ArtTable Announces 20 Recipients of its National Fellowship Program Focused on Advancing Diversity in the Art World

July 11, 2023 (NORFOLK, Va.) ArtTable, the foremost professional organization dedicated to the advancement of women-identifying and nonbinary professionals in the visual arts, has announced the participants for this year’s Fellowship Program, which addresses the marked lack of diversity in arts employment. This impactful initiative supports women-identifying and nonbinary emerging professionals from backgrounds generally underrepresented in the field seeking career opportunities in visual arts organizations.

ArtTable is grateful for our new supporter, SRI Fine Arts Services, and thanks its continued support from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, Leon Polk Smith Foundation, Herschel Supply Co. and Capital One Art Program, among others, along with the invaluable support of individuals, including Lila Harnett, ArtTable’s founder and original donor of this program, and also the help of our Impact Initiatives Committee Members and Mentors involved in the program. A list of all supporters of the ArtTable Fellowship can be found here.

“We’re thrilled to be able to support a full fellow this year and urge other organizations who have the means to provide additional support for this program where the number of opportunities and applicants far exceed the financial capacity of the program. Together, we hope we can level the
playing field by supporting women-identifying and nonbinary professionals with opportunities for growth in the visual arts community.”—Melissa Osterwind, President, SRI Fine Arts Services

In 2023, the National Fellowship Program is thrilled to announce twenty fellowships, the largest number offered ever, an increased figure compared to the seventeen offered last year, and will also continue its support for Native American individuals, with three of those positions
reserved specifically for individuals of Native American / Indigenous descent.

Established in 2000, the ArtTable National Fellowship provides quality real work experiences and mentorship to women-identifying and non-binary emerging professionals from backgrounds generally underrepresented in the visual arts field. During the paid, five-to-eight-week summer
program, the fellows will work closely with established leaders in the field to gain exposure to a range of professional activities at leading museums and arts organizations. They also receive one-on-one mentoring from leading professionals who are ArtTable members and are specialized in their areas of interest.

ArtTable also notably increased the nationwide geographic scope of Host Organizations this year, with a higher number of art organizations selected across the country. A full list of these leading organizations is available on the ArtTable Impact Initiatives page. Through the generous support of individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies, ArtTable has supported 147 women-identifying and nonbinary fellows, partnered with a total of 78 leading art organizations nationwide so far, and dispersed over $451,000 since the Fellowship’s inception.

“ArtTable is proud to continue to augment and improve one of our most impactful initiatives. Fellows, mentors, and Host Organizations all consistently laud the ArtTable National Fellowship in the Visual Arts for its tremendous results and positive impact on participants and organizations,” said Jessica L. Porter, Lila Harnett Executive Director. “The Fellowship is central to ArtTable’s firm investment in supporting the next generation of leaders in the art world.

The Chrysler Museum is pleased to announce that Libbi Ponce has been selected as our 2023 ArtTable Fellow. Libbi will conduct research to support the Chrysler Museum of Art’s reinstallation of a series of galleries that occupy a substantial section of the Museum’s first-floor. These installations are popular with general visitors and heavily used by the Public Engagement and Learning Department for tours that annually provide more than 9,200 school-aged children in the Hampton Roads region with their first museum experience. The current layout of these galleries was implemented in 2014, presenting Mesoamerican, Asian, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and historic African Art. The curatorial team intends to reorganize these galleries, changing how the Museum presents world cultures to place greater emphasis on themes such as the afterlife, sports, hygiene, trade, the life of women, color, materials, migration, and other characteristics of the human condition. This endeavor aligns with one of the Chrysler Museum’s strategic priorities of expanding its impact as a cultural hub by placing renewed attention on the care, interpretation, and display of its collections.

Congratulations to the rest of the the 2023 Fellowship cohort:

• Inés Arango-Guingue | The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center | New York, NY
• Sophie Bae | Capital One Art Program | Tysons, VA
• Telease Bowen | VoCA (Voices in Contemporary Art) | New York, NY
• Sandy Cheng | Tephra Institute of Contemporary Arts (Tephra ICA | Reston, VA
• Angella d’Avignon | Black Cube | Englewood, CO
• Yhanni Durdin-James | IBe’ Arts Institute | Hopewell, VA
• Greta Goldbart | Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art | New York, NY
• Philana Li | Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art | Kansas City, MO
• Karla Mendez | Project X Foundation for Art and Criticism | Los Angeles, CA
• Darla Migan | The Morgan Library & Museum | New York, NY
• Rebecca Miralrio | Museum of the City of New York | New York, NY
• JaBrea Patterson-West | Project for Empty Space | Newark, NJ
• Libbi Ponce | Chrysler Museum of Art | Norfolk, VA
• Nadia Ramirez Estrada | Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE)| Los Angeles, CA
• Yunyao Que | Laumeier Sculpture Park | Sappington, MO
• Karina Teichert | Art Papers | Atlanta, GA
• Stephanie Xiomara Tinsley | Carolee Schneemann Foundation | New Paltz, NY
• Yaning Xing | Balboa Art Conservation Center | San Diego, CA
• Fiona Yu | Amant | Brooklyn, NY
• Sara Zielinski | A.I.R. Gallery | Brooklyn, NY

Each fellow will be awarded a $4,000 stipend fully covered by ArtTable, through its Impact Initiatives Fund, for the five-to-eight-week commitment during the summer. This year ArtTable fundraised to provide additional support to those fellows who will need to relocate for their fellowship. This is the first time ArtTable has been able to offer a housing stipend.

ABOUT THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART

 The Chrysler Museum of Art is one of America’s most distinguished mid-sized art museums, with a nationally recognized collection of more than 30,000 objects, including one of the great glass collections in America. The core of the Chrysler’s collection comes from Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., an avid art collector who donated thousands of objects from his private collection to the Museum. The Museum has growing collections in many areas and mounts an ambitious schedule of visiting exhibitions and educational programs each season. The Chrysler has also been recognized nationally for its unique commitment to hospitality with its innovative gallery host program.

The Perry Glass Studio is a state-of-the-art facility on the Museum’s campus. The studio offers programming for aspiring and master artists alike in a variety of processes including glassblowing, fusing, flameworking, coldworking and neon.

In addition, the Chrysler Museum of Art administers the Moses Myers House, a historic house in downtown Norfolk, as well as the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. For more information on the Chrysler Museum of Art, visit chrysler.org.

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