The Joyce Foundation has revealed the 2024 recipients of its Joyce Awards, supporting community-centered artistic projects. Now marking its 20th anniversary, the foundation raised the grant each awardee receives from $75,000 to $100,000.
Recipients, each paired with a community organization, include Andrea Assaf, working with the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan; Marcus Elliot, with Detroit Parks Coalition; Terry Guest, working with Chicago Children's Theatre; Katie Ka Vang, with Theater Mu in Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Edra Soto, working with Cleveland, Ohio's The Sculpture Center.
Assaf is working on DRONE, a multimedia theatre production confronting the militarized use of drone technology and the ethics of remote-control warfare. Elliot will create a site-specific suite of musical works inspired by the diverse stories, histories, and cultures of Detroit's parks and neighborhoods, to be titled Sounds from the Park. Guest is creating a new musical titled Milo Imagines the World, based on the book of the same title that explores the impact of incarceration on families. Vang is working on a theatre project titled Hmong Futures, focused on the Hmong diaspora in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Soto will create an outdoor sculptural installation and gallery inspired by Puerto Rican vernacular architecture titled La Distancia.
The Joyce Awards focus on artists and communities in the Great Lakes region, awarding nearly $5 million in grants over its 20 years and supporting 87 new works.
“The 2024 awardees join an outstanding group of artists and leaders who have built a legacy of transformative art across Great Lakes communities,” says Joyce Foundation President and CEO Ellen Alberding in a statement. “As we mark two decades of the Joyce Awards, we want to celebrate the artists and communities who have enriched the Great Lakes region, and those who will build on this work in the years to come.”
“This year’s Joyce Awards artists and organizations are responding to some of the most urgent issues facing our region and beyond," adds Foundation Culture Program Director Mia Khimm. "From addressing the impacts of incarceration and war to invigorating and expanding access to public spaces and highlighting the diversity of immigrant experiences and cultural identities, these transformative projects will promote healing and community connections while inspiring social change. We’re proud to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Awards by celebrating the work of artists, organizations, and communities that are helping us to imagine and build a more equitable and vibrant future for the Great Lakes region.”
More information on this year's awardees is available at JoyceFDN.org.
