LYNN — Four Lynn groups have received New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Spatial Justice grants as part of a program designed to support artists imagining and creating more welcoming public spaces.
“As we reckon with complex histories and continued legacies of racism and white supremacy culture, we refocused our public art grantmaking towards spatial justice,” said Kim Szeto the NEFA public art program director. “Public art has the ability and responsibility to creatively engage important and timely conversations, bring healing to space and place, and foster public imagination for a more just version of what is possible.”
Lynn Museum/LynnArts, in collaboration with the Creative Collective, received a Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grant for $5,000.
Lynn Museum/LynnArts and Creative Collective are working with Ramon Santiago, Oompa and Daveth Chet–three Lynn black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) artists–to facilitate a series of conversations about some of the struggles that minority artists face.
“Lack of representation, lack of opportunity, financial resources,” said Doneeca Thurston, the Director at Lynn Museum/LynnArts. “We’re really trying to figure out what the barriers are when it comes to BIPOC artists in the area.”
They also plan to create a database of BIPOC artists in the North Shore.
“There’s a lot of great art and artists in Lynn but we don’t necessarily know who they are and where they reside,” said Thurston. “Part of this grant is to highlight the artists in the Lynn community and find an opportunity to showcase their work.”
Lynn artists Tara Agaba and Estrella Diaz also received a Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grant to support a project exploring the concept of rest.
Cinda Danh and Michael Aghahowa were awarded a Public Art for Spatial Justice grant of $10,000.
“We are thrilled to have received the NEFA Public Art for Spatial Justice grant. We feel honored to represent our community by using our art as a catalyst for change. What makes Lynn beautiful is it’s residents and it’s rich history,” wrote Danh and Aghahowa.
The pair, both born and raised in Lynn, will be working in collaboration with Ernie’s Harvest Time and Food Project employees to create a wraparound mural at the Ernie’s building.
“Ernie’s is a part of that history and this mural is highlighting exactly that. We are community members, supporting a small business, (who are) working in conjunction with The Food Project that supplies our community with a healthy and accessible food system. This is a mural for Lynn by Lynn.”
Raw Art Works also received a $10,000 Public Art for Spatial Justice grant to support a project called “Love Letters to Lynn,” in which young artists will exchange letters and convert these conversations into a public arts display.
Additionally, the City of Salem received a $5,000 grant to educate the community about Charlotte Forten — a poet, educator, abolitionist, and the first black woman to graduate from Salem State University.
In total, NEFA provided $264,000 in grants to 33 artists around the region.
