Live Arts Boston announces the thirty artists in the program’s 2024-2025 cohort
New design provides over $1 million in grants and support during 18-month program for artists to nurture their creative practice
August 8, 2024
Boston – The Boston Foundation and the Barr Foundation announced today the names of the 30 members of the 2024-2025 Live Arts Boston program cohort. The 30 performing artists, creators, and cultural practitioners will share over $1 million in grants and technical support as they participate in an 18-month program to nurture their creative practice and present new and/or existing work.
Rooted in core principles of artistic risk-taking, creative discomfort, and centering personal and professional development through well-being, the trainings and support will be organized into four different themes:
- Personal Growth, Health and Wellness
- Mentorship and Planned Accountability
- The Business of Creativity (Professional Development)
- and Creative Works and Progress (Constructive Feedback)
“You simply cannot have thriving communities, grounded in racial equity, without a strong arts and creative community,” said M. Lee Pelton, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “Our creative assets are vital threads in the rich tapestry we seek to create for equitable, vibrant places in Greater Boston. By focusing on and supporting the complete experience of what it means to be a practicing artist, we are making a commitment to the arts as a core piece of our vision for community wealth.”
“Fundamentally, artists help us see possibilities,” said Jim Canales, President of the Barr Foundation. “Amidst division, polarization, and what our Surgeon General has dubbed an ‘epidemic of loneliness’, artists can play a vital role to help us connect with one another, to see our common humanity, and to forge the kinds of communities where all can feel welcome and thrive. Barr is grateful to partner with TBF in supporting this exciting new group of local artists through the next evolution of LAB.”
The 30 cohort members (listed below), were selected through a two-round community-led review process by panels that included past grantees, arts leaders, and representatives from other organizations committed to thriving communities.
After an initial meeting in July, the 30 artists are beginning a curriculum that will focus on and bridge the four major themes, with the support of key partners including National Arts Strategies, Meta Mind Art, and Dunamis.
The shift from a focus on performance in earlier iterations of the Live Arts Boston program to a practice centered around artists themselves meshes with the longer-term goals of both organizations and their centering of racial equity.
“This timely improvement to the Live Arts Boston program builds upon one full year of listening and the incorporation of feedback from past LAB participants, project advisors and panelists, that has informed our thinking about centering racial equity and the fundamental ways that the pandemic has changed the arts community,” said Catherine T. Morris, Director of Arts and Creativity at the Boston Foundation.
"Live Arts Boston, with its focus on holistic artistic development, invites artists into an intentional space to contemplate and prepare for longevity in their careers,” said Jamilah Bradshaw, Arts & Creativity Program Officer at the Barr Foundation. “Looking ahead, we imagine the lasting impact on their creative process and their future as working artists within the cultural sector of Greater Boston."
Congratulations to the LAB 2024 Grantees!
Artist photos and biographies can be found on the Live Arts Boston page
2ruTh7
Spoken Word
Elizabeth Addison
Opera/Musical Theater
Kyara "DJ TROY Frost" Andrade-Howell
Music
J. Andrés Ballesteros
Music
Chavi Bansal
Dance
Samuel Beebe
Opera/Musical Theater
Christina R. Chan
Theater
Andrew Choe / Abilities Dance
Dance
Arielle Colella
Dance
Donatella Fermata
Opera/Musical Theater
David Guerra
Literary/Performance Festivals
Laury Gutiérrez
Music
Reynaliz Herrera
Music
Cerise Jacobs
Opera/Musical Theater
George Lernis / Ize Trio
Music
Seba Molnar
Music
Olivia Moon
Dance
Jaclyn O'Riley / Jaclyn O'Riley and Rebecca McGowan Duet
Trad./Folk Performing Arts
Isaura Oliveira
Dance
Mayowa "MO" Osinubi
Music
Ernesto Lea Place
Circus Arts
Moe Pope
Music
Laura Sánchez
Dance
Red Shaydez
Music
Music
Amanda Shea
Spoken Word
Jacquinn Sinclair
Literary/Performance Festivals
José Soto
Music
Yung-Chi Sung
Trad./Folk Performing Arts
Crystal Valentine
Spoken Word
Ilya Vidrin
Dance
![LAB Orientation group photo](/-/media/tbf/images/initiatives/lab-2024-grantees/lab-orientation-group-photo-800px.jpg?h=450&w=800&la=en&hash=6D0EFEAA5AC2AED6134760C0C545582F)