Announcing Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Denver | Call for Artists
PlatteForum’s art and social justice driven programming continues to expand with the announcement of their new partnership with New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the launch of Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Denver. Since 2017, NYFA, a national arts organization with a myriad of online resources for artists, has worked in partnership with established arts organizations in partner cities to implement its Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program and tailor it to the needs of each individual community.
The new program will run from February 2021 to Summer 2021and will bring together Denver area artists to nurture a productive environment for collaboration, culminating with an art exhibition open to the public.
Immigrant artists of all disciplines may apply to the Open Call which opens on December 9, 2020. The deadline for applications has been extended until Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 11:59pm.
Eligibility for the immigrant artist mentees requires that applicants live within the seven-county, Denver metro area and that either the artist or their parents were born outside of the United States. Refugees are welcome to apply. Students enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program may not apply unless they will be graduated before the program starts.
NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program is the only known program of its kind in the United States and has provided 490 artists from 79 countries and regions with one-on-one mentoring, group learning, and networking events nationwide. The expanded program in Denver will be facilitated by Eriko Tsogo, a Mongolian American cross-disciplinary artist based in Colorado. The program will also provide opportunities for established, professional artists to act as mentors and more details on mentor roles will be available soon.“PlatteForum is honored to be partnering with NYFA on their nationally recognized Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. It is integral to PlatteForum’s mission that all artists should have access to resources that support their professional success. We believe this program will be a valuable tool for artists who are new to Colorado and the United States to share their experience and work with a larger audience.” says Kim Estes McCarty, PlatteForum Executive Director.
The Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program’s goal, held within a supportive environment that encourages all voices be heard, is to foster a local community of artists sharing the immigrant experience and provide resources through two weekends of intensive entrepreneurial training, access to other artists, arts professionals, and organizations. The program offers immigrant artists the opportunity to focus on their creative practice and gain support and exposure for their work while upholding their distinct cultural identities. This is a competitive program open to artists from all disciplines (performing, literary, visual, multi disciplinary, folk and traditional arts) based in the Denver metro area and provided free of charge to accepted participants. “We started NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program in New York in 2007 and expanded the program nationally to Detroit, Newark, Oakland, and San Antonio in 2017,” said Michael L. Royce, NYFA Executive Director. “We’re thrilled that this model has proven to be impactful outside of New York and are excited to partner with PlatteForum to bring it to Denver. We look forward to the months ahead where we can help to serve Denver’s immigrant artist community and build upon the vibrancy of the city’s art scene,” he added.The goal of Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Denver is to create the opportunity for in-person time, dependent on local and state health guidelines at the time of the program.
The application and guidelines can be found at this link.
This program is made possible with the support of Arts in Society, a collaborative grant-making program that fosters cross-sector work through the arts by supporting the integration of arts and culture into multiple disciplines critical to the health and well-being of Coloradans. Additional support has been provided by Rose Community Foundation, SCFD Denver County and SCFD Adams County, and the Imagine 2020 Fund.
About PlatteForum
PlatteForum is an award-winning and innovative arts, youth-development, and artist-in residence program founded in Denver, Colorado in 2002. As a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization, PlatteForum teams youth (K-12) from historically marginalized communities with professional artists in intensive, structured, and long-term creative learning environments. Youth work side by side with resident artists to collaboratively plan, produce, and exhibit a body of work in an environment in which artistic excellence is highly valued. Youth in PlatteForum’s programs delve into a variety of art forms and social justice topics, confronting challenges and obstacles and making life-changing discoveries about who they are, what they are capable of achieving, and where they belong in the world.
About New York Foundation for the Arts
The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) was established in 1971 to empower artists at critical stages in their creative lives. Today, the nonprofit organization’s programs and services are far-reaching and are rooted in a wealth of physical and online resources. Each year, NYFA awards $3 million in cash grants to individual visual, performing, and literary artists based in New York State. NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship program, one of the oldest and most reputable in the country, helps national artists and arts organizations raise and manage an average of $4 million annually. NYFA’s Learning programs, including its Artist as Entrepreneur and Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, provide thousands of artists, creatives, and arts administrators with professional development training and support. NYFA’s website, NYFA.org, is used by more than 1 million people and features more than 20,000 opportunities and resources available to artists in all disciplines.
