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Ford, Mellon Award $1 Million to Disability Futures Fellowships

20 artists, performers, writers, and creators from around the country will receive $50,000 each.

NEW YORK CITY: The Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have launched Disability Futures, a new fellowship which, 30 years after the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, will become the only national award for disabled arts practitioners. The fellowship will directly support the work of 20 disabled artists, actors, dancers, and more across the country, with each receiving a $50,000 grant administered by United States Artists. The goal of Disability Futures is to increase the visibility and elevate the voices of disabled creators and artists across disciplines and geography.

The inaugural Disability Futures fellows are:

Navild (niv) Acosta (he, him, his)
Multimedia – dance, music & sound, visual art
Brooklyn

Patty Berne (she, her, hers, they, them, theirs)
Artistic director, filmmaker, and writer
Berkeley, Calif.

Eli Clare (he, him, his)
Poet and essayist
Burlington, Vt.

John Lee Clark (he, him, his)
Writer
Hopkins, Minn.

Sky Cubacub (they, them, theirs)
Garment maker
Chicago

Jen Deerinwater (Jen, Jen Deerinwater)
Journalist, non-fiction creative writer, memoirist, and photographer
Washington, D.C.

Rodney Evans (he, him, his)
Filmmaker
Brooklyn

Ryan J. Haddad (he, him, his)
Playwright and performer
New York City

Jerron Herman (he, him, his)
Dancer
New York City

Christine Sun Kim (she, her, hers)
Artist
Orange County, Calif.

Carolyn Lazard (they, them, theirs)
Interdisciplinary artist
Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

Jim LeBrecht (he, him, his)
Film director and producer
Berkeley, Calif.

Riva Lehrer (she, her, hers)
Painter and writer
Chicago

Tourmaline (she, her, hers, they, them,   theirs)
Filmmaker
Brooklyn

Jeffrey Yasuo Mansfield (he, him, his)
Designer
Boston

Mia Mingus (she, her, hers)
Writer and journalist
Oakland, Calif.

Perel (they, them, theirs)
Performance artist, dancer, choreographer, and writer
New York City

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
(they, them, theirs, she, her, hers)
Writer and performance artist
Seattle

Alice Sheppard (she, her, hers)
Choreographer
Los Altos, Calif.

Alice Wong (she, her, hers)
Journalist
San Francisco

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