended to do within the funding period. On an artistic level, we found that project proposals that pushed the envelope of Latinx cultural production were incredibly exciting to panelists. In other words, where there was innovation, reimagination, or artistic approaches that engaged the community in a creative way, there were high levels of enthusiasm and eagerness by the reviewers.

NYFA: Knowing about your love for film, we’d like to ask you some questions about the Adán Medrano Legacy Award in Film [Emerging Filmmakers]. Who should apply for it and how can they prepare in advance for this opportunity?

AR: The Adán Medrano Legacy Award in Film is a grant opportunity offered through the NALAC Fund for the Arts each year. It was developed by the Donor Collaborative of the Adán Medrano Legacy Award with the intention to further impel dynamic, Latinx cinema production by emerging filmmakers that contribute towards a cultural understanding of Latinx expression and identity. It’s currently open to emerging Latinx filmmakers in the U.S. or Puerto Rico, where “emerging filmmaker” is defined as: having less than five years of experience in filmmaking as a writer, director or producer; having completed at least one independent film or video work in one of those roles; and having received basic training in the media arts. Training can be formal (college or university) or informal (production courses, workshops, hands-on experience). So, if you meet that criteria, we encourage you to apply! However, NALAC is currently thinking about what emerging means in the broader context of film and cinematic production, especially since our community is so underrepresented in the industry. Currently, this is one of our most competitive grant categories, so if you are considering applying, my advice is to think hard about what work samples really speak to your experience as a filmmaker. Again, clarity is key in the grant-writing process and since film is so reliant on visual story-telling, it’s important to think about what work allows panelists to understand your capability and artistic ability.

NYFA: We are delighted to see that this year NALAC added an Artist Grant for artists living in Puerto Rico. Can you tell us more about this program?

AR: We’re so thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity for artists living and creating work in Puerto Rico. This grant opportunity came out after we closed the general categories for the NFA. We wanted to make sure that we were building an application that was accessible and relevant to the needs of artists on the island. We partnered with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, who has been actively involved with artists on the island since Hurricane Maria hit, and their team was incredibly helpful in both the crafting of the application and the outreach process. In its inaugural year, we received over ninety applications for the Puerto Rico Artist Grant. It is our goal to continue offering this grant opportunity in future years as well as develop relationships and networks with artists on the island. NALAC doesn’t simply want to be a funder, we want to support the artists and communities on the ground who have been doing the work to sustain the creative and cultural practices of the island and stand in solidarity with their efforts. Artists are leading the charge in both depicting the political and socioeconomic realities post-Hurricane Maria, as well as demonstrating the vibrant, resilient, and creative expressions that have existed on the island for decades.

NYFA: The application is now open for the NALAC Leadership Institute. Do you have any advice for people that are thinking about applying?

AR: The NALAC Leadership Institute is a week-long leadership and arts management program that aims to equip Latinx artists and arts administrators with innovative and practical strategies that lead to successful business practices in the arts. My advice would be to think about your professional goals and what you’re hoping to accomplish. Once you’ve defined that for yourself, consider the following: How can the NALAC Leadership Institute be a resource for you in your professional and artistic journey? Knowing your goals and professional aspirations are essential to the application process. You’ll want to be clear and concise in defining what they are in your narrative. Ultimately, it’s our hope that every fellow that passes through any of our leadership programs feel valued and that the commitment to growth is not only your objective, but ours as well.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer at NYFA Learning

About Adriana Rios Prior to joining NALAC, Rios worked in the programming departments of a variety of different places, including Geekdom, the Princess Grace Foundation, and the Tribeca Film Institute. Rios is a graduate of New York University where she had the opportunity to study Film and Television Production. During her time at NYU, she got involved with the Fusion Film Festival, a student-run organization that celebrates women in film, television, and new media. Rios is an advocate for stronger representation and equity in the arts. A film lover at heart, she hopes to one day start a production company that provides visibility and resources for underrepresented filmmakers.

About National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), based in San Antonio, TX, gives grants to Latino artists and arts organizations working in all creative disciplines across the United States and Puerto Rico.

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #113. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events.

Interested in developing your leadership skills? You can apply for our Emerging Leaders Open Call, a free leadership development program for arts administrators within commuting distance to New York City. Deadline is January 30!

Images from top to bottom: Adriana Rios, Photo Credit: Luis Garza; Zeke Peña (2017 – 2018 NFA Artist Grant Recipient), El Puente, ink/digital illustration, Courtesy of the artist; Karina Skvirsky (2017 – 2018 NFA Artist Grant Recipient), The Perilous Journey of María Rosa Palacios, video still, courtesy of the artist; Yancy Villa-Calvo (2017 – 2018 NFA Artist Grant Recipient); Barrier Free: A Socially Engaged Art Installation, Photographer Credit: Brandon Dill

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Conversations | Pablo Espinosa & Dayron Napoles Rubant, IAP Interns

Sharing an interest in building a community of support around artists, Pablo Espinosa and Dayron Napoles Rubant talked to NYFA about their experiences as immigrants and members of the NYFA Learning team. 

