A diverse cohort of musicians, photographers, painters and writers are getting business training and a financial boost as part of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod's Capacity Building Grant Program.
The program grants $2,000 to each artist and requires them to spend the first half of the year developing business plans to map out their long-term professional visions.
"I look forward to learning more about how to create an infrastructure that will support me after I graduate from college, so that I don't have to do anything besides music," said singer-songwriter Gabriella Simpkins of Hyannis tells CAI, one of the grant's 15 recipients.
"I feel very privileged to be part of this program, and to be able to shed some light on more diverse stories, especially being a female musician of color who's a part of the LGBTQ-plus community," Simpkins added.
"There is a certain open-mindedness to supporting artists who can't necessarily be fit into a box," said musician and photographer DeAngelo Nieves of Provincetown, who added that his artistic purpose is to push "for the Cape's untold stories to be told."
The other artists chosen for the Capacity Building Grant Program include:
Lipe Borges (Brewster photographer)
Victoria Brown (South Yarmouth dancer)
Katie Castagno (Eastham musician)
Amy Davies (West Harwich filmmaker)
Karla DeStefano (Marstons Mills multimedia artist)
Joerg Dressler (Provincetown painter)
Tianna Esperanza (Hyannis singer-songwriter)
Gemma Leghorn (Orleans writer)
Amy Mason (Brewster illustrator)
Mike Palmer (Mashpee visual artist)
MiYoung Sohn (Provincetown visual artist)
Michelle St. John (Mashpee filmmaker and musician)
John Thomas (Provincetown composer and actor)
The Arts Foundation's grant program is part of its creative exchange program through an American Rescue Plan Act appropriation.
