FRIDAY TOP 5: APRIL 10, 2020

Artist Funding, stamps for honoring Ruth Asawa and the loss of David Driskell.

1. A coalition of more than twenty national arts funders, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Ford Foundation, the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, and the Willem de Kooning Foundation, has launched an emergency relief fund that will provide $10,000+ for artists struggling financially in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. Apply at https://www.artistrelief.org

2. The Museum of Art and Design was one of the many institutions awarded funds from The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) who announced $22.2 million in grants to 224 humanities projects across the United States. The distribution of grants is separate from the $75 million that the NEH will receive from the federal government CARES act, that they have vowed to make fully available through organizational grants.

3. Craft writer and art critic, Glenn Adamson, has partnered with Friedman Benda Gallery to host Design in Dialogue, a Zoom series interviewing artists every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the duration of the coronavirus lockdown. Starting on Monday, April 13, each conversation will begin at 11am EST.  This and other digital ways to engage with craft will be posted all this week on our Facebook.

4. The United States Postal Service announced last Friday that it’ll be releasing 10 stamps inspired by renowned sculptor Ruth Asawa.
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5. The Coronavirus has hit close to home for art lovers and DMV-area residents with the passing of David Driskell, an artist, curator, and writer, who passed away last week from COVID-19 complications. Two in-depth articles by ArtNews featured Driskell's impact on African American arts. Read them here and here.