We’re thrilled to announce the winners of the 2022 Joyce Awards! Five innovative new projects by pioneering artists of color spanning the visual, performing, and multidisciplinary arts that engage diverse communities in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis-St. Paul will receive this year’s annual awards.
The 2022 Joyce Awards Winners are:
- Nancy García Loza with the National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago) will develop a play that explores the complexities of bicultural identity and the myths of realities of ancestral homelands while leading public workshops engaging immigrant communities and communities of color in Chicago to inform her work.
- Nabil Ince with the Harrison Center for the Arts (Indianapolis) will create songs and videos that explore underrepresented areas of Black urban and commercial life, working in collaboration with residents from three historically Black Indianapolis neighborhoods to combat cultural erasure and gentrification.
- Michael Manson with Living Arts (Detroit) will create a concert-length dance production that illuminates the past and future Detroit Jit, a legendary 1970s street dance style, working closely with Detroit’s Black and Latinx communities to make Jit accessible to broader audiences, regardless of background, ability, or age.
- Aram Han Sifuentes with the HANA Center (Chicago) will lead collective storytelling and design workshops centered around the history and creation of traditional Korean NongGi protest banners engaging multiple generations of Asian and multi-ethnic communities in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood in a powerful collective statement of community solidarity and pride.
- Pramila Vasudevan with Public Art Saint Paul (Minneapolis-St. Paul) will lead movement-making workshops and events bringing together local artists, gardeners, and other community members on Dakota land in three St. Paul public parks to address issues facing the city’s land and ecosystem and imagine new pathways for communities to connect.
The 2022 Joyce Awards mark the largest amount awarded to date and feature projects that uplift local histories and cultural traditions, deepen our understanding of immigrant experiences, and strengthen community pride across the Great Lakes. Each partnership will receive $75,000 to produce and present a new commissioned work in collaboration with community members in their respective regions, with at least $25,000 awarded directly to the commissioned artist. Following the award’s expansion from $50,000 to $75,000 in 2021, this year’s grants mark the largest total Joyce Awards offered to date, awarding five grants of $75,000 each.
The 2022 Joyce Awardees were selected by an external jury comprised of a range of arts professionals including:
- C. Ondine Chavoya, Professor of Art History and Latinx Studies, Williams College
- Sandra Delgado, Writer, actor, singer, and producer; 2015 Joyce Awards Recipient with Teatro Vista
- Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Poet, dancer, playwright, actor; Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at the Kennedy Center; 2008 Joyce Awards Recipient with Walker Art Center
- Andrea Louie, Board Member, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts
- Shaunda McDill, Program Officer, Arts & Culture, The Heinz Endowments
- Sheetal Prajapati, Principal, Lohar Projects & Executive Director, Common Field
CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S COHORT OF JOYCE AWARDEES!
2023 Joyce Awards
The application process for the 2023 Joyce Awards will open on July 5, 2022, with letters of inquiry due September 12, 2022, and online registration for new applicants due September 7, 2022. Potential applicants can learn more and apply by visiting the Joyce Foundation website here, or by contacting [email protected]. There will be a virtual Information Session on Tuesday, August 2, 2022 at noon CDT that will offer guidance on the application process.
Join us in sharing the news on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
About the Joyce Awards
The Joyce Awards is the only regional program dedicated to supporting new commissions by artists of color in major Great Lakes cities. Since 2004, the competition has awarded more than $4 million to commission 77 high-impact projects and commissions between pioneering artists of color and arts and community organizations in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Each award of $75,000 supports an artist in the creation and production of a new work and provides the commissioning organization with the resources needed to engage potential audiences, new partners, and their surrounding communities at large. The Awards serve to amplify the work of artists of color while also directly engaging communities through the creation and presentation of new works that provide long-term benefits for the surrounding neighborhoods and beyond. To learn more about the Joyce Awards and see a list of past winners, click here.