Professors Alisha B. Wormsley and Addoley Dzegede and alumni London Pierre Williams (MFA ’24) and Jessica Gaynelle Moss (BFA ’09) are among the artists and organizations awarded 2024 grants by Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, a joint program of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments.
Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh is a foundations-funded program created to celebrate and grow the Black arts sector by supporting individual artists, artist residencies, nonprofit organizations or community-based programs that present and/or produce the art of Africa and the African Diaspora.
For the second year, ABAP has provided two-year grants for project-specific support, totaling $1.2 million in new grants to 24 individual artists, collectives, and arts organizations. Since 2010, Advancing Black Arts has awarded more than $13 million toward the goals of expanding community awareness of the Black arts sector, supporting collaboration among artists, increasing the profiles of artists and arts organizations, and combatting racial disparities within the larger arts ecosystem.
This year, two faculty members and two alumni are being recognized with grants to support transformative projects ranging from site-specific public art and innovative new works to community-centered programming and exhibitions in Pittsburgh.
Addoley Dzegede
Adjunct Professor Addoley Dzegede is a Ghanaian-American artist who grew up in South Florida and is based in Pittsburgh. Dzegede’s grant will support research, studio space, a residency and continuing education for the development of a Ghana Album series, new soft sculptures and new glass works.
Jessica Gaynelle Moss
Jessica Gaynelle Moss‘ (BFA ’09) arts practice merges visual art with real estate, philanthropy and institution-building, all rooted in a profound commitment to artists by reimagining spaces, reinventing systems, and creating new worlds devoted to the survival, resistance and healing of Black artists and community members. Moss’ grant will support the transformation of a four-story residence in the Hill District into a site-specific public artwork.
Sibyls Shrine
Created by Assistant Professor Alisha B Wormsley in 2019, Sibyls Shrine is a network of Black artists who m/other in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — and beyond. The art collective and residency program is rooted in radical care, rest, and support, and its grant will be used to help support programming.
London Pierre Williams
London Pierre Williams (MFA ’24) is a visual artist whose paintings are based on his interest in contemporary theory on self investigation and the intersections between Blackness and Queerness in identity politics. Williams’ grant will support the creation of a series of paintings to be featured in an exhibition and public artist talk in Pittsburgh.
