Images from The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation's 2021 Grant Award Recipients
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation is thrilled to announce its fourth annual round of grant awards today, providing $177,000 to support 25 ambitious and creative projects in the arts and humanities at Penn. Since its launch in 2017, the Sachs Program has funded over 200 projects and distributed approximately $1.1 Million in artistic and creative support. The Sachs Program’s grantmaking is part of its larger efforts to support and advance the arts across the University and the 2021 grants support a broad range of projects in the visual arts, opera, theater, film, writing, music, translation, and cultural planning.
“These ambitious projects are a testament to Keith and Kathy Sachs’ vision to support a groundswell of artistic creation at Penn.”
– University of Pennysylvania Provost Wendell Pritchett
These 25 grants are in addition to 10 Student Grants and 4 First-Year Seminar Grants awarded in the fall, as well as the grants awarded through our Ben Art Bucks program.
We are also happy to announce that we are re-opening our Ben Art Bucks program, which provides up to $250 in funding to students and student groups. Please visit our website, sachsarts.org, for information on how to apply. And for information on future funding opportunities, please sign up for our newsletter.
With this said, it brings great joy to announce the 2021 Grant Awards:
- Alexandra Lenihan
Queers in Quarantine: love Stories - Américo Mendoza-Mori and Catherine Bartch
Jallalla! – Healing and Reclaiming Indigeneity Through the Arts - Ania Vu
Through the Doors – An Opera for Chamber Ensemble, Multimedia, and Electronics - Clayton Colmon
Designing Critical Futures - Enrique Morales
Community Based City Planning - Erin Busch
New Mixed Chamber Piece with Dance and Film - Farrah Rahaman
With My Own Hands - Graduate Fine Arts
Jamal Batts: Curator-in-Residence - Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) and Memory Studio
The Masks We Wear - Kelly Writers House
Millennial Black Muslim Writers - Julian Hunter
Duality - Lino Kino
throwntogetherness - Lisa Marie Patzer
Houses of Domestic Memory - Lyndsay M. Hoy, M.D.
Rx/Museum:Art & Reflection in Medicine - Marc Anthony Richardson
The Serpent Will Eat Whatever is in the Belly of the Beast - Music Practica/Elettronica Viva
Shuttle Service - Nikki Brake-Sillá
“from” - Orkan Telhan
Designing Motherhood - Paul Hendrickson
Fighting the Night: My Father in World War II - Penn Nursing
A Digital Series of Theatrical Performances Created from Conversations with Frontline Workers - Peter Decherney
Ethiopia’s Last Jews - The History of Art department’s Living Land Acknowledgment Group
Indigenous Arts in Focus - Transcribez
Expanded Impact: Diversifying Modes of Engagement with Trans Youth Poets - Zain Mian
Translating Bhed (The Secret) by Muhammad Asim Butt - Zoe Penina Baker
Calling Home
Full descriptions of each project and listed associations can be accessed through the Grant Awards section of our website.
The decisions around what to fund each year are extremely difficult and not taken lightly. This year, as we’ve done in past years, we employed a two-stage evaluation process. Applications were first reviewed by a group of committee members, including former grantees, faculty, and staff. There were two committees in total. Feedback from each committee was then shared with the Sachs Program Advisory Board, who made the final decisions over the course of multiple meetings.
Over the course of this academic year, the Sachs Program also provided additional funding to students and student groups, in the form of Ben Art Bucks: small, quick-turnaround grants up to $250 for individuals and student groups. Additionally, through a partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences, we supported four First-Year Seminars, which took place during the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters and are also listed among the 2021 Grant Awards on our website.