Anonymous was a womanPartnering with the New York Foundation for the Arts(NYFA), to expand its giving through a grant program called the Anonymous was a woman who received environmental art grants.
The program will distribute $250,000 total, matching Anonymous Was a Woman’s annual giving, which since 1996 has awarded unrestricted grants of $25,000 to 10 women-identifying artists over the age of 40 each year. The organization announced in 2021 that anonymous donations would allow them to increase their annual recipients from 14 to 2023. It doubled its giving in 2020 and offered emergency grants to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We believe that it is possible, and necessary, to address multiple crises simultaneously. Previously, we have focused on the crisis of funding for women artists, which we began in 1996, when the National Endowment for the Arts sliced funding for individual artist grants, Anonymous’s founder, Susan Unterberg, told Artnet News in an email. “Now, we believe that more must be done to address the urgent crisis of climate changewhich impacts every person on the planet. We are also mindful of studies that show that women will bear a disproportionate burden of climate change, particularly in developing countries.”
The idea for the new grant grew out Unterberg’s work with Jeanne Silverthorne, a past grant recipient of the organization, on the artist bookDisaster DiaryClimate change.
Susan Unterberg. Photo courtesy Anonymous Was a Woman.
“In the process of working on the project, it became clear that there was not funding specifically for environmental art projects,” Unterberg said. “At the same time, we also realized that they can be quite expensive, as many projects related to environmental art are longitudinal (taking place over long periods of time), large-scale (particularly in the case of environmental art works that are also land art works), or have less obvious commercial viability.”
The grants, which can be up to $20,000 each, will be used to support environmental art projects that are led by women-identifying artists in the United States. The following are some suggested themes for applicants: decarbonization as a decolonization, ecofeminism and climate change.
The announcement for the new grant calls for proposals for artworks that will “inspire thought, action, and ethical engagement.Projects should not only point at problems, but aim to engage an environmental issue at some scale. Projects that explore interdependence, relationships, and systems through Indigenous and ancestral practices are encouraged to apply.”
Applications are available from April 12 through June 14. They will be reviewed and approved by a panel made up of environmental experts. Grants will be granted in August.
Michael Royce, NYFA’s executive director, stated that climate change is a serious threat and requires immediate and collective action. We are proud to partner with Anonymous Was A Woman to support the vital work that women-identifying artists are doing to tackle this challenge and seek ways to mitigate disasters and raise awareness about climate-change issues.
“Throughout history, and particularly in the past century, artists have been able to bring attention to urgent issues through their work,” Unterberg added. “Art has the possibility to cut through a political conversation to lay bare fundamental truths and, hopefully, inspire action.”
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