#keepnyscreating

The Keep NYS Creating program is helping to support 42 projects from across New York State.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), in partnership with New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), is proud to announce the recipients of the Keep NYS Creating Project Grant. The program was established to help artists in Western New York, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier, Central New York, North Country, Mohawk Valley, Capital District, Mid-Hudson, and Long Island continue their creative projects that have been interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is made possible by NYSCA, with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Keep NYS Creating Project Grant was open to artists who previously applied to the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program in 2018, 2019, and/or 2020 who work in the categories of Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design, Choreography, Craft/Sculpture, Digital/Electronic Arts, Fiction, Folk/Traditional Arts, Interdisciplinary Work, Music/Sound, Nonfiction Literature, Painting, Photography, Playwriting/Screenwriting, Poetry, Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts, and/or Video/Film.

The grant will enable 2D, 3D, and installation artist Elisa Pritzker (Mid-Hudson) to design a print a full color catalog of an installation that was unveiled ABClatino Art Space in Poughkeepsie, NY in March 2020 and has since gone unseen due to COVID-19. It will enable poet Jacob Rakovan (Finger Lakes) to perform a cycle of poems that were recently awarded the Thornwillow Press Patron’s Prize, bringing the work to new audiences. Painter Suzanne Onodera (Southern Tier) will use the grant to complete a project that illustrates the emotional landscape of the paternal and maternal sides of her Japanese American family who were and were not incarcerated under Executive Order 9066 during World War II. 

For Onodera, receiving the Keep NYS Creating Project Grant “feels as though you can take that extra mile in the pursuit of your work, that someone out there believes in your vision, and most importantly: that you can keep creating.” 

Keep NYS Creating Project Grant Recipients

Julie Ann Bero-Emerson, Finger Lakes

Tiffany Bradley, Mid-Hudson 

Anita Brown, Mid-Hudson 

Adrian D. Carr, North Country 

Veena Chandra, Capital District 

Natasha Chuk, Capital District 

Robert M. Doyle, Finger Lakes 

Boryana Dimitrova Dragoeva, Central New York 

Walter Early, North Country 

Seth Faergolzia, Western New York

Matthew Friday, Mid-Hudson

Jeremiah Jamel Gaines, Mid-Hudson

Frederic Glover, North Country

Phil Hastings, Western New York

Annie Hayes, Southern Tier

Christine N Heller, Mohawk Valley

Kenneth J Jackson, Long Island

Maria Kozak, Mohawk Valley

Colin Lyons, Souther Tier

Timothy Manley, Long Island

Patricia Maurides, Long Island

Lacey McKinney, Central New York

Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Mid-Hudson

Onel Naar, Long Island

Byron Nilsson, Mohawk Valley

Suzanne Onodera, Southern Tier

Elisa Pritzker, Mid-Hudson

Jacob Rakovan, Finger Lakes

Aidan Ryan, Western New York

Jamie Leigh Sampson, Western New York

Marianne Schultz, Capital District

Rachel Shelton, Western New York

Madeline Silber, Mohawk Valley

Rebecca Soderholm, North Country

Jeffrey Alan Starr, Capital District

Becca Van K, Mid-Hudson

Kathryn Walat, Capital District

Anna Warfield, Southern Tier

Matthew E. Wilson, Long Island

Hannah Wnorowski, Central New York

Rebecca Ruige Xu, Central New York

Annemarie Zwack, Finger Lakes

If you need resources, please check our Emergency Grants page on NYFA’s website. We are updating it regularly as new funding comes in. You can find more articles on arts career topics by visiting the Business of Art section of NYFA.org. Sign up for NYFA News and receive artist resources and upcoming events straight to your inbox.

The Keep NYS Creating Project Grant is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts.