Arts + Public Life Announces the 2024 Cohort for Artists-In-Residence, Performance Residency, and L1 Creative Business Accelerator Fellowship
Artists-In-Residence: Ayanah Moor, Johnaé Strong, Candace Hunter
Performance Residency: Sea Michell Miller, Roy Kinsey, Quenna Barrett
L1 Creative Business Accelerator Fellowship: Joli Chandler, Oluwaseyi Adeleke, Twjuana Robinson
Chicago, IL - February 7, 2023 - Arts + Public Life (APL), an initiative of UChicago Arts, is excited to announce the 2024 cohort for its Artists-In-Residence, Performance Residency, and L1 Creative Business Accelerator Fellowship. Three juries, consisting of staff, faculty, arts administrators, and community members, supported the collective evaluation of the applicants and their proposals. The new residents include Oluwaseyi Adeleke, Quenna Barrett, Joli Chandler, Candace Hunter, Roy Kinsey, Sea Michell Miller, Ayanah Moor, Twjuana Robinson, and Johnaé Strong. APL will host a welcome reception to celebrate the arrival of the new residents on Thursday, March 7, 2024, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. CT at the Green Line Performing Arts Center.
All three 10-month programs provide:
A monthly stipend
Access to space and materials to create on the Arts Block
Access to the academic and research resources of the University of Chicago.
A syllabus to guide residents through the process and tips to get the most from the programs
The new residents and fellows will have the opportunity to fully engage with the dynamic programming that APL activates on the Arts Block, delving into the vibrant cultural legacy of the South Side and engaging in the dynamic and ongoing conversation between the South Side, civic collaborators, and the creative and intellectual endeavors on campus.
Adrienne Brown, Director of Arts + Public Life, said: “The 2024 cohort captured our attention through their socially conscious approach and innovative project proposals. We are also excited to witness the synergy across the three programs.” For the first time, APL has synchronized the application, interview, and onboarding process for all three programs and will facilitate peer learning and cross-residency experiences to build a community to nourish creativity across practices, disciplines, and programs.
Artists-in-Residence has been a cornerstone of APL since 2011, supporting over 39 individual artists and helping them launch their careers. Ayanah Moor, Johnaé Strong, and Candace Hunter are the latest additions to the program’s illustrious roster as the 2024 cohort. The residency is co-hosted with the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC). “CSRPC is thrilled to continue our dynamic 13-year partnership with APL and welcome this new cohort of amazing artists into our community,” said CSRPC Executive Director Tracye Matthews. “We look forward to amplifying their artistic practices while exploring synergies with our core mission to advance scholarship, arts, and public dialogue about the centrality of race and racism in the systems we inhabit.”
APL’s Performance Residency, supported by the Walder Foundation, will be the temporary artistic home to three exciting Chicago performers making powerful contributions to the cultural landscape of Chicago’s South Side: Sea Michell Miller’s Blackberry Blues Cabaret, Roy Kinsey’s The Legacy Project, and Quenna Lené Barrett’s Re-Writing the Declaration of Independence.
The L1 Creative Business Accelerator, developed in partnership with Proximity (the urban planning and social impact arm of The Silver Room Foundation), with funding from Good Chaos, along with resources and collaboration with the UChicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship. The L1 retail store is all set to welcome three brands: prgrssn by Oluwaseyi Adeleke, Soma Gems by Joli Chandler, and Callie Decor by Twjuana Simone Robinson. In addition, a series of workshops will be available to help them scale their businesses, with public sessions to share the knowledge with a broader group of South Side creative entrepreneurs.
“I am super excited to embark on a journey fully immersing myself into my craft while working alongside others on the same path. I’m looking forward to the inspiration that will come from having face-to-face engagement with the community, my established supporters, and a new audience whom I’ve yet to meet,” said Twjuana Robinson from Callie Decor, the 2024 L1 Creative Accelerator fellow.
Roy Kinsey shared his aspirations for the Performance Residency: “In this performance, I plan to be the first example, the first alumni of RAPBRARY, and communicate how literacy should be used to design a self-managed life.”
Johnaé Strong also expressed her excitement about joining the 2024 Artists-in-Residence: “I’m honored to join this cohort of artists and stretch my artistic practice in relation to form and materiality. With respect to my film and photography work, I am excited to integrate the rich archival history of the South Side of Chicago into my contemporary musings and observation of Black girlhood.”
Learn more about our new cohort here.
Please direct media inquiries and requests for more information to:
Arts + Public Life: Liu Yang, Alyssa Gregory
Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture: Anaga Dalal
Arts + Public Life
301 E Garfield Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60637
Email: artsandpubliclife@uchicago.edu
Website: https://artsandpubliclife.org / Facebook, Instagram: @artspubliclife
Arts + Public Life
Arts + Public Life (APL), an initiative of UChicago Arts, is a dynamic hub of exploration, expression, and exchange that centers people of color and fosters neighborhood vibrancy through the arts on the South Side of Chicago. As a neighborhood platform for arts and culture in Washington Park, APL provides residencies for Black and Brown artists and creative entrepreneurs, arts education for youth, and artist-led programming and exhibitions.
Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture
The Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture (CSRPC) is a hub of research and an incubator of anti-racist practice at the University of Chicago. We believe in the possibilities of a just campus, city, and world; people working across disciplines, intersecting identities, geographies, and ways of knowing; relationships where everyone is both student and teacher; and spaces of growth, compassion, respect, freedom, and joy.