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We’re thrilled to announce the winners of the 2021 Joyce Awards! Four impactful collaborations between BIPOC artists and organizations spanning the visual, performing, and multidisciplinary arts that engage diverse communities in Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee will receive this year's annual awards.

The 2021 Joyce Award Winners are:

Sydney Chatman with Congo Square Theatre Company (Chicago) will present a new community-based theatrical work exploring the journey of Black women and girls healing from intracommunal and state-sanctioned violence.

Daniel Minter with Lynden Sculpture Garden (Milwaukee) will bring together Milwaukee’s artists, refugee, and local Black communities to create a public outdoor sculpture from an ash borer-ravaged tree that explores nature, ecological threats, and the transformational power of art.

Kameelah Janan Rasheed with FRONT International (Cleveland) will collaborate with Cleveland’s teenagers and Cleveland Public Library to create an ambitious civic mural project designed to create space for diverse narratives about lived Black experiences.

SANTIAGO X with Chicago Public Art Group (Chicago) will create an augmented reality Smartphone app that brings an interactive digital gallery of Native histories, cultures, and languages to Chicago’s 4000N outdoor trail.

This year, the Joyce Awards—now in their 18th year—feature projects that take a creative and compelling look at the timely themes of loss and renewal, identity and cultural sustainability, and healing through nature, art, and community. Each partnership will receive $75,000 to produce and present a new commissioned work in collaboration with community members in their respective regions, with at least $25,000 dedicated for artist stipends.
 

Joyce Awards Panel

Join us on Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 4 p.m. CST for a free, virtual panel that will convene all four artist awardees for the first time to discuss their projects. To register for the conversation and learn more, click here.

2022 Joyce Awards Applications

Applications for the 2022 Joyce Awards will open on June 1, 2021, with letters of inquiry due September 13, 2021. There will be a Technical Assistance Information Session on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at noon CST that will offer guidance on the application process. For more information, click here or contact: joyceawards@joycefdn.org.

About The Joyce Awards

The Joyce Awards is the only regional program dedicated to supporting artists of color in major Great Lakes cities. Since its inception in 2003, the competition has awarded more than $3.7 million to commission 72 new works and collaborations between emerging and mid-career artists of color and arts and community organizations in six Great Lakes cities: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Read more about the Joyce Awards here.
 

About The Joyce Foundation

Joyce is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in evidence-informed public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.