This past month I recieved a grant in support of Meet-A-Stranger by the incredible artist, writer and speaker, Damali Ayo. If you have not yet heard of her, I recommend checking out her sites. Her work is extremely forward thinking and does what art should do in my opinion, effect and cause social change. She is also giving back to the community by supporting and mentoring other artists who are working outside of the traditional gallery scene. Below are links to her sites. With this grant support, I plan to move on from my dictaphone and purchase a high definition digital voice recorder that will allow me to archive audio interviews on the blog in addition to text. I can't wait to see how this project will evolve with a new added component and resource! Thank you Damali!
http://damaliayo.com/
http://www.rent-a-negro.com/
September 2007
Announcing the newest Now Art Grant recipient
Meet a Stranger by Laura Parker
$500
Project: "Meet a Stranger" project
Will deliver to donors and network: People annd their Stories
I chose Laura's "Meet a Stranger" project for the latest Now Art Grant because it is already up and running and brilliant. You can participate today! Laura's Blog "Meet a Stranger" http://www.meet-a-stranger.blogspot.com/ is a wonderful collection of people that Laura gets to know and delivers their stories right to your computer screen through her blog and direct emails of the "stranger bios." Laura has a gift for plain-language story telling and describing people as they describe themselves. Her project exemplifies the essence of Now Art, engaging real people with each other and with our world through art. Samples from the Meet a Stranger Project are excerpted below.
If you find yourself entranced by this project as I did, donate to the program: http://damaliayo.com/pages/grants.htm Consider a donation of $20 to $100. Every $500 means a new artist gets funded. If you're feeling excited about the program, why not donate $500? Your donation will launch a new Now Art project!
