2023 GRANT AWARDEES

Visual representation by mass media has othered people of the Ozarks. Seeking to reverse hillbilly narratives, Chuck Davis (Lesley MFA alum 2019) has been awarded an Innovation Grant by Art+Everywhere to engage his local community in a celebration of the vernacular architecture of the Ozarks.

Ozark Giraffes are stone-stacked homes and community buildings made of humble means – and the focus of the Innovation Grant.

The Boathouse Residency is a new international artist residency on Sandøya, a small island in the Langesund archipelago, Telemark, Norway. Launching in summer 2026, the 10-day program is open to MFA graduates, students, and professors from AIB, Lesley, and Clark.

"Listening Works" is an innovative art installation that tackles significant issues in the city of Everett by creating a safe space for art and conversation. This project will be the first project of our newly formed collective “Listening Works.” We intend to cultivate consciousness, compassion, and discourse within community, thereby nurturing a more profound comprehension of the meaning of community, in particular the value of listening.

The Archives in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston will pilot an “artist residency without the residence” program, or “unresidency.” The goal of the program is to expand traditional uses of archives by inviting artists to engage with collections and create new artwork, culminating in an exhibition in the library’s Grossmann Memorial Gallery. This program aims to grow into an annual occurrence for three to five artists each year.

The Desert Biennial Project (DBP) is a large-scale, artist-led initiative designed to counteract the dramatic loss of art spaces across Nevada. Since 2017, the closure of thirteen galleries has left the state's arts community fragmented and underserved. DBP offers a solution: a vibrant, welcoming, and site-specific biennial exhibition held on public land at the Apex Dry Lakebed in southern Nevada.

The Universal-Mural Project is an art outreach project that will engage communities using public services and shelters. I had the opportunity to design and create a mural in CT at the Darien Community Association this year, and it sparked an idea. If this community can have a professional mural to bring the natural world into the dining room of a grand home, why can’t I find a way to reproduce the same serene work of art for the dining rooms of local shelters?

"Listening Works" is an innovative art installation that tackles significant issues in the city of Everett by creating a safe space for art and conversation. This project will be the first project of our newly formed collective “Listening Works.” We intend to cultivate consciousness, compassion, and discourse within community, thereby nurturing a more profound comprehension of the meaning of community, in particular the value of listening.