Alicia Eggert, All the Light, 2017, on view as part of AURORA 2018. STEPHAN LUCAS:COURTESY AURORA.
AURORA, a Dallas-based artist-run biennial, has announced that it has started an emergency artist relief fund. Grants in the amount of $4,000 will be offered to North Texas–based artists who are suffering financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
AURORA also announced that the previously in-person biennial is shifting to a year-round, socially-distanced experience that includes digital and educational initiatives. AURORA 2020 was scheduled to be held on November 7 in Dallas. The new format ushers in the 10th anniversary of the biennial.
Eligibility requirements for the artist relief fund include the following: Artists must have a sustained practice based in North Texas and must be experiencing dire financial distress due to the COVID-19. Artists must be 21 years of age or older and not a full-time employee, board member, director, officer, or immediate family member of anyone involved with the Dallas Foundation or AURORA. Finally, previously awarded grantees from this fund are not eligible.
States Joshua King, co-founder of AURORA: “In times of crisis, an organization can most definitely be challenged with the issues at hand. We have to be able to evolve alongside the changing world around us, and experiment and explore to find the best way forward. This new potential for a year-round format will further bridge the arts and culture community in Dallas to a broader worldwide audience.”
The application deadline for round one of the grants is Sunday, July 12. To apply, please go here.
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Founded in 2010 by artists Shane Pennington and Joshua King, along with veteran Dallas arts supporter Veletta Forsythe Lill, AURORA is a Dallas-based public arts organization at the intersection of art, technology and community that presents works by the most visionary artists of our time. A cornerstone of arts and culture in North Texas, AURORA aims to expand the future of art through a dialogue that engages the creative possibilities within ourselves and each other.
