Idea Capital 2018 Award Winners
From the “We Are Not These Hands” series by Jarrett Christian
January 2, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Idea Capital Award Winners
Celebrating 10 Years of Commitment to the Arts
Atlanta (Jan. 2019) -- Now in its tenth year of awarding grants to a diverse group of area artists, Atlanta independent arts funding group Idea Capital announces its latest awards. Nine Atlanta artists working in incredibly diverse media are the winners of almost $18,000 in awards this year. From puppet show impresarios to photographers to documentary filmmakers, this year’s award winners continue Idea Capital’s deep support for creative work in a variety of disciplines, making it one of Atlanta’s most diverse, comprehensive funding bodies. This year’s Idea Capital grant winners show the incredible depth and breadth of Atlanta’s creative community and the commitment to investigation, boundary testing and experimentation.
Still from Phoebe Brown’s documentary Shuktara.
After careful consideration of over 80 entries from Atlanta creatives, Idea Capital selected nine Atlanta artists and collaborative teams to receive a total of almost $18,000, our largest award in Idea Capital history. All of the artists who will receive grants have demonstrated commitment to Ideal Capital’s mission of recognizing the kind of innovative, risk-taking works unlikely to be funded by more traditional revenue streams. Idea Capital remains committed to ensuring that the city’s creative class finds opportunities to produce and exhibit their work.
A work from Ben Coleman’s “British Aisles” project.
This year’s award recipients are Ebony Blanding, Phoebe Brown, Jarrett Christian, Ben Coleman, Elizabeth Dinkova, Anthony Gaskins, Jason Kofke, Yanique Norman and Cydnei Prather.
Projects to look for in the coming year:
Ebony Blanding — Director Blanding focuses her socially-conscious film And so they rested, on an imagined rural Georgia “Festival of Naps,” of “rest as resistance.” There, black Southerners who have experienced decades of hardship and racial strife, can finally do the one thing they’ve always dreamed of: nap.
Phoebe Brown — Longtime film producer and filmmaker Brown’s documentary Shuktara follows a British man, David Earp, so moved by the plight of the disabled in India, he left behind a profitable London vintage clothing business to start a home in Kolkata dedicated to helping deaf and disabled Indian children abandoned by society and often, their own parents.
Jarrett Christian — In often heartfelt, harrowing images, photographer Christian documents the people, towns and small cities in the American South in his series “We Are Not These Hands.”
Ben Coleman — British-born artist Coleman offers a comic riff on the formation of national identity in “British Aisles” a site-specific installation that examines British identity, colonialism and empire via the British section of the American grocery store.
Elizabeth Dinkova — In director Dinkova’s tongue-in-cheek theater event “Talk to Me Like a Rock ‘n’ Roll Jesus with a Cowboy Mouth,” Sam Shepard and Tennessee Williams have their legacy examined in “a theatrical experience aiming to dismantle our reverence for two of America’s biggest theatrical icons.”
Shadow Box Collective — Playing with tabloid mythology and Southern hunters’ tall tales, Shadow Box Collective’s experimental puppet production “SkunkApe,” charts the story of a Southern Bigfoot stalked by hunters who dream of profiting from its capture in a production combining shadow puppets, marionettes and 2D and 3D elements.
Jason Kofke — As a first-person traveler in the region, visual artist Kofke will use Polaroids, 8mm movies and other analog materials to document the disappearing material cultures of Mauritania in Africa’s Sahara, while also charting the destructive path of climate change in the region. Kofke is the winner of the Idea Capital Travel Grant.
Yanique Norman — In her mixed-media work “The Bedroom Suites: An Elegy to Last Lady Sally Hemmings,” Norman will create paper sculptures that examine the complex reality of politics, racism, sexism, miscegenation and hypocrisy in American history. Norman is the winner of Idea Capital’s first Antinori Visual Artist Grant.
Cydnei Prather — With the Tiny Theater Company, director Prather will stage a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, infusing that production with the cadence and messaging of American hip hop and rap. Prather is the winner of the Margaret Kargbo Artist as Activist Grant.
These artist selections came following an open call for entries and a careful review process. A variety of supporters including the Idea Capital steering committee, artists and art enthusiasts showed their support for innovative local art by donating money for the 2018 Idea Capital grant cycle. For some projects the award will serve as seed money to ensure the launch of the project. Other awards will be used to fund the final step of the project. In every case the grant award is intended to recognize, encourage and support Atlanta artists who have taken the risk of stretching the limits of creative potential.
Winner of 2018 Susan Antinori Visual Artist Grant
Yanique Norman
Winner of 2018 Ideal Capital Travel Grant
Jason Kofke
Winner of 2018 Margaret Kargbo Artist as Activist Grant
Cydnei Prather and The Tiny Theater
For further information about the recipients, visit www.ideacapitalatlanta.org. Feel free to contact us directly with additional questions.
Contact: Felicia Feaster ffeaster@bellsouth.net
Mary Stanley ideacapitalatlanta@gmail.com
About Idea Capital
Idea Capital is a grassroots initiative founded in 2008 to help jump start Atlanta-based artist-initiated projects that might not otherwise be supported through mainstream arts institutions. The organization and its grants are entirely funded through donations from artists and other arts supporters in the Atlanta community. The Steering Committee, who administer the grant process and fundraising efforts, voluntarily donate their time and expertise. In 2009, Idea Capital teamed with the regional arts activist organization Alternate Roots, which allowed Idea Capital participants to make their investments tax-deductible. Idea Capital encourages the Atlanta community to become investors in arts innovation in Atlanta by making an online donation www.ideacapitalatlanta.org.
The Idea Capital Steering Committee
Chanel Kim, Cinque Hicks, Felicia Feaster, Jess Bernhart, Jody Fausett, Oronike Odeleye, Louise Shaw, Mary Stanley, Sam Romo and guest adjudicator Jamie Steele.
Our mailing address is:
Idea Capital
c/o Alternate Roots
1270 Caroline Street
Suite D120-353
Atlanta, GA 30307
Copyright (C) 2019 Idea Capital. All rights reserved.