University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMass Amherst to Receive $25,000 NEA Art Works Grant

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National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $84 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2020.

Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $25,000 to the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) at UMass Amherst in support of a 2021-22 Artist Residency with acclaimed New York-based artist Allison Janae Hamilton. This is one of 1015 grants nationwide that the agency has approved in this category.

“These awards demonstrate the resilience of the arts in America, showcasing not only the creativity of their arts projects but the organizations’ agility in the face of a national health crisis,” said Carter. “We celebrate organizations like the University Museum of Contemporary Artfor providing opportunities for learning and engagement through the arts in these times.”

UMCA Director Loretta Yarlow says, “Asa visual arts research laboratory, the UMCA provides artists with opportunities to take risks and unveil new ideas, the way a scientist would in a research laboratory. Our goal is to give artists a space in which to imagine new ways to do research, engage with our academic and local communities, and to create new work.”

The NEA grant will support a residency culminating in a 2022 exhibition with Allison Janae Hamilton. 

This Artist-in-Residence Program will take place over a two-year period, offering the artist a chance to engage with the expansive Natural History Collections at UMass Amherst. The artist will explore and develop innovative exchanges across disciplines and raise broad questions in fresh and unexpected ways. 

For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.