Individual Artist Award

This project will bring five immersive poetry therapy sessions to four Orlando nonprofits serving marginalized communities. Blending spoken word poetry with evidence-based clinical practices, this program empowers participants to use poetry as a lifelong practice for creative expression and emotional resilience.

This one-week residency immerses K-5 students in African musical theatre while exploring cultural heritage, climate justice, and ecological awareness through daily workshops in music, dance, storytelling, and visual arts. Students will collaboratively create and perform an original piece that reflects both ancestral knowledge and contemporary environmental themes, culminating in vibrant school and community showcase.

A small collection of Black maritime culture pertaining to Florida - from the Everglades to the coastal areas of Tampa and the connections to Central Florida/the Orlando region showcased at Mennello Museum of American Art in Spring of 2026.

Origins is the first of three parts in a larger project called Human Nature. Human Nature explores our sense of belonging on this planet we call Earth. Part one, Origins, explores the natural process of our planet, earliest human behaviors, and the inextricable connection to the planet at the beginning of human history.

This project is a large-scale immersive installation created from repurposed and donated vibrant fabrics, symbolizing the rich cultural landscape of Orlando's communities. Alongside the installation, free public workshops will invite community members to engage in collaborative art-making and storytelling.

This project celebrates Central Florida's cultural variety by showcasing the art, dance, and traditions of its many communities. Five artists will be selected to present a collaborative exhibition and lead a community art demonstration, fostering unity and meaningful cultural connection.

This public art initiative is to make more accessible in the community. By installing vending machines that dispense $1 prints of the artist's original work , the project fosters spontaneous art appreciation and supports a local artist.

Portrait of a Kiln: 2026 is a celebration of the role that kiln design and kiln building play in the the lives and work of ceramic artists. This exhibition will feature seven established ceramic artists from across North America to share insight into their work, their lives as artists, and how their relationship with clay had led each other them to build a kiln at the center of their artistic practice and lifestyle.

The #ReviveZora Campaign honors Zora Neale Hurston's legacy by commissioning five Black women spoken word artists, engaging schools, libraries, and communities through poetry, and culminating in a landmark event at the 2026 Southern Fried Poetry Slam Festival.

A month-long immersive, and participatory solo art show on the central theme of the liberation on the other side of our own Shadow. The Shadow is made up of the parts of ourselves that we suppress, are ashamed of, and try to hide from the world. The exhibit will include a guided path for the guests to immerse themselves in, along with community installations that will grow throughout the month and live performances on opening night.

HAMPI is a multilingual, multimedia, autobiographical, autoethnographic project by River Coello chronicling their journey of reconnection to the Andean cosmovision. The exhibition brings together this project's various elements, including: photographs taken throughout the Andes, collaborative illustrations and textile samples featuring the region's sacred animals, physical copies and audio samples of the award-winning book, as well as performances from Coello and other local artists.

A leveling up of the participatory Orlando Contra Dance series, building a core of highly-skilled social dancers and growing the community to the point of financial viability and a creation of possibly the first curriculum for teaching intermediate to advanced contra dancing. Dancers participate in America's folk traditions, do aerobic exercise, hear traditional live music (Appalachian old-time, Irish, Scottish), and meet people of all backgrounds.

Harmony Bridge is a comprehensive music education and music therapy program that includes interactive sessions for adults with special needs at senior care facilities, virtual sessions for those with mobility limitations, and cultural lecture demonstrations at local schools, led by professional musician and Sitar player, Surabhi Adesh. This project aims to improve participants' coordination, motor skills, memory, and social connection while introducing them to Indian music and instruments.

Moving Through Stories is a dance and healing project led by artist Maria Fernanda Saavedra that supports migrant and immigrant women in reconnecting with their bodies, identities, and cultural roots. Through a blend of Colombian dance, somatic practices, and storytelling, the workshops promote emotional well-being, self-empowerment, and resilience in encouraging and transformative spaces.

The Sunshine Trombone Collective creates opportunities for the entire community to engage with local trombone players of all abilities to perform Holiday Music as a large choir.

In March 2026, emerging Central Florida theatre director Charis Watler is bringing Agnes of God, a seminal work on religion and trauma, and God and Science: A Themed Art Gallery constructed of the work of local visual artists that will allow applicants to share their artistic perspectives on how God and Science can conflict and coexist. Ms. Watler seeks to explore the themes of how religion and psychology intermingle and how the beliefs of one can impact many.

This project focuses on the growth of empathy as it relates to the epidemic of school shootings in the United States of America by using anecdotes form those most affected - students, parents, and educators. The art created during this project will include oil paintings, mixed media, punch needle work, and the beginning stages of a memorial. This project has the intended goal of connecting with these groups in and around Central Florida and sharing their stories and perspectives with others.

Canvas of the Soul is a workshop series designed for elementary students, teens, and seniors, taught by multi-media artist Sanjana Deshmukh. Over the course of 5-10 workshop sessions, students will use mixed media techniques, exploring color and texture, to examine the relationship between humans and animals, ultimately developing their own creative practice. The project will culminate in a community art display in Summer 2026, showcasing and celebrating student work.

Afro Puerto Rican Bomba classes, workshops, and presentations will be conducted around Central Florida to provide fundamentals, dance and percussion techniques, and demonstrations to educate and engage the community on the oldest genre of music and dance from Puerto Rico.

Echoes of Form is an immersive violin and cello recital curated by Ilana Zaks, held at the Albin Polasek Museum in January 2026. Combining classical music, nature field recordings, and visual art, the program explores migration, identity, and sustainability. Educational workshops and soundwalks enhance community engagement and deepen connections to culture and the environment.