ARTIST CREATION GRANTS

Soul of Nations Foundation’s Soul Center for the Arts is supporting artists fellowship grants for Indigenous American,  African American, and  Afro-Italian artists and researchers; and support a possible one-month artist residency and professional development programming in Florence, Italy. Vernacular sculpture and abstract ceremonial artist performance will be the primary thematic and practical use of the Artist Creation Grant. All dramatic themes should be rooted in natural, environmentally friendly, and Indigenous or Afro-diasporic practices. In order to be considered, artists should apply online. Please click here to learn more about eligibility and program details. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and are reviewed three times per year.

Soul Center for the Arts functions as a contemporary art gallery and residency concept dedicated to exhibiting, elucidating, and documenting the modern anthropology of Indigenous American, African American, and Afro-Italian communities in Florence. Soul Center for the Arts provides emerging and renowned Indigenous American and African American visual artists with the opportunity to engage in public restorative healing practices and workshops in the birth country of Christopher Columbus, all the while unearthing Afro-diasporic historic and present regal legacies. Support for Soul Center for the Arts was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the Municipality of Florence, U.S. Consulate General Florence, and The Recovery Plan. 

ARTIST RESIDENCIES

The Soul of Nations Foundation believes that artistic design cannot flourish or enhance community life without the ideas, energy, and drive of individual artists. We also believe that artists cannot make these contributions without unfettered creative time and space. Research residencies will help artists set aside a period of time for study, reflection, experimentation, exploration, and the opportunity to work on new creative artistic projects and vernacular disciplines.  Vernacular sculpture and abstract ceremonial artist performance will be the primary thematic and practical use of the gallery space. All dramatic themes should be rooted in natural, environmentally friendly, and Indigenous practices, and will not have a strong emphasis on technology or technical equipment. During the one-month residency periods scheduled to take place twice per year in Florence, the Soul of Nations Foundation will cover artist travel and lodging. Each artist would also receive an additional honoraria to produce new site specific works and co- leading community workshops and talks for university students and art patrons in Italy.

EXHIBITIONS

Physical and online exhibitions include the display of vernacular sculpture and performance; elements of work that exemplifies essential cultural qualities which include the modulation, richness, and materiality of surface; sculpture; and the orchestration and sequencing of movement which embody power and beauty of the contemporary that is sourced from traditional techniques of BIPOC culture. Artist residencies, performances, and exhibitions will showcase living Indigenous emerging contemporary artists of all ages, while only including objects created before 2019. Soul Center for the Arts endeavors to revitalize vernacular traditional, and even ancient, forms of sculpture and performance for intentional cultural and ceremonial purposes, all the while looking toward the future for inspiration.