In June 2023, MRAC announced that we would not have a Next Step Fund grant round in FY24 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024). We made this difficult decision as we were entering a year of transition to address the significant increase in applications, changing needs impacted by the pandemic, and rapid changes at MRAC over the last several years. Although putting Next Step Fund on hold for the year was a logical solution, we were burdened by the loss of providing this important resource for individual artists in the Metro.
Thanks to the generous support of the McKnight Foundation’s art team, we received funding to award grants to the highest-ranked Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) applicants who previously did not get funded. This means that we went back to the pool of 370 artists that applied in FY23, and selected the next 36 artists that were scored the highest by the panel. This allowed us to do a one-time increase in the FY23 funding rate, increasing it from 9% to 18%.
We understand that a lot can change in one year, so we worked with the additional 36 grantees on updates they had on their projects and work plans. We are so happy to announce this year’s FY24 Next Step Fund grant recipients!
The Next Step Fund is made possible with support from the McKnight Foundation and provides project grants up to $5,000 to artists in any arts discipline. Artists may be at any stage in their career, and must have a primary residential address in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, or Washington county.
Dakota County
Darrius Strong
Funding to support Darrius Strong’s movement research.
Guillermo Bonilla
Funding for a film that is centered around a first generation Mexican-American art student who accidentally steals their uncles horse for one of their art projects.
Sadie Ward
Funding for a series of 10 Brart portraits of women who dressed as men and made HERstory. Brart, simplified from bra-art takes pre-used bras to make portraits of women.
Sannia Elzia
Funding for the production of the documentary Protect Me Too. An exploration of the covert dismissal of sexual assault and its’ affects within the Black community from the Black women’s perspective.
Suchitra Sairam
Funding to develop curriculum, syllabus and resource library for the study of nattuvangam, the vocal percussion art for Bharatanatyam accompaniment.
Yuki Tokuda
Funding for research and development of my new full length work “Three Partitas” by J.S. Bach, choreographed by Yuki Tokuda.
Top row, left to right: Darrius Strong, Guillermo Bonilla, Sadie Ward
Bottom row, left to right: Sannia Elzia, Suchitra Sairam, Yuki Tokuda
Hennepin County
Alyssa Baguss
Funding for travel, per diem, and ten day accommodations to learn new fabrication techniques for creating future airborne public artwork at the Airworks Studio in Boulder, Colorado.
Amy Wilderson
Funding to broaden my jewelry art practice through researching the influence of Black jewelry artists and glass Mardi Gras beads, and learning new metalsmithing techniques to expand my range.
Brighton McCormick
Funding for my first major solo exhibition.
Casey Deming
Funding for a year-long residency at Hennepin County’s Central Library Image Collection and to make an artist book documenting the residency.
Glenda Reed
Funding to professionalize as a poet by working toward a poetry collection, Future Absence, exploring the ambiguous grief of a daughter caring for her mother with Lewy body dementia.
Jessica Eckerstorfer
Funding for “Voices in a Room”, a multi-disciplinary project: fiction writing, print and paper making & handmade books. Full-scale installation will include 3D book sculptures filling space with original stories.
Karen Gustafson
Funding to purchase a stand-alone embroidery machine and software to learn how to turn my own drawings into embroidery files that can then be set to stitch to expand my artistic practice.
Kelsey Daly
Funding for mentorship with a local editor and literary agent, submission package revisions, and querying time for Trick Waters, a debut YA novel with themes of queerness, magic, and healing.
Kristin Pavelka
Funding for equipment and materials purchase to aid in creating large scale functional pots.
Lara Mimosa Montes
Funding to complete her third book, THE TIME OF THE NOVEL, to be published in 2025.
Top row, left to right: Alyssa Baguss, Amy Wilderson, Brighton McCormick, Casey Deming, Glenda Reed
Bottom row, left to right: Jessica Eckerstorfer Karen Gustafson, Kelsey Daly, Kristin Pavelka, Lara Mimosa Montes
Lelis Brito
Funding to Install electric heat in studio to double the amount of time I can rehearse and create work during the year.
Lynda Grafito
Funding for new equipment, materials and workshops to learn relief printing techniques, creation of eco-friendly printmaking inks and papermaking to create new artwork for Volver a la Tierra art show.
Melanie Pankau
Funding for an artist research project including: a yantra painting mentorship, traveling to the Emma Kunz Zentrum, and the creation of a new series of paintings and an accompanying essay.
Noelle Awadallah
Funding for travel to Palestine to inform site specific movement and labor research bridging dancing and farming.
Pete Driessen
Funding to create, curate and present a solo sculpture-based exhibit, VectorSector, a site-specific sculpture and installation project at the NE Sculpture Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.
R. J. Kern
Funding to acquire digital printing supplies and photography framing equipment to bring in-house production, plus digital projector and speaker to support traveling storytelling shows.
Sachiko “La Chayí” Flamenco
Funding for travel to Jerez, Spain to seek coaching on my dance using my past performance videos. I will work with dancer Fernando Jimenez to craft better materials and improve my Tablao skills.
Sarah Yaga Evenson
Funding to pursue continuing education courses in hand drawn animation and rendering software in order to create in a new 2 minute film exploring bodily transformation and gender confirming care.
Sarina Partridge
Funding to create a song book of original works for community groups and choirs: creating transcriptions with accompaniment, print and digital versions, and cover artwork.
Shruthi Rajasekar
Funding to learn electronic skills and songwrite solo repertoire that unites my Western and Indian classical practices.
Top row, left to right: Lelis Brito, Lynda Grafito, Melanie Pankau, Noelle Awadallah, Pete Driessen
Bottom row, left to right: R.J. Kern, Sachiko “La Chayí” Flamenco, Sarah Yaga Evenson, Sarina Partridge, Shruthi Rajasekar
Ramsey County
Dan Yaj
Funding to research and interview individuals for a documentary based on the cause and effects of murder-suicide cases within the Hmong Community.
Laura Pereira
Funding for an exhibition of paintings that examine the relationship between perception and knowledge creation and an interactive gallery game to accompany the exhibition.
Leyna Marika Papach
Funding to develop, research, and create a musical score for my chamber opera, PERSON / a requiem.
Marciano Silva dos Santos
Funding to study popular, folkloric dances of Brazil.
Mary Johnson
Funding for travel to see artist-made environments at Kohler Art Preserve to inform material research and creation of a body of work.
Roosevelt Mansfield
Funding for a photography project focused on the style, the feeling, and the carefree vibe of the 1980s. Highlighting natural hairstyles of women of color.
Sara Dovre Wudali
Funding to work on a full-length poetry collection.
Simone LeClaire
Funding to develop and write my first feature-length screenplay.
Su Love
Funding to edit a new book manuscript.
Washington County
Patti Cudd
Funding to create, record and release a solo percussion album of four emerging female electronic music composers, for CD and digital release on Neuma Records.
Top row, left to right: Dan Yaj, Laura Pereira, Leyna Marika Papach, Marciano Silva dos Santos, Mary Johnson
Bottom row, left to right: Roosevelt Mansfield, Sara Dovre Wudali, Simone LeClaire, Su Love, Patti Cudd