The art world is, ostensibly, inclusive. That said, it is a truth about the world of visual arts that biases do exist just as they do in any other field. Today I’d like to spotlight a few opportunities that speak to women and the LGBTQ community. These are opportunities that are not all current but should be on your radar if you identify in one of these populations. As with any grants, residencies, and other opportunities you really should make applications a regular part of your yearly calendar. There is no harm in planning ahead and in fact it can be the best way to ensure that you stay on top of the game. Read on for opportunities specifically for women and LGBTQ artists.
Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant was established in 2017 to support filmmakers representing lesbian lifestyles on screen. The award is in the amount of $5000 and is decided by a rotating panel of judges. Award money is generated from the personal estate of Barbara Hammer. For more information and to stay up to date on deadlines, visit the website.
In their own words, “Women’s Studio Workshop envisions a society where women’s visual art is integral to the cultural mainstream and permanently recorded in history.” The workshop maintains facilities for artists to work in various mediums and curates a small collection of opportunities around the world. For complete details on the studio space at Women’s Studio Workshop and to see their list of opportunities, visit the website.
Queer|Art|Mentorship was designed to promote intergenerational and interdisciplinary connection between artists in the LGBTQ community. Artists in a variety of fields are invited to apply during certain times for the year long fellowships. The pairings of artists each year set the tone of the program. The Queer Art Mentorship year culminates in an exhbition, live event, and accompanying publication titled the QAM Annual. For more details and to keep a lookout for application dates, visit the Queer|Art|Mentorship website.
Praxis Center believes in embracing artists from every corner of the world and who represent every life choice under the sun. We believe that as one human family, we are all entitled to equal opportunity. In a world where those who do not fit neatly into a very narrow box are often marginalized. When you enroll with Praxis Center for just $40/month you enter into a supportive community of experts and colleagues and gain access to a virtual classroom where your thoughts, work, and very self are encouraged and embraced.
Photo credit: Queer Art
I grew up in Olympia, Washington, attending punk shows and making fanzines since high school. My community was activist, engaged, and mostly working and lower middle class. Only after I moved away for the last time, at age 30, to attend graduate school in Chicago, did I begin to comprehend the utopian dimensions of Riot Grrrl, and the adjacent punk scenes of the turn of this century in the Olympia area. Now, I am a painter working with textiles, historic print materials from Playboy, R Crumb comics, Mad Magazine and other mass market desire machines from the past 40+ years. Everything is collage: I cast a wide net and trust that my experience will filter. I fondle materials – the relative weight of color and texture, brittle papers, the sag of velvets, and the rustle and slippery quality of silks and polyesters. Destruction and repair are integrated into the work through cutting and sewing bits and pieces together in a process related to but not quilting. Poetry and subjectivity drive my practice. I have curated exhibitions and led workshops on listening. Walks in the woods with my partner and dog. Teaching. Grocery shopping and reading. I place my paintings in front of the windows of our large industrial loft, so they shatter the light through colored cloth – an absorbent prism. How can we repair the soul lag? I am mopping up the rear guard. And I am writing; poems and essays, and frequent, somewhat performative lectures, sometimes in my role as “teacher” and sometimes as “artist.” – 