At The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), we aim to bring diverse perspectives to our work through the lens of our knowledgeable staff, interns, consultants, and interactions with the greater arts community. We’re excited to introduce you to two Immigrant Artist Program interns who bring their passion for the arts to NYFA: Pablo Espinosa and Dayron Napoles Ruybant. Espinosa, who interned with NYFA from August-December 2018, is a Colombian anthropologist and philosopher whose work with the indigenous communities of the Guainía jungle in Colombia resulted in an exhibition (pictured below). Napoles Ruybant, who started as an intern this month, is a Cuban dancer whose career has allowed him to travel and live in many countries including Haiti, Finland, and China. 

Read below to learn more about their interests, what inspires them, and the role of the artist in today’s society.

NYFA: What do you think it is the role of the artist today?

Pablo Espinosa: I think that artists today have the very important and difficult task of giving a voice to those stories that are invisible. Artists are able to bring new perspectives into the world and have the power to shake the dominant narratives that seem at times to be the only possible course of things. Art lets us imagine different—previously unseen—possibilities that can transform our ways of being in the world and open up a way to reinvent ourselves.

NYFA: You are interested in exploring the links between art and anthropology. What is the most valuable thing you learned during your time in New York?

PE: I learned that it now is more important than ever to build a community of artists and to support them. My time at NYFA gave me a lot of practical tools and the know-how to start building a support network for artists in my home country; seeing how the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program helps emerging artists to establish themselves and gain more visibility and self-confidence was very inspiring for me.

NYFA: What are your plans for the future?

PE: For the time being, I will go back to Bogotá and get involved in the many exciting art initiatives that are taking place over there. I have been invited to participate in an emerging literary publishing house called Proteo Editorial and I’m looking forward to translating works that haven’t been yet translated into Spanish. I’d also like to implement some of the many things I learned at NYFA and maybe work towards making a similar foundation in Colombia, where migration has not been so much external but internal, due to the ongoing armed conflict in the country.

Next, we hear from Napoles Rubant, who is taking Espinosa’s place as the new IAP intern. 

NYFA: Your dance career took you to many countries. Please tell us about your background in dance and event management.

Dayron Napoles Rubant: I was six years old when I started to dance in a folkloric dance group. Later, I graduated from a dance school in my hometown, Santiago de Cuba. I worked for two years in Cuba in a professional dance company before I left for Haiti. In the beginning, dance was purely physical, it was the moment when I didn’t need to think about anything, just perform the movements I was told to. At 18 years old, I traveled to Haiti as a guest dancer with a two-year contract. I ended up living and working there for eight years. During that time, I became a rehearsal director and choreographer. It was then that I started to be more curious about my own body movement and how to use it as a form of expression; how different feelings, states of mind, places, and music affected my movement and body expression. After Haiti, I moved to Finland and worked in a contemporary dance project and theatre musical as a freelance dancer. During my time in Finland, I was questioning myself; what else could I do besides dancing? That is how I ended up going to school for a bachelor’s degree in Event Management. The reason I decided to do this program is that I saw it as an extension of my experience during my dancing career, when I found myself counting bills, planning fundraisers, meeting possible sponsors, and collaboration partners many times. Therefore, I decided to learn the tools that could help me as a dancer to live in a business world.

As a result of my bachelor’s degree in Event Management, I had the possibility to do a work placement in MoCA Shanghai as an educational event planner for the museum before moving to New York with my family.

NYFA: What do you hope to learn during your time interning at NYFA? How do you feel it will benefit you in the future?

DNR: During my time in NYFA, I hope to learn everything about assisting and supporting artists and to learn what concerns and problems they face in today’s society. I also want to learn what tools we can offer them in order to find a solution to their problems.

NYFA: What do you think it’s the role of the artist today?

DNR: I don't think I am the right person to describe what should be the role of the artist. I do think that artists have an important role in today’s society, seeing how fast the world is moving and how the emergence and increase of technology affect us in our everyday lives; how people’s focuses have become more external and material. And sometimes it is only when we are in front of an art piece that we start to question ourselves and try to be more in contact with our inner self, asking questions that we wouldn’t otherwise.  

NYFA: What are your plans for the future?

DNR: I would like to make art accessible to everyone and to help artists keep doing what they do the best: making art. I agree with something I read ... “not everyone can be an artist, especially nowadays it takes a lot of courage,” but I do believe that anyone has the possibility to appreciate the arts. That is something I want to keep doing, giving the possibility for artists to make art and to let others appreciate it.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer at NYFA Learning

About Pablo Espinosa Espinosa recently received his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Philosophy at the University of Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He previously worked as an assistant researcher in a museum renovation near Bogotá and as an assistant professor of Ancient Greek. He recently finished his internship at NYFA.

About Dayron Napoles Rubant Napoles Rubant was born and raised in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, and started dancing at the age of six. He has been a soloist dancer and rehearsal director at Ayikodans dance company in Haiti; a freelance dancer at Helsinki City Theatre and Zodiak Center for New Dance, in Finland, where he also received his Bachelor’s Degree in Event Management; and an educational event planner for MoCA Shanghai. He is currently interning with NYFA.

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #112. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events.

Images: Pablo Espinosa, Image Credit: Cristina Consuegra; Dayron Napoles Rubant, Courtesy of the Artist; Courtesy of Pablo Espinosa; Courtesy of Dayron Napoles Rubant