Tag: Grant

The Fresh Milk Art Platform awarded a $350,000 USD grant by the Mellon Foundation

Leave a comment

Barbados-based Fresh Milk, an artist-led initiative founded in 2011, has been successfully awarded a grant for the 2024-2026 time-period by the US-based Mellon Foundation’s Arts and Culture programme in support of operating and programming expenses.

The visual art platform initially worked to counter the then high attrition rate of BFA students at Barbados Community College, the only institution on the island offering a BFA programme. With the aim of supporting excellence in the visual arts,  Fresh Milk has been offering artist residencies, lectures, screenings, workshops, conferences, exhibitions, projects, etc to provide Barbadian and Caribbean artists with opportunities for development while fostering a healthier contemporary visual art community and cultural ecosystem for over a decade.

L-R: Barbadian artists Versia Harris, Amelia Rouse, Anna Gibson and Dion Gibson. Artwork by Anna Gibson as part of the Fresh Milk / Healing Arts Initiative Public Art Project. Photo by Dondré Trotman.
Barbadian artist Taisha Carrington with her work in the exhibition ‘TRANS-SISTORS’ – a collaboration between the BIAC-Réseaux and Fresh Milk co-managed project Caribbean Linked – at the La Véranda Gallery of the Tropiques Atrium, Scène Nationale in Fort de France, Martinique. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Dominican artist Franz Caba with his work in the exhibition ‘TRANS-SISTORS’ – a collaboration between the BIAC-Réseaux and Fresh Milk co-managed project Caribbean Linked – at the La Véranda Gallery of the Tropiques Atrium, Scène Nationale in Fort de France, Martinique. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Barbadian artist Kia Redman speaking about her work in the Fresh Milk booth at the inaugural FUZE Art Expo, Baha Mar, The Bahamas. Photo courtesy of Fresh Milk.

Founding Director, Annalee Davis is honoured that Fresh Milk’s work has been recognised by Mellon. “After twelve years of working on a shoestring budget alongside my colleague Katherine Kennedy, it is both a relief and an immense privilege to have the endorsement of Mellon which recognises the need to support organisations of this nature. We hope that this vote of confidence by an esteemed international foundation will endear potential partners in the local and regional landscape to feel confident in coming on board as financial investors in support of Fresh Milk’s ongoing programming.”

Katherine Kennedy, Communications and Operations Manager adds, “This generous gift allows us to develop a re-granting programme that will put unrestricted funds directly into the hands of artists over the next three years.”

In addition to this re-granting programme, and in alignment with the Mellon Foundation’s belief that “Art and artists are essential to human connection,” Fresh Milk will continue to contribute to the local contemporary visual art community and the region’s creative network, while seeking new allies, partners and collaborators. Furthermore, the organisation plans to augment its archive, and expand the resources it has amassed over the years, such as the Colleen Lewis Reading Room and an upgraded virtual map of Caribbean art spaces.

Fresh Milk continues to nurture, empower and connect Caribbean artists, raise regional awareness about contemporary arts and provide international opportunities for growth, excellence, and success. Its work in the cultural sector has spanned creative disciplines, generations, and linguistic territories in the Caribbean by functioning as a “cultural lab” – a dynamic space for artists locally, regionally, and internationally.

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the USA’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.

For more information please contact Katherine Kennedy at freshmilkbarbados@gmail.com

Fresh Milk’s 2023 Highlights

Leave a comment

Thank you for your continued support of Fresh Milk!

Fresh Milk is pleased to share our 2023 highlights newsletter, including our work with amazing partners locally, regionally and internationally, while celebrating grants that have us bursting with gratitude and happiness! 

_____________________

In Barbados, we collaborated with the Future Centre Trust on our project for the Healing Arts Initiative (a programme by UK-based organisation Culturunners), while regionally we worked on an offshoot of the Caribbean Linked residency programme with Ateliers ‘89 Punto di Beyas Arte Aruba, the BIAC-Réseaux and Campus Caraïbeen des Arts (CCA) in Martinique, and participated in the inaugural FUZE Art Expo in the Bahamas. Internationally, our relationships with Rotterdam- and Amsterdam-based partners have grown deeper through the Tilting Axis Fellowship.

We’re also beyond delighted to celebrate with all of you the most amazing news of Fresh Milk having been successfully awarded a grant for 2024-2026 by the US-based Mellon Foundation’s Arts and Culture programme in support of our operating and programming expenses.

