The Leeway Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting women and trans artists, awarded 26 Art and Change Grants to individuals promoting social change through their art during the foundation’s fall cycle. Of those 26, eight will use their $2,500 awards for projects related to the LGBTQI Social Movements tier of Leeway’s mission.
“It’s really wonderful to see trans and queer leadership in this way,” said Denise Beek, Leeway communications director. “That’s largely what our work has been about and we’re going to continue to engage and try to meet folks where they are and give them the support that they need to not only create the work but to thrive.”
Beek said all eight of the artists in the LGBTQI Social Movements tier were first-time grantees, “which is really wonderful because it says to us that we’re not just reaching different communities and expanding our reach but that we’re really engaging and people are really coming to understand.”
“Now, [the grantees will] be a part of a growing network of other artists who work toward social change and cross a variety of issues and identities,” she added.
Additionally, Beek said the eight grantees focus on issues outside of LGBT and gender self-determination. Their projects also include themes related to cultural preservation and social empowerment.
“I think that we’ve seen a progression in the subject matter of what grantees take on,” Beek said. “We’re kind of seeing now, with this pool, it’s not just about LGBT social movements. We see more stories that emphasize shared human experiences.”
One of the grantees, Tessa Corcoran-Sayers, will focus her project on aging lesbians with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She will interview women and ask them to describe tasks they enjoy doing. Corcoran-Sayers, 28, will publish the transcripts of the interviews along with paintings of the subjects in a zine, which will be mailed to aging lesbians with the disease across the country.
The grant will allow Corcoran-Sayers to pay for art supplies and publishing fees. She said the one thing she is most looking forward to is seeing the reaction of her mom, a lesbian with dementia.
“Ideally, I want my mom to hold [the zine] in her hands and look at the portraits of the women in it and think to herself that these women are really beautiful, these portraits are beautiful and the excerpts of what they’re saying is worth reading and worth spending time on,” Corcoran-Sayers said. “This is not a throwaway stage at the end of one’s life. Beautiful things come out of it and that should be focused on.”
JD Stokely, another grantee, will present a workshop for black femmes, women and non-binary individuals. The group will explore the mouth as a site of trauma by using theater exercises and interviews. Stokely, 27, will use inspiration from the workshop to create a performance piece.
Stokely said “it was a wave of relief” to receive the grant.
“It was an amazing feeling to have especially for a queer, non-binary, black, feminine person in the arts,” Stokely said. “It felt very powerful to be seen.”
Catherine Pancake, who will use the grant to hire three queer female musicians for her feature film “Queer Genius,” said the network of Leeway grantees puts her in touch with diverse individuals.
“It opens up whole other parts of the city and a whole breadth of people that I might not have access to in my daily bubble,” Pancake said.