FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, December 5, 2018
Announcing The Kindling Fund 2019 Grantees
SPACE Gallery is pleased to announce it has awarded a total of $65,000 to 14 independent, artist – organized, Maine-based projects for its 2019 cycle of The Kindling Fund. The Kindling Fund is one of twelve nationwide re-granting programs established by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. This year’s grantees are Chris Battaglia; Adriane Herman; Isaac Jaegerman and the New System Exhibitions members: Franklin Ahrens, Henry Austin, Alice Jones, Hector Magaña, Cody Stack; Daniel Quintanilla and collaborator Shuab Ahmed Mahat; Derek Jackson; Devon Kelley-Yurdin and collaborator Nicole Em; Irina Skornyakova; Hope Rovelto; Jenny Brillhart and collaborator Goody B. Wiseman; Bianca Sturchio and collaborator Riel Sturchio; Galen Koch and collaborators Greta Rybus, Josie Holtzman, and Isaac Kestenbaum; Alana Dao and collaborator meg willing; Caroline Losneck and collaborator Kelly Sue Rioux; Pat Corrigan and the Apohadion Theatre members, Greg Jamie and Jeremy Robinson.
An outside panel of distinguished jurors selected the awarded projects from 46 applications submitted from throughout the state of Maine. This year’s jurors were Myron Beasley Ph.D., Associate Professor of American Studies and committee member of the Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College; Abigail Satinsky, curator of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University; and Robert Blackson, Director of Exhibitions at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and administrator for the Velocity Fund, the Andy Warhol Foundation’s newest regranting initiative. The jurors were selected by SPACE’s Visual Arts Programmer, Elizabeth Spavento, who administers the Kindling Fund and Kelsey Johnson, Executive Director, in order to reflect voices with national, New England, and connections.
“As we celebrate the Kindling Fund’s fifth anniversary, SPACE has been inspired by the continually strengthening field of contemporary and experimental artist projects throughout the state,” said Executive Director Kelsey Halliday Johnson. “Many of these projects sustain opportunities for multiple participating artists with critically considered programming frameworks; others engage the public sphere and civic dialogue in meaningful and innovative ways. ”
This grant opportunity was established in 2015 in response to the needs of individual artists across the state and the needs of Maine’s arts community at large. The Kindling Fund is a part of the Regional Re-granting Program of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Thirteen other re-granting projects nationally fulfill a similar need. SPACE Gallery’s Kindling Fund is the first of these re-granting initiatives to be administered as a statewide program, playing a crucial role in the greater contemporary art ecology of Maine.
SPACE Gallery was founded in 2002 as a multidisciplinary contemporary arts center featuring visual art exhibitions, live music and performance, film screenings, literary events, and more. The organization fosters a creative platform for arts, artists, and ideas, presenting 15 exhibitions and more than 200 events each year. In 2015, SPACE purchased its building on Congress Street in Portland, preserving a home for 31 artist studios on the upper floors.