$696,000 Awarded to 87 New York State Artists Working in Fiction, Folk/Traditional Arts, Interdisciplinary Work, Painting, and Video/Film.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced the recipients and finalists of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program, which it has administered for the past 39 years with leadership support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). NYFA has awarded a total of $696,000 to 87 artists (including 3 collaborations) throughout New York State, whose ages range from 25-79 years, in the following disciplines: Fiction, Folk/Traditional Arts, Interdisciplinary Work, Painting, and Video/Film. 

The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program makes unrestricted cash grants of $8,000 to artists working in 15 disciplines, recognizing five disciplines per year on a triennial basis. This year, for the first time, finalists were also recognized with unrestricted cash grants of $1,000. The program is highly competitive, and this year’s recipients and finalists were selected from 4,587 applicants in discipline-specific peer-review panels. Since it was launched in 1985, the program has awarded over $35.8 million to 5,512 artists.

Each year, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship provides a lens for contemporary artistic expression. The themes, ideas, and materials used by the 2024 Fellows reflect and respond to the larger social, political, and economic issues of our day. Artists across categories are exploring topics including diasporic and immigrant identity; gender, race, and sexuality; domestic life; human impact on the environment; and ideas that subvert dominant narratives and conventions. 

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Major funding is also provided by the New York State Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA). Additional funding is provided by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. 

Fellowship Recipients and Finalists by Discipline and County of Residence:

Fiction

Fellows
Jeffery Renard Allen (Kings)
Elina Alter (Kings)
Hala Alyan (Kings)
Wah-Ming Chang (Kings)
Lisa Hsiao Chen (Kings)
Eleanor Henderson (Tompkins)
Homosuperiorr (Kings)
Sean McCarthy (Dutchess)
Clementina Ojie (Nassau)
Soraya Palmer (Kings)
Joshunda Sanders (Bronx)
Sara Schaff (Clinton)
Liza St. James (Kings)
Hannah Penrose Thurman (Kings)
Olivia Wolfgang-Smith (Kings)

Finalists
Raluca Albu (Rockland)
Marie-Helene Bertino (Kings)
Mary South (New York)

Panelists
Hannah Aizenman (Kings)
Allison Escoto (Queens)
Naomi Guttman (Clinton)
Amanda K. Horn (Kings)
Pedro Ponce (St. Lawrence)
Jeffrey Rotter (Dutchess)

Folk/Traditional Arts

Fellows
Mohammad Aghebati (Kings)
Nariman Asanov (Queens)
Nils R. Caspersson (Ontario)
Daniela Serna Cuevas (Kings)
Samantha Jacobs (Chautauqua)

Vong Pak (Kings)  Vong (a.k.a. Vongku) Pak is a Korean born and New York City based performing artist and founder of VP Korean Drum and Dance Troupe. He has been solidly trained different region's traditional Korean drums includes pungmul, samulnori, and traditional dance. He is a Finalist for the 2012 NYFA Fellowship in the category of Folk/ Traditional Arts. He has been performed at numerous venues and festival in Tri- State New York as well as more than twenty international countries. His music is not limited for folk arts but has been expended in the field of contemporary world music. Also, Mr. Pak is a residency teaching artist for Korean drum and dance at East and West International Studies, Hunter College High School, Bay side High school among others. Mr. Pak holds a B.A. at Theater from Brooklyn College, CUNY. http://www.koreandrum.org 

Mary Tooley Parker (Westchester)
Mary Michael Shelley (Tompkins)
Simona Smirnova (New York)
Alicia Svigals (New York)
Deborah Ugoretz (Kings)

Finalists
Blanka Amezkua (Bronx)
Seema Sureshkumar (Onodaga)
Sofika Zielyk (New York)

Panelists
Hayden Haynes (Cattaraugus)
Maxine Montilus (Kings)
Anne Rappaport (Schenectady)
Ling Tang (Queens)

Interdisciplinary Work

Fellows
Rena Anakwe (Kings)
Zalika Azim (Kings)**
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo (Kings)
Itziar Barrio (Kings)
Jesus Benavente (Kings)
David Kennedy Cutler (Kings)
Moko Fukuyama (Kings)
Michelle Handelman (Kings)
Miatta Kawinzi (Kings)
Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya | LEIMAY (Kings)*
Marie Lorenz (Kings)
Rowan Renee (Kings)
Alexander Si (New York)
Sarah Cameron Sunde (New York)
Anh Vo (Kings)
Kiyan Williams (Kings)

Finalists
Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan (New York)
Nifemi Ogunro (Kings)
Dawn Weleski (Madison)

Panelists
Ayana Evans (Kings)
Jaamil Olawale Kosoko (Kings)
sTo Len (Queens)
Frank WANG Yefeng (New York)

Painting

Fellows
Michael Assiff (Queens)
Lisa Beck (Kings)
Day Brierre (Kings)
Kari Cholnoky (Kings)
Lisa Corinne Davis (Kings)
Allison Jae Evans (Kings)
Jane Fine (Kings)
Jeanette R Fintz (Columbia)
Joanne Freeman (New York)
Allison Gildersleeve (Kings)
Ronald Hall (Kings)
Whit Harris (Kings)
Hai-Hsin Huang (Kings)
Madjeen Isaac (Kings)
Laura Karetzky (Kings)
Lily Honglei (Queens)
Anna Ortiz (Kings)
Carol Saft (New York)
Judith Simonian (New York)
Sarah Walker (New York)
Lumin Wakoa (Queens)
Chuck Webster (Queens)
Jack Arthur Wood (Queens)

Finalists
Christina Nicodema (Queens)
Lisa Lebofsky (Sullivan)
Jacquelyn Strycker (Kings)

Panelists
Yevgeniya Baras (Queens)
Esteban Cabeza de Baca (Queens)
Yaling Chen (Westchester)
Kirby Crone (Columbia)
Alisa Sikelianos-Carter (Albany)
Beth Sutherland (Westchester)
Mie Yim (New York) 

Video/Film

Fellows
Mehrnoush Alia (Kings)
Aisha Amin (New York)
Dina Amer (New York)
Anthony Banua-Simon (Kings)
Stephanie Wang Breal (Kings)
Crystal Z Campbell (Erie)
Jem Cohen (New York)
Xin Fang (New York)*
Neil Goldberg (New York)
Natalie Jasmine Harris (New York)
Emily Ann Hoffman (Kings)
Daniel Hymanson (Queens)
Lyle Ravi Kash (Kings)
Crystal Kayiza (Washington)
Bayley Sweitzer and Adam Khalil (Kings)*
Jessie Levandov (Kings)
Maria Stanisheva (Queens)
Patrick Wang (New York)

Finalists
Željka Blakšić AKA Gita Blak (Kings)
Ellie Foumbi (Westchester)
Taylor Hosking (New York)

Panelists
Gabriele Capolino (Kings)
Ash Goh Hua (Kings)
Judy Lei (Kings)
Jeff Preiss (New York)
Eve Sussman (Kings)

*Collaborative Artists
**Deutsche Bank Americas Fellow

https://www.nyfa.org/blog/introducing-2024-nysca-nyfa-artist-fellows-finalists-and-panelists