Queer|Art, New York City’s home for the creative and professional development of LGBTQ+ artists, is pleased to announce the ten Fellows accepted for the 2020-2021 Queer|Art|Mentorship program cycle, and the Mentors with whom they will be working:
Brian Alarcon with Mentor, Jaime Manrique (Literature)
Erica Cardwell with Mentor, Pamela Sneed (Literature)
April Freely with Mentor, Saeed Jones (Literature)
Mev Luna with Mentor, Angelo Madsen Minax (Film)
Jeffrey Meris with Mentor, Carlos Motta (Visual Art)
Nyala Moon with Mentor, Rodrigo Bellott (Film)
jess pretty with Mentor, Morgan Bassichis (Performance)
Nandita Raman with Mentor, Maia Cruz Palileo (Visual Art)
Eva Reign with Mentor, Tourmaline (Film)
Surya Swilley with Mentor, Maria Bauman Morales (Performance)
Now in its tenth year, Queer|Art|Mentorship’s 2020-2021 cohort of Fellows were selected by their Mentors from a pool of over 320 applicants—a record high, making this year’s application cycle the program’s most competitive to date.
For the last decade, Queer|Art|Mentorship has nurtured the creative and professional development of over 160 artists and propelled the careers of a new generation of creators. Alumni of the program include: Camilo Godoy, Ryan J. Haddad, Saeed Jones, Jeanne Vaccaro, Geo Wyeth, Tourmaline, Sasha Wortzel, Jess Barbagallo, Morgan Bassichis, Monstah Black, Yve Laris Cohen, Troy Michie, Tommy Pico, Justin Sayre, Colin Self, Jacolby Satterwhite, Guadalupe Rosales, and Hugh Ryan, among many others.
The program supports a year-long exchange between emerging and established LGBTQ+ artists across four distinct fields—Film, Literature, Performance, and Visual Art—and culminates with a public exhibition (known as the Queer|Art|Mentorship Annual) that presents work produced by Fellows during their Mentorship. Fellows apply with a specific project they would like to work on during the program and meet each month with their Mentors to discuss their progress in the lead-up to this event. Fellows also meet each month as a group to learn from and provide support for one another throughout the year.
Details about the projects each Fellow will be working on are provided below.
Brian Alarcon (Literature) is a multimedia writer, working with poetry across a variety of art forms. Alarcon will be working with Mentor, Jaime Manrique on a recorded series of "songs" to create a poetry-album that pushes the boundaries of language, rhythm, and what can be considered music.