[ ten-der ] definition: 

1. gentle, loving, or kind;
2. something offered especially money, as in payment.

TENDER JURY REPORT 2025

Procedure

TENDER: A Caribbean Arts Regranting Programme is supported by The Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc. and its partners the Barbados National Cultural Foundation, the Clara Lionel Foundation and the Panta Rhea Foundation. Between the announcement of the open call on May 5th 2025 and the deadline on June 6th, 2025, Fresh Milk received 140 submissions from all linguistic parts of the Caribbean of which 116 were eligible. This included submissions from the following twenty countries: Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, US Virgin Islands

The proposals, evaluated based on the applicant’s statement and work samples, were reviewed by a committee composed of the following members:

• Versia Harris, Visual artist and Tutor in the BFA Studio Art programme at Barbados Community College, Barbados
• Monique Nouh-Chaia Sookdewsing, Managing Director of Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname;
• Tatiana Flores, Curator and Professor in Art History at the University of Virginia’s College of Arts and Sciences, USA.

The jury was asked to reflect chiefly on the strength of the work submitted in relation to the Contemporary Visual Art Sector and evaluate areas such as conceptual direction, evidence of intent to continue their practice, and potential for growth. The breakdown of the seven sections, including the number of eligible applications per sections was as follows:

(i) Recent Art Graduates – 11 applicants
(ii) Emerging Artists – 42 applicants
(iii) Mid-Career Artists – 30 applicants
(iv) Established Artists – 18 applicants
(v) Arts Organisations – 9 applicants
(vi) Art Historians/Writers/Researchers – 6 applicants
(vii) Curators – 0 applicants

The meeting was chaired and moderated by Annalee Davis, Founding Director, Fresh Milk and Katherine Kennedy, Director of Programmes, Fresh Milk.

General comments on the TENDER 2025 Open Call

The members of the jury were generally impressed by the broad range of ideas and the number of applications to the second iteration of the TENDER Open Call. Applicants were working across a wide range of media including  animation, ceramics, drawing, digital art, heraldry, illustration, installation, new media, printmaking, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, sound, textiles, and video. Proposals were concerned with a wide cross-section of themes including ancestral knowledge systems, the archive, climate crisis, decolonial aesthetics, gender, grief, healing, humour, identity, intimacy, migration, spirituality, relations with the natural world, nostalgia, oral traditions, resistance, ritual, and the subconscious.

Submissions reflected the diverse linguistic representation of the Caribbean with a strong pool of applicants demonstrating a high quality of work. Based on a very high number of submissions in the Emerging/Mid-Career Artists category in 2024, the decision was made to make this into two groups in 2025. Again this year, scores were close, suggesting that young adults have been making strides in their practice, supported by tertiary level entities and artist-led initiatives that were often credited in their CVs and bios, and the jury was introduced to many stellar practitioners with whom they were not previously aware of.

The Arts Organisations; Art Historians/Writers/Researchers; and Curators categories had small numbers of submissions, revealing that the ecosystem for the training, development and sustenance of these categories is lacking. The jury determined that, due to no eligible submissions for the Barbadian mid-career category, three additional grants would instead be awarded to Barbadian and Caribbean artists in the well-subscribed Emerging Artists category. The category with the highest purse, the Established Artists category, once again had fewer submissions than anticipated. 

Additional observations by the jury reflected that artists are operating in an uneven playing field in different parts of the region due to varying levels of experience in applying for opportunities such as this one, English language proficiency, and equal educational access at the tertiary level. In many cases, applicants articulated their need for self-care, the desire for time to focus on furthering their practices and opportunities for artistic development. In general, the submissions indicated basic personal and professional needs were unmet in the sector and that creatives living and working across the wider Caribbean continue to function in spite of the challenging circumstances in a still underdeveloped arena. Many submissions highlighted the importance of unrestricted grants in the region to acquire materials, build or expand studio spaces, focus on conceptual development of work, engage in research, produce and exhibit new bodies of work, fund solo exhibitions or afford the time to take creative risks in their practices. The jury was impressed by the wide range of applications and eager to have had the opportunity to learn about many artists practicing outside of their immediate sphere. Collectively, the jury considered other factors such as geographical reach across all four linguistic territories, gender balance, and diverse art forms to ensure a comprehensive selection reflecting the breadth and richness of art practices in the wider Caribbean.

