The national Joyce Foundation awarded a $75,000 grant to SPACES gallery on Tuesday for a new art project aimed at bringing LGBTQ+ youth and older adults together in Cleveland. SPACES commissioned California-based artist Julie Tolentino, who will also partner with the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.
The project kicks off in July and centers on creating intergenerational bonds among the LGBTQ+ community through workshops, interviews, group conversations and artmaking.
“As partners in this experiment, exploring queer time unlocks lifetimes of untold yet felt bonds, expressive language and desire to acknowledge and celebrate the impacts of another’s life – as essential to the making of one’s own,” Tolentino said in a press release.
The project will conclude in fall 2024 with performances and events in the SPACES gallery, where participants and the public will have an opportunity to view and reflect on the work.
The Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, established in 1948, has honored artists of color and partnering nonprofit organizations with its annual Joyce Awards for 19 years. While an artist may be based anywhere, the commissioning organization must be based in one of six Great Lakes areas – Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
SPACES was chosen along with four other organizations out of more than 90 applicants.
Mia Khimm, culture program director for the Joyce Foundation, recognized the way SPACES embraces artists.
“They have a long history, but I just think they’re doing such amazing things that are fundamentally changing how artists are treated, how artists are seen and the value that their place has in our society,” Khimm said.
