Dear Colleagues,

New Orleans: The Amistad Research Center (Amistad), in partnership with the Rivers Institute of Contemporary Art and Thought (Rivers), is pleased to announce an award of $500,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support artist archival research residencies at Amistad and the development of new work that circulates material history.

Beginning in August 2021 and ending in December 2023, the co-organized artist research residencies will welcome five international artists to New Orleans research. American-born artist and 2020 Mohn Award recipient Kandis Williams uses collage, performance, writing, publishing and curation in her artistic practice. She explores and deconstructs critical theory around race, nationalism, authority and eroticism. Founder of Cinémathèque de Tanger, Moroccan-French artist Yto Barrada is recognized for her multidisciplinary investigations into cultural phenomena and historical narratives. British artist Helen Cammock probes social histories through film, photography, print, text, song and performance to question mainstream historical narratives around blackness, womanhood, wealth, power, poverty and vulnerability. Alia Farid, a Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican visual artist, works at the intersection of art and architecture to give visibility to narratives that are obscured by hegemonic power. American collage artist Troy Montes-Michie works in assemblage and juxtaposition to engage black consciousness, the Latinx experience, immigration and queerness to subvert dominant narratives by placing past and present in confrontation.

About the collaborating institutions:

The Amistad Research Center is a repository of culturally significant historical collections and opens its archives to all to learn about the fundamental underpinnings that make the diaspora and our country’s complex, rich and beautiful ethnic tapestry. The Rivers Institute of Contemporary Art and Thought recognizes art as forms of thought shaped by geographic, social, political, environmental and economic histories. Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, both institutions are rooted in the American South and global in scope. Their collaborative goal is to create a model of groundbreaking research and creative production in the Southeast, one of the most historically under-resourced regions in the United States.

Additional information about the collaborating institutions:

Amistad Research Center: https://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/ 

The Rivers Institute of Contemporary Art and Thought: https://riversinstitute.org/

About the funder:

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and we believe that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.

Amanda Lima, Communications Specialist

Email: alima@tulane.edu

Telephone: 504-862-3222