Announcing the 2023-24 Platforms Fund Awardees!

The Platforms Fund is a collaborative effort of AntennaAshé Cultural Art CenterJunebug Productions and The Black School the Andy Warhol Foundation. The Andy Warhol Foundation Regional Regranting Program was established in 2007 to recognize and support the movement of independently organized, public-facing, artist-centered activity that animates local and regional art scenes but that lies beyond the reach of traditional funding sources. The program is administered by non-profit visual art centers across the United States that work in partnership with the Foundation to fund artists’ experimental projects and collaborative undertakings.

Project grants of up to $10,000 and research grants of  $1,500 are awarded annually to New Orleans based individual and collective artists, and collaborative art groups in support of new and innovative artistic commissions that take place outside the museum or gallery walls, within the public realm, or in a non-traditional exhibition environment. Grants are awarded to projects that best exemplify an attention to the histories, communities, and ecologies of the region and their (trans)national implications, while reimagining visual artmaking for social change.

Platforms Fund Jurors:

Jennifer Moon http://jmoon.net/home.html 

Allison Young https://design.lsu.edu/faculty/young-allison/ 

Dr. Sharbreon Plummer https://sharbreonplummer.com/ 

Halima Cassells https://www.halimacassells.com 

Asante Salaam @artbyasantesalaam

Project Implementation Grantees

TRADING CHAOS FOR CREATIVITY: DISCOVERING THE MINDFULNESS OF MURAL MAKING

by Artists Journey Allen

Trading Chaos for Creativity: Discovering the Mindfulness of Mural Making” is a 12 week course that provides youth detained at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center with a creative outlet that not only strengthens the skills of those who are interested in being visual artists and muralists, but that also welcomes them to explore the practice of mindfulness accompanied by holistic methods that encourages self-discipline and self-discovery. Led by Artist Journey Allen and a team of mindfulness practitioners, students will explore the text, The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh in an effort to connect with principles and techniques that will support youth in becoming lifelong students of mindfulness.

SO, SO PRETTY: AFRICAN-AMERICAN MASKING QUEENS OF NEW ORLEANS

By Karen Celestan

So, So Pretty: African-American Masking Queens of New Orleans” is a womanist book project detailing the Queens and their artistic, ceremonial rituals through a cloistered, yet public entity borne out of enslavement and communal rebellion that is found in only one American city – New Orleans. The Queens, ages 15 to 88, tell their own stories as specific culture-bearers. This book will offer a detailed overview of how African-American women battle racial and sexual dehumanization and subjugation to re-define beauty, customs and folkways on their terms through visual and performance art while maintaining a distinct, revered cultural tradition.

SPACE TO BREATHE

by Walidah Imarisha, Jordan Flaherty and Juicebox Burton

We are a collective of filmmakers making a short film called Space to Breathe, an abolitionist science fiction hybrid documentary, filmed in New Orleans and set in a future where there are no prisons or police. The year is 2070 and Sojourner is a young filmmaker who sets out to understand how abolition came to be by throwing themselves into the archives of history – and learning from the movements of 2023.

SOIL+SOUL

by paris cyan cian and Trécha Gay Jheneall

soil+soul is the collective pseudonym for the transnational artistic fusion between paris cyan cian and Trécha Gay Jheneall. Our work blends diasporic rituals and experimentation across moving image, text, sound, performance, and digital creation. watabodies explores collaboration, curation, and diasporic archival practices, with a focus on water bodies and ecosystems of the Gulf South and Jamaica.

THE PLAGUE DOCTOR OF NEW ORLEANS: TRAUMA IN MY BONES SUIT

by Cherice Harrison-Nelson

The Plague Doctor of New Orleans: Trauma in my Bones suit is a multi-disciplinary project that was began during the COVID-19 stay-at-home mandate. The current iteration brings together narrative beadwork, ceremonial attire, spoken word, ancient Kongolese rhythms, maternal perspectives, and contemporary Bounce inspired chants to make social commentary on the theme of Black Lives Matter. The project honors the future through Big Chief Brian, the present through Queen Cherice Harrison-Nelson, maternal guidance of 86 year-old Herreast J. Harrison and the living legacy of the late Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr.

MONOGRAM HUNTERS
by Tyrone “Pie” Stevenson

Monogram Hunters are at the roots of the Black Masking Culture founded by Alfred Montana in the early 1900s. In 1972 Yellow Pocahontas Big Chief Tootie introduced 12-year-old Spy Boy Tyrone “Pie” Stevenson, who masked for 23 years before being given Monogram. In 1992 Pie masked as Big Chief, and was joined by son Jeremy, family, and friends. The tribe thrived, but Pie stepped away in the 2000s. He taught at The Porch until returning in 2014 with the tribe’s first Big Queen Denice Smith. Mardi Gras 2024 they hope to hit the streets with more than 20 members.

Research & Development Grants

UNTITLED by Keni Anwar

KINFOLK by Edward Buckles Jr.

MEKONG, MISSISSIPPI: A VIETNAMESE DELTA TO DELTA MUSICAL EXCHANGE by Marion Hill

I DREAMT OF YOU LAST NIGHT by Makayla Howard

RELIQUARY OF THE BAYOU by Edna Lanieri

NEEDLE AND THREAD II by Jamell Tate

WHATCHAMAPUPPET by Caroline Thomas

BRAINBOW by Brianna Thompson

STITCHED NARRATIVES: TRANS VOICES UNVEILED by Emery Kate Tillman

THE DESCENDANTS 2024 by Ivan Watkins