NEA grant to help 10 artists

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded the Queens Council on the Arts a $30,000 grant, which will benefit its Individual Artist Initiative (IAI).
The program “assists emerging artists in their career development” and is partly funded by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. By helping Queens artists develop certain skills that will give them the tools to support an arts career, the recipients can “stabilize themselves as arts professionals.”
Although previously, IAI supported two emerging artists, the additional money will allow the Queens Council on the Arts to support 10.
This year’s recipients are performing arts artists Mariana Bekerman, Valerie Green, Panuta Petrow and Florence Michiyo Tahaka-Kuwashima, visual arts artists Karen Fitzgerald, Cameron Gainer, Olja Stipvaonvic, Soon Ae Tark and Chris Vilardi and literary arts artist Maria Terrone.
“IAI will advance my career tremendously,” said past recipient Jaime Arredondo, who worked with QCA consultants to develop a marketing plan. “It is just the thing that I needed to move forward.”
Photographer Gerard H. Gaskins, who was also able to develop a marketing plan through the program, said, “Having this opportunity has allowed me to think seriously about ways to market my work.”
For more information, visit www.queenscouncilarts.org or contact Arts Services Director Andreia Davies at 718-647-3377 x17.