Writer-actor Henry Alexander Kelly—also a 2021 Uprise Grantee—will serve as an artist development consultant for this year’s cohort.
Sundance Institute has announced ten US-based artists of colour selected for the 2022 Uprise Grant Fund.
The grant supports the livelihood and career sustainability of BIPOC emerging artists and was founded in 2021 to help storytellers disproportionately harmed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The group selected for the 2022 grant will receive $10,000 each as well as community-building artist development activities such as peer mentorship through monthly fellow meetings. Participants will be supported year-round so they can sustain a creative practice, helping to amplify critical stories and intersectional voices during a time when they are most needed.
For the 2022 group, over half identify as Queer/LGBTQ+ with Northern California, Seattle, Hawai’i, Kentucky, New Mexico, Los Angeles and New York represented as areas of residence for the artists receiving grants. Grantees were chosen after a thorough review process by a panel of external reviewers. Nominations were intentionally collected from the Sundance Outreach & Inclusion Department’s outreach efforts, Sundance staff, allied organisations, and nonprofit partners. Writer-Actor Henry Alexander Kelly (2021 Uprise Grantee) will be acting as an artist development consultant for the cohort this year.
Speaking about the fund, Amber Espinosa-Jones, Manager, Outreach & Inclusion Department, said: “The Institute has a responsibility and ongoing commitment to support artists of colour and our Uprise Grant Fund has been one of the ways in which we’ve celebrated BIPOC artists while they are in their state of becoming and discovery. Providing funding for projects in development plays an important role in empowering these vibrant and inspiring storytellers to continue putting their work forward. It is so rewarding and a pleasure to uplift this incoming group.”
The Uprise Grants are supported by the Sundance Institute | Maja Kristin Granting Fund, which offers unrestricted grants to women and BIPOC filmmakers, producers and editors working in film, theatre and emerging media. The nonrecoupable grants will focus on critical support for project advancement, career sustainability and living stipends. These grants are part of a continuum of support provided by our Feature Film, Documentary, Outreach & Inclusion and Interdisciplinary artist programmes.
The fellows selected for the 2022 Uprise Grant Fund are Briana “Bree” Nieves (Arise! My Beloved), Naveen Chaubal (Pinball), Dillon Chitto (Pigeon), Kyle Casey Chu (Go Back Home), Kristine Gerolaga (Lamok), Osinachi Ibe (Tales From Under the Sun), Arielle Knight (Counting Down), J Mase III (The Black Trans Prayer Book), April Maxey (Work) and Phumi Morare (There Is Salt In The Water).