The final list of twenty grantees includes 14 women, 4 men and 2 arts organisations from all linguistic parts of the Caribbean including Aruba, Barbados, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Martin and Trinidad and Tobago.

We are delighted to share that the twenty 2025 TENDER Grantees are:

1.1: 3 Barbadian recent graduates at USD $1,500.00 each
Déandra Grace Daniel
Lyneisha Ince
Alexander Devere Newton

1.2: 3 Caribbean recent graduates at USD $1,500.00 each
Manuela Corji (Dominican Republic)
Sasha-Kay Hinds (Jamaica)
Stephanie Jeanty (Haiti)

2.1: 3 Barbadian emerging artists at USD $2,500.00 each
Kia Redman
Safía Isabella Stoute
Akilah Watts

2.2: 4 Caribbean emerging artists at USD $2,500.00 each
Vesuhely Americaan (Curaçao)
Irvin Aguilar (Aruba)
Johanna Castillo (Dominican Republic)
Shari Petti (Trinidad & Tobago)

3.1: 3 Caribbean mid-career artists at USD $3,500.00 each
Shannon Alonzo (Trinidad & Tobago)
Louisa Marajo (Martinique)
Sarabel Santos Negrón (Puerto Rico)

4.1: 1 Barbadian established artist at USD $7,500.00
Kraig Yearwood

4:2: 1 Caribbean established artist at USD $7,500.00
David Gumbs (St. Martin)

5.1: 1 Barbadian Art Organisation at USD $3,500.00 
Punch Creative Arena

5.2: 1 Caribbean Organisation at USD $3,500.00
Tabonuco (Puerto Rico)

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JURY MEMBERS:

• Versia Harris, Visual artist and Tutor in the BFA Studio Art programme at Barbados Community College
• Monique Nouh-Chaia Sookdewsing, Managing Director of Readytex Art Gallery, Suriname;
• Tatiana Flores, Curator and Professor in Art History at the University of Virginia’s College of Arts and Sciences, USA.

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About Fresh Milk:

Fresh Milk is an artist-led, non-profit organisation founded in 2011 and based in Barbados. It is a platform which supports excellence in the visual arts through residencies and programmes that provide Caribbean artists with opportunities for development, fostering a thriving art community. Fresh Milk offers professional support to artists from the Caribbean and further afield and seeks to stimulate critical thinking in contemporary visual art. Its goal is to nurture artists, raise regional awareness about contemporary arts and provide Caribbean artists with opportunities for growth, excellence and success.

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About the NCF:

The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament in 1983. Its mandate is to oversee the cultural landscape of Barbados. The NCF’s role revolves around the preservation of our cultural heritage and promotion of all forms of art and culture, both tangible and intangible through developmental and commercial programmes and products. The functional spectrum ranges from, generating cultural awareness at the grassroots level to promoting cultural exchanges at an international level. In its developmental role, the Foundation uses culture as a tool for national development, fostering and supporting the various art forms and new cultural products. In its commercial role, the Foundation is responsible for the promotion, production and hosting of cultural festivals and associated events.

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About the Panta Rhea Foundation:

Mission: To catalyze a just and sustainable world through food sovereignty, community power building, and grassroots liberation around the globe.

The Panta Rhea Foundation (PRF) was established in 2001 as a private foundation devoted to researching issues and analyzing the operations, goals and potential of organizations committed to building a more just and sustainable world. The Foundation advises individual donors and other charitable entities on grantmaking strategies and specific grants.

We believe that lasting, authentic change must come from the grassroots; from the organized efforts of people and organizations to enliven the social imagination and envision a better future, to experiment with new ideas, and to hold elected leaders and corporations accountable to the communities they serve.

