Support Creative Capital Through Our Benefit & Auction

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Editor

Paul Shambroom, 75mm M51 Skysweeper anti-aircraft gun, American Legion Post 127, Buford, Georgia

For Creative Capital’s annual Benefit & Auction, we’re auctioning off 15 artworks by our amazing grantees, beginning with online bidding through 5:00pm on May 10 and continuing with live and silent auctions that evening at our Benefit party at the Tribeca home of Paige West. All proceeds benefit Creative Capital’s mission of supporting artists pursuing adventurous projects in all disciplines. Here’s a preview of a few of the outstanding works you can purchase:

Paul Shambroom (2001 Visual Arts) donated 75mm M51 Skysweeper anti-aircraft gun, American Legion Post 127, Buford, Georgia, from his most recent series of photographs, SHRINES: Public Weapons in America. In the Shrines series Shambroom—who describes himself as a photographer who examines American power and culture—explores what happens to weapons of war when they survive both combat and the scrapheap to be given second lives as public monuments. Continue reading →

Eve Sussman Creates Special Project, “Elevated Train,” To Benefit Creative Capital

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Sean Elwood

Eve Sussman is a 2008 Visual Arts grantee for her project whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir, a fanciful blend of filmmaking, video and digital technology that follows a central character—an anonymous geophysicist code writer—who is stuck in a futuristic city. Its experimental narrative runs endlessly, driven along by the digital decisions of custom-built algorithmic software that edits the film in real time. It has no beginning, middle or end, never repeats the same editing sequence twice, and has its scenes and voiceovers paired at random by what the filmmakers call “the serendipity of the machine.”

When Eve agreed to create a limited series for Creative Capital’s 2012 Benefit & Auction and said she was thinking of combining some version of a stereoscope with black-and-white photography, we were intrigued and, well, surprised. Continue reading →

In Focus: Naeem Mohaiemen’s “The Young Man Was”

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Editor

Excerpt from Naeem Mohaiemen’s film, The Young Man Was, Part 1: United Red Army

Naeem Mohaiemen (2008 Visual Arts) is an artist and writer who uses essays, photography and film to explore histories of failed utopias. His Creative Capital-supported project, The Young Man Was, traces a history of the 1970s “ultra-left,” with each chapter in a different medium. The film component of this project, The Young Man Was, Part 1: United Red Army, will have its world premiere on May 1 at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, Canada, followed by a New York premiere at Anthology Film Archives and multiple screenings at universities throughout Bangladesh. Mohaiemen also has two exhibitions in May of a timeline wall installation, a companion to the film, at A Space Gallery in Toronto (through May 26) and at the Frieze New York with Experimenter Gallery (May 4-7).

United Red Army looks at the 1977 hijacking of JAL flight 472 to Dhaka, Bangladesh, by the Japanese Red Army. Framing this action as a pivot point that ends “Act One of a certain 1970s scene,” Mohaiemen explores how the event led to a hardline change in global governments’ stance on hostage negotiations. The film is constructed from audio recordings of the negotiations between the Dhaka control tower and the lead hijacker, with tension building as “the accord between ransom and reason gives way to breaking point” (Shumon Basar, Tank). Continue reading →

Check Out Our New Database of Artists’ Projects “On Our Radar”

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Ruby Lerner

This month Creative Capital launched On Our Radar, a new searchable database of noteworthy artists’ projects. On Our Radar currently features a wide range of Film/Video and Visual Arts projects that advanced past the first round of our grant application process last year, but were not ultimately awarded grants.

We invite you to explore On Our Radar to discover an impressive array of artists’ projects in Visual Arts and Film/Video. Visitors to our website can search On Our Radar by the artist’s medium, discipline and geography. Included are nearly 400 projects from artists in 37 states, in disciplines ranging from documentary, experimental, animated and narrative film to sculpture, public art, contemporary crafts and interdisciplinary work in the visual arts.

In each grant round, Creative Capital has the great privilege of learning about a wealth of exciting projects, but we are only able to award grants to a small percentage of the applicants. In 2011, we received nearly 3,250 Letters of Inquiry and awarded 46 grants. To review the artists’ submissions, we enlist nearly 100 arts professionals who serve as readers, evaluators and panelists. All Letters of Inquiry are scored by two readers based on how excited the reader is by the idea; by the artistic vision and the project’s potential for impact; the professional capabilities of the applicant; the feasibility of the project; and the potential for our funding and services to have an impact on the artist and project. Continue reading →

Partnering with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to Bring a New Program to Life

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Editor

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) has been a major supporter of Creative Capital’s core grantmaking program since 2000, and has been the largest single funder of all our classes of Performing Arts grantees. DDCF is also the lead funder of the MAP Fund, an ancillary program of Creative Capital, and recently selected Creative Capital to partner with them to launch and oversee the new Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards Program, which announced its first class of grantees today. This program offers significant funding—up to $275,000 per selected artist—that is not tied to individual projects and is instead available for extended professional and artistic development, audience development and retirement planning. Creative Capital’s President & Executive Director, Ruby Lerner, sat down with Ben Cameron, DDCF’s Program Director for the Arts, to talk about this exciting new program and the partnership between Creative Capital and DDCF.

Ruby Lerner: This partnership to launch the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards (DDPAA) is an extraordinary expansion on our long-standing relationship, and it’s an honor for Creative Capital that DDCF would entrust such an important program to us. Why did DDCF choose Creative Capital as a partner?

