Mid-America Arts Alliance Announces Recipients of New Interchange Awards

by Glasstire July 17, 2019

A couple of weeks ago, Glasstire reported that the Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) had announced the recipients of its fiscal year 2020 Innovations Grants, which included a number of Texans working both in and outside the state.

Now, the M-AAA has announced the inaugural grant recipients of its new Interchange program — a pilot program funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — that supports “artist-led projects focused on social impact in M-AAA’s six-state region of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.” There are 16 grantees, known as the Interchange 2019 Fellows, who will receive $20K each “as well as convenings and peer connection to other 2019 Interchange grantees.” The M-AAA also named 24 finalists “whose projects represent high levels of excellence but were not funded.”

The Texas-based Fellows are (click on names to read about their projects): Libby Bland (Houston), Nansi Guevera (Brownsville), Adam McKinney (Fort Worth), Mark Menjivar (San Antonio), Xochitl Rodriguez (El Paso), and Jonathan Wei (Austin).

Of interest to Glasstire readers (as included in the M-AAA announcement): “Grantee Mark Menjivar has been awarded for Open Letters, a project that will engage Texas communities in dialogue around capital punishment issues by inviting individuals on Texas death row to author open letters to society about the trauma they and their families have experienced post-conviction.” Menjivar,  an accomplished artist, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Design at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Below is, via M-AAA’s announcement, the full list of Interchange Fellows, and finalists.

Interchange 2019 Fellows

Ilene Berman (St. Louis, MO), Libby Bland (Houston, TX), Justin Bryant (Roe, AR), Crystal Z Campbell (Tulsa, OK), Simone Cottrell (Fayetteville, AR), Israel Alejandro Garcia Garcia (Kansas City, MO), Maura Garcia (Overland Park, KS), Nansi Guevera (Brownsville, TX), Kendell Harbin (Kansas City, MO), Dave Loewenstein (Lawrence, KS), Adam McKinney (Fort Worth, TX), Mark Menjivar (San Antonio, TX), Nathan Murray (Lincoln, NE), Erika Nelson (Lucas, KS), Xochitl Rodriguez (El Paso, TX), Jonathan Wei (Austin, TX)

Interchange 2019 Finalists:

Marilyn Artus (Oklahoma City, OK), Nick Beaulieu (Omaha, NE), Connie Bonfy (Wichita, KS), Victoria Botero (Kansas City, MO), Elaine Bradford (Houston, TX), Geraldine Craig (Manhattan, KS), Damon Davis (St. Louis, MO), Jess Dugan (St. Louis, MO), Rebecca French (Houston, TX), Matthew Gossage (Austin, TX), Virginia Grise (Cedar Park, TX), Rebecca Harrison (Omaha, NE), Marc Newsome (Houston, TX), Romy Owens (Enid, OK), Gabriella Parsons (Lincoln, NE), Victor Payan (San Antonio, TX), Rachel Reynolds (Fox, AR), Carrie Schneider (Houston, TX), Andrew Scott (Dallas, TX), Christian Vasquez (Dallas, TX), Dan White (Kansas City, MO), Jonathan Whitfill (Lubbock, TX), Erika Wilhite (Fayetteville, AR), Benjamin Wills (Kansas City, MO) Lucas Wrench (Tulsa, OK)

The M-AAA is a nonprofit, regional arts organization that serves Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas by funding cultural experiences in communities. Within its ranks are artists, administrators, historians, writers and activists.

For more on this story and to read about the individual Fellows’ projects, please go here.

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