Our foundation name, Panta Rhea, is inspired by Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. It roughly translates to “You never step into the same river twice” or “All things change, all things flow”—suggesting both inherent constancy and change as a fundamental of life itself.

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About the Clara Lionel Foundation:

The Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) was founded in 2012 by Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty in honor of her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. CLF supports and funds climate resilience and climate justice projects in the U.S. and Caribbean. The foundation’s five key pillars are: Climate Solutions; Women’s Entrepreneurship; Health Access and Equity; Future Generations; and Arts and Culture.

The CLF actively supports arts initiatives that preserve cultural heritage and foster community engagement in the regions we fund. We invest in community-led organizations that promote asset creation, long-term sustainability, and innovative climate solutions through arts practices.

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TENDER 2024

Read interviews with our TENDER 2024 Grantees here!

In 2024, Fresh Milk was awarded a major grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Arts and Culture programme supporting its operating and programming expenses. This unprecedented level of funding to the platform has inspired the organisation to pay it forward, designing a programme where unrestricted grants can be accessed by Caribbean contemporary visual artists, arts-focused organisations, curators, and art historians/writers/researchers who are living and working in the Caribbean. The NCF, as one of the main entities supporting cultural activities that benefit the citizens of Barbados while also promoting cultural exchanges on an international level, has graciously joined us in this effort, extending our support even further for eligible applicants in Barbados and throughout the English, Spanish, French or Dutch-speaking Caribbean territories. 

The ethos of this programme is centred on generosity, faith, and care; Fresh Milk has always had an unwavering belief in the talent and potential of artists from this region, and as an artist-led space, we are intimately familiar with the range of challenges involved in maintaining a practice. These twenty-one (21) unrestricted grants will be awarded to eligible creatives, who can use the funds as they see fit. Whether it is towards creating new work, acquiring materials, research and development, designing new or continuing existing programmes, pursuing further studies, exhibition preparation or production, participating in artist residencies, or any general living expenses; a tender gesture of appreciation to the recipients for their commitment to working in the arts.

Along with financial support, the work of each successful grantee will be promoted widely through Fresh Milk and the NCF’s local and regional networks in the form of a featured page on our website, extensive social media coverage, and a recorded interview with the recipient discussing their practice. In this way, we also hope to strengthen artists’ networks, further contributing to a sense of community and the public archiving of Caribbean creativity.

Fresh Milk is interested in supporting experimental contemporary visual art, and curatorial and research-based practices that explore structure, content, and expanded exhibition approaches in new ways.

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TENDER JURY REPORT 2024

Procedure

TENDER: A Caribbean Arts Regranting Programme is supported by The Fresh Milk Art Platform Inc. and its partner the Barbados National Cultural Foundation. Between the announcement of the open call on July 30th, 2024, and the deadline on September 6th, 2024, Fresh Milk received 212 submissions from all linguistic parts of the Caribbean of which 164 were eligible. This included submissions from Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, Saint Martin, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US Virgin Islands.

The proposals were evaluated based on the applicant’s statement and work samples that were reviewed by a committee composed of the following members:

• Therese Hadchity, Lecturer, Cultural Studies Department, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados
• Tirzo Martha, Visual Artist, Co-founder, Instituto Buena Bista, Curaçao
• María Elena Ortiz, Curator, Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

The jury was asked to reflect chiefly on the strength of the work submitted in relation to the Contemporary Visual Art Sector and evaluate areas such as conceptual direction, evidence of intent to continue their practice, and potential for growth. The breakdown of the six sections, including the number of eligible applications per sections was as follows:

(i) Recent Art Graduates – 32 applicants
(ii) Emerging Mid-Career Artists – 79 applicants
(iii) Established Artists – 24 applicants
(iv) Arts Organisations – 13 applicants
(v) Art Historians/Writers/Researchers – 10 applicants
(vi) Curators – 6 applicants

The meeting was chaired and moderated by Annalee Davis, Founding Director, Fresh Milk and Katherine Kennedy, Communications and Operations Manager, Fresh Milk.