Ben Cameron: As you know, all of us at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation have long admired the work of Creative Capital. We have been especially moved by Creative Capital’s ability to work with artists on an individually tailored basis, responding to each unique set of artistic needs; the way in which your organization listens to its grantees; its responsive, rather than proscriptive, orientation; and the value it places on learning. Panelists we have gathered over the years to review funding applications from Creative Capital have consistently described your work as “transformative philanthropy”—words that perfectly encapsulate our own hopes with this program. Your openness to learn, to evolve and to adapt as you learn more perfectly align with the learning adventure that we know lies ahead with this program. Continue reading →

Professional Development Program Presents its 200th Workshop in an Inspiring Cross-Country Weekend

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Alyson Pou

In Columbus, OH, Steve Lambert, an Artist Leader for the Internet for Artists workshop, explains the importance of using Content Management Systems.

This past weekend marked our Professional Development Program’s 200^th workshop! Since the program launched in 2003, we’ve presented PDP workshops with 87 community partners in 71 cities, and nearly 4,500 artists across the country have attended. PDP has been incredibly busy lately, with workshops in Puerto Rico, Ohio and North Dakota in the last weekend alone!

Creative Capital worked with Beta-Local to present our Spanish-language workshop, Taller Profesional de Desarollo para Artistas, for the second time in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Continue reading →

In Focus: Braden King’s “HERE”

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Editor

The official trailer for Braden King’s feature film, HERE

On Friday, April 13, Braden King (2005 Film/Video) celebrates the theatrical premiere of his Creative Capital-supported project, HERE, at IFC Center in New York. Shot entirely on location in Armenia, HERE is a landscape-obsessed road movie chronicling a brief but intense relationship between an American satellite-mapping engineer (Ben Foster) and an expatriate Armenian art photographer (Lubna Azabal) who impulsively decide to travel together into uncharted territory. We talked to Braden to learn more about his over seven-year-long journey in bringing this project to premiere:

Creative Capital: HERE was selected for a Creative Capital grant in 2005. How did Creative Capital’s role as an early funder help the development of the project? In the seven years since you initially proposed the project to us, how has your vision for the film evolved?

Braden King: Creative Capital’s impact on this project cannot be overstated. The Foundation was the first institutional funder on board—and it came on board at a very early stage, before there was even a script! It’s not an exaggeration for me to say that I’m not sure the film or any of its offshoots would exist without the support—financial and otherwise—that Creative Capital lent it.

In many ways, the film that’s premiering on April 13 is very close to the one I initially proposed. If anything, the project probably evolved in terms of scope and ambition over the years. Creative Capital helped me go from wondering if I could pull this off at all—a multi-platform motion picture revolving around the first American feature film ever shot in Armenia—to wondering how I could most fully realize every aspect of it, from the feature film to the live cinema event that premiered as part of the MoMA series to the photography and video installations. I can’t think of another organization that would take that risk so early on in the process or support an artist more thoroughly throughout such a long-term project’s life. Continue reading →

The MAP Fund Awards Over $1.2 Million to Groundbreaking Performance Projects

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Moira Brennan

2012 MAP Fund grantees The Body Cartography Project

The Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, administered by Creative Capital, supports artists, ensembles, producers and presenters whose contemporary performance work embodies a spirit of exploration and deep inquiry. I’m so proud to say that today the MAP Fund announced—for the 24^th consecutive year!—a roster of grantee projects that will make anyone interested in contemporary performance swoon. Thanks to the generous financial (not to mention moral) support of our funders, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, MAP is supporting 41 projects this year, with $1,200,000 in cash grants. This is the highest amount MAP has ever had the privilege of distributing, with the average grant at $30,000 (up from $25,000), and typically accounting for 30 percent of a project’s budget.

Before a single artist even sets foot on a stage, there’s so much to applaud in these works. Reading through the project descriptions one can’t help but be inspired by the courage and tenacity of contemporary performance makers all across the country. Issues that can seem paralyzing when encountered in a headline are here approached with a subtlety and humanity that leave little room for despair. I think of Susan Narucki’s San Diego-based project, Cuatro Corridos, which is using music and poetry to look at human trafficking across the U.S.–Mexican border. Or Kamala Sankaram and Susan Yankowitz’s new work, The Thumbprint of Mukhtar Mai, which will make an opera of the story of the first woman in Pakistan to bring her rapists to justice through trial. Continue reading →

Stuart Horodner on “The Art Life”

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Editor

We know (and like) Stuart Horodner because he’s been a member of our Visual Arts grant selection team more than once; has attended several of our Artist Retreats; and has worked with a number of our grantee artists over the years. We’d like to believe that his newly released book, The Art Life: On Creativity and Career, was inspired, at least in part, by his watching how Creative Capital works with artists, providing funding and professional development to help them establish and sustain their art practices over the long term. But like him, we’ve realized that money and services won’t help artists who aren’t seriously committed to their practices, who don’t have that indefinable “spark” that makes them artists, that makes them the real thing. That spark is what Stuart is trying to zero in on. We asked him how he came to write this book:

For several years now, I have had the sense that the focus on “professional practices” as taught in art schools and university art departments is only one side of the story. I must admit to having taught classes on this topic and lectured across North America, addressing how artists should approach galleries, what art magazines are good for, the best ways to visit an art fair, and other strategic matters. As an ex-dealer, gallery owner and art fair organizer, I have a lot invested in clarifying misconceptions and trying to keep artists from being disappointed for the wrong reasons, as well as providing insights about positive turns in their careers. The fact is that thousands of talented individuals get out of art programs every year, hungry for success and often saddled with debt. It’s not surprising that they have the marketplace on their minds and want to know any “words of wisdom” that will get them ahead. Continue reading →

Creative Capital Blog

A Laboratory for Ideas