Mellon believes that “Art and artists are essential to human connection,” and we couldn’t agree more. We go into action this year to work on elevating the local contemporary visual art community in exciting ways, continuing to support the region’s creative network, while also looking for new partners to come on board. Stay tuned for more information as we focus on the local and Caribbean contemporary visual art community with some exciting plans for the next three years!

Read the full newsletter here

_____________________

If you would like to support the work we do in Caribbean arts, go ahead and click on the donate button below! It’s very easy to support us and the artists we work with by making a donation through this PayPal link. Your contributions make our programmes possible, and gifts of any size are welcome.

Thank you for your continued support, and we’d like to express gratitude to the many artists who we have had the honour of working with across the Caribbean as we continue to find ways of celebrating and nurturing creativity.

We look forward to continuing our creative journey together in 2024, and hope for peace and the cessation of war and conflict the world over.

CATAPULT – New Grant Funds for Caribbean Artists

Leave a comment

American Friends of Jamaica, Kingston Creative and The Fresh Milk Art Platform partner on $320,000 US programme

In light of the severe impact that COVID-19 is having on creative people and the arts sector, a fund of US$320,000 from the Open Society Foundations has been granted to the American Friends of Jamaica, in collaboration with Kingston Creative and The Fresh Milk Art Platform, in support of artists, creatives and cultural practitioners across the Caribbean region. This grant acknowledges the current global pandemic, a crisis disproportionately impacting the creative sector in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), many of which lack the resources to provide adequate support to those working in this vital sector.

Caron Chung, Executive Director AFJ stated, “Many are facing threats to their basic existence today and uncertainty for the future as we are contending with unprecedented challenges.  This is a time when we need to work together to offer some semblance of stability to the Arts.  Collaboration is at the core of the mission of the AFJ and we are pleased to facilitate the Catapult project.”

CATAPULT | A Caribbean Arts Grant will target participants living and working across the Dutch, English, French, and Spanish speaking regions. This five-month comprehensive arts programme includes funding online creative events, art writing, digital skills training, residencies and virtual discursive salons.

CATAPULT is particularly interested in working with arts and cultural practitioners who are exploring the broad critical themes of Culture, Human Rights, Gender, LGBTQIA+ and Climate Justice from Caribbean perspectives. The team especially welcomes applications from those who do not have permanent employment at this time.

Kingston Creative’s Co-Founder and Executive Director Andrea Dempster-Chung commented, “It has been very exciting to develop this project. It is aligned with our mission to support creative people and is also our first opportunity to work across the region. COVID-19 has had a very serious impact on artists within Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean and this grant will provide the critical financial support, visibility and capacity-building that creatives need to navigate the future.”

CATAPULT will increase the capacity of Caribbean-based artists to navigate the digital space and learn new ways to connect with diverse global audiences.  It will also promote the visibility of cultural practitioners by expanding the pool of online content from the region, enabling artists to engage wider audiences while increasing the potential to earn beyond their borders.

The collaboration will support the following projects:

(i) Caribbean Artist Showcase, (ii) Caribbean Creative Online, (iii) Digital Creative Training, (iv) Consultancy Vouchers, (v) Lockdown Virtual Salon and (vi) Stay Home Artist Residency.

Fresh Milk’s Founding Director Annalee Davis expressed enthusiasm regarding the partnership. “Fresh Milk is pleased to have the opportunity to partner on this critical project nurturing Caribbean artists. With little support available at the state level for so many cultural practitioners working across this vulnerable region, having an opportunity to facilitate Stay At Home Residencies and Virtual Salons means that more artists can safely remain in their studios and do what they do best-make art!”

About the Partners:

American Friends of Jamaica | The AFJ has a near 40 year history of funding charitable organizations in Jamaica in the fields of Education, Healthcare and Economic Development. A registered 501 c 3 nonprofit headquartered in New York City, AFJ relies on individual and corporate contributions made by donors who believe in our work and will advocate on our behalf. Part of the AFJ’s mission is to facilitate donor directed contributions which enables donors to support registered charitable organizations aligned with their own goals for philanthropy.

Kingston Creative is a registered non-profit organization founded in February 2017. Its mission is to enable creatives to succeed so that they can create economic and social value, gain access to global markets and have a positive impact on their community.

 

Fresh Milk is an organisation whose aim is to nurture, empower and connect Caribbean artists, raise regional awareness about contemporary arts and provide global opportunities for growth, excellence and success. Fresh Milk supports excellence in the visual arts through residencies and programmes that provide Caribbean artists with opportunities for development and foster a thriving art community.