General comments on the TENDER 2024 Open Call

The members of the jury were generally impressed by the broad range of ideas and the number of applications to the inaugural TENDER Open Call. Applicants were working across a wide range of media including painting, drawing, ceramics, textiles, new media, installation, sculpture, printmaking, animation, photography, digital art, performance, and video. Proposals were concerned with a wide cross-section of themes such as mental health issues, carnival, gender, storytelling, the ocean’s ecosystem, spirituality, identity, race, grief, the archive, trauma, irony, socio-political realities, the living world and environmental issues.

Submissions were quite strong and notably, the Recent Art Graduates and Emerging/Mid-Career Artists categories were the most competitive, challenging the jury to make their final selections as the scores were close. This suggests that tertiary level entities and artist-led initiatives have impacted a growing number of younger generations of artists, many of whom the jury was not aware of. Conversely, the Arts Organisations; Art Historians/Writers/Researchers; and Curators categories predictably had much fewer submissions, revealing that the ecosystem for the development and sustenance of these categories is lacking. Surprisingly, the category with the highest purse, the Established Artists category, was not as well-subscribed as anticipated. 

Additional observations by the jury reflected that while many applicants had strong visual art practices, writing skills were less well developed. In many cases, the submissions laid bare the need for basic support of creatives living and working across the wider Caribbean, highlighting the importance of unrestricted grants in the region for rudimentary materials, the desire for experimentation, the need for greater exposure, and the desire to travel to new places. The jury was impressed by many of the applicants’ accomplishments, and found themselves emotionally moved, and intellectually stimulated by many of the submissions. 

The jury determined that, due to the very small number of submissions for the Barbadian Organisation category which were not as strong as anticipated or did not focus specifically on Contemporary Visual Arts, an additional grant would instead be awarded to a Barbadian artist in the Emerging/Mid-Career category.  The applications in this category were plentiful and very competitive, with several top scores either tied or the applicants’ submissions indicative of being on the cusp of a pivotal moment in their practice, if given the right support.

The final list of twenty-one grantees includes 15 women, 5 men and 1 non-binary person from all linguistic parts of the Caribbean including Aruba, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guyana, Martinique, Saint Martin, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago.

We are delighted to share that the twenty-one 2024 TENDER Grantees are:

1.1: 5 Barbadian recent graduates  USD $1,500.00:
Jada Delice Hope
Steffani Jemmot
Evan Philippe McDonald
Shari Phoenix
Larissa Small

1.2: 5 Caribbean recent graduates  USD $1,500.00:
Shamika Germain (Saint Martin)
Danaree Greaves (Jamaica)
Keywa Henri (French Guiana)
Yéssica Carolina Montero Acosta (Dominican Republic)
Dalissa Montes de Oca Mosquea (Dominican Republic)

2.1: 3 Barbadian emerging/mid-career artists USD $3,500.00 
Versia Harris
Juliana Inniss
Gabrielle Moore

2.2: 2 Caribbean emerging/mid-career artists USD $3,500.00 
Dominique Hunter (Guyana)
Samuel Sarmiento (Aruba)

3.1: 1 Barbadian established artist USD $7,500.00
Ewan Atkinson

3:2: 2 Caribbean established artists USD $7,500.00
Jasmine Thomas-Girvan (Trinidad & Tobago)
Elsa María Meléndez Torres (Puerto Rico)

4.1: 1 Caribbean Organisation USD $3,500.00 
Waitukubuli Artist Association (Dominica)

4.2: 1 Barbadian curator OR arts historian/writer/researcher USD $3,500.00 
Oneka Small

4.3: 1 Caribbean curator OR arts historian/writer/researcher USD $3,500.00 
Ronald Rose-Antoinette (Martinique)

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JURY MEMBERS:

1. 1. • Dr. Therese Hadchity, Art historian and professor in Cultural Studies at The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Barbados;
      • Tirzo Martha, Visual artist and co-founder of the Instituto Buena Bista, Curaçao;
      • María Elena Ortiz, Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, USA.

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