United States Artists Announces 2021 USA Fellows

February 3, 2021

Chicago-based arts nonprofit United States Artists has announced the recipients of its 2021 fellowships. The program provides a $50,000 cash award to each fellow. 

USA Fellows for 2021 include Lauren Lee McCarthy, associate professor in the Department of Design Media Arts and interim associate dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; and UCLA Art alumni Sharon Hayes and rafa esparza.

Aki Sasamoto, Lex Brown, and rafa esparza. Photos: Takehiro Iikawa, Nicholas Calcott, provided by artist.

"Chicago–based arts nonprofit United States Artists (USA) has announced sixty recipients of its 2021 fellowships, marking the largest fellowship class in its fifteen-year history. Each of the selected artists, working across ten creative disciplines—Architecture & Design, Craft, Dance, Film, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Art, and Writing—will receive an unrestricted $50,000 cash award.

Among this year’s cohort, drawn from all corners of the country and representing all age groups and career stages, are performance artist Jibz Cameron, aka Dynasty Handbag; photocollage artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby; painter and sculptor Daniel Lind-Ramos; video and installation artist Carolyn Lazard; performance artist rafa esparza, and performance and installation artist Aki Sasamoto.

The program, founded in 2006, aims to honor recipients for their past contributions to the arts, and to support their ongoing artistic and professional development. To that end, the organization stipulates that the cash award may be used for anything from creating new work to paying rent or obtaining health care. Despite the continuing Covid-19 crisis, USA in 2020 was able to distribute $20 million in direct funding to nearly 4,000 artists in need."— ARTFORUM, Feb 3, 2021

This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the ARTFORUM website.

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