Administered by RedLine Contemporary Art Center as part of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Art’s Regional Regranting Program, the INSITE Fund awards grants ranging from $6,000-$10,000 to directly support independent artists and artist collectives working across all visual media in the Denver Metro and the Colorado Front Range.
“The INSITE FUND has been a vital resource for Northern Colorado’s artists and collectives by supporting the production of creative projects that take place outside of traditional visual art settings,” says Khadija N. Adell, Regional Regranting Program Manager at the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. “The 2023 grant recipients represent a diverse range of approaches to engaging the visual arts through food, storytelling, photography, animation, printmaking, and more. We are excited to see these projects unfold and the ways they will uplift and engage with their communities.” Funded projects challenge traditional notions of the visual arts by engaging communities in experiential art outside of the standard gallery. The INSITE Fund specifically supports public facing visual arts projects that take place beyond the studio, museum, art center, or gallery to make visible often unseen and under-supported artistic activity—and to foster new communities and audiences around the work.”
This year, the INSITE Fund engaged a diverse group of local and national jurors who selected seven unique projects to support. Our 2023 jurors include Shey Rivera, Morgan Calderini, Ramón Bonilla, Mesha Arant, and Jane Burke. This granting cycle reflects Northern Colorado’s diverse artist community—culturally, economically, and geographically. The outcome is an exciting mix of sculpture, performance, comics, printmaking, photography, and more.
As 2023 INSITE Fund grantee Esther Hz shared, “This grant has enabled me to begin to work on a larger scale than I have ever been able to in the past. I have self-funded many projects before but this one would have been unrealizable without the support from the INSITE Fund. I’m excited to be able to grow my practice and learn all the lessons that come along with increasing the size, scope and impact of a project with INSITE Fund support.” 2023 INSITE Fund grantee Anthony Maes added, “Thanks to Redline and the INSITE grant, I’ve received crucial financial support, enabling me to sustain my creative projects. Their support is allowing me to display my work in a unique way offering it “more life”. Typically the demand of self-funding would limit my ability to create special projects. Beyond the financial aid, they also provide access to a valuable resource network, nurturing a more comprehensive approach to art that connects with the community. I’m very thankful that they believe in not only me but this project.”
Learn more about the 2023 INSITE Fund grantees below.
Inheritance Kitchen: An Immersive Cookbook of the Asian Diaspora – Courtney Ozaki
The Inheritance Kitchen is a collective kitchen of the AAPINH community and Asian diaspora in Colorado brought to life through an explorable space filled with visual memories, original artwork, and artifacts that embody the stories of our heritage as experienced through food. Visitors to the Inheritance Kitchen will have the opportunity to engage all of their senses while culture bearers share food and stories from their lived experiences connecting with family, friends, and community across generations.
Off The Merry-Go-Round: Traveling Zoetrope Installation -Alex Branch, Ben Coleman and Esther Hz
Alex Branch, Ben Coleman and Esther Hz are teaming up to create a large-scale, traveling zoetrope experience. Set on various school playgrounds, the zoetrope is ingeniously built upon a merry-go-round and brings still images to life through rapid sequences, celebrating early animation techniques. Sound artist Ben Coleman will contribute an immersive auditory element. This project combines art, play, and education, aiming to captivate youth, parents, neighbors, and the vibrant art community.
Nisheneit Ahas (trans. The Second Crow) – Tamara “TS” Botkin.
Nisheneit Ahas (trans. The Second Crow): An intersectional community experience, is a conversation at the intersection of narrative justice and visual arts. Join us as we move across time and perspective, as well as across film mediums, graphic novels, and mural art as we demystify the creative process for producers and
Proof Of: Queer Print Project – Proof Of Project Collective
The community impacted by the attack on Club Q is dynamic, vibrant, creative, diverse, mobilized, expansive — and (as is sadly the case for the queer community in general) underrepresented in the storytelling and reporting that followed. Proof Of: is a collaborative, queer print project that empowers survivors of the Club Q shooting to tell those authentic stories: of their experience, of people they loved, what they lost and who they are. With guidance and support from project partners, survivors are working with hand-picked, diverse local artists with personal connections to their story to co-create a collection of art posters to be hand-printed, shared and sold online to directly benefit the Queers for Q Mutual Aid Fund.
Ojo de Agua – Anthony Maes
“Ojo de Agua” Translates to “Eye of the Water”. I will be creating a community mural that reflects the unique character of my neighborhood. The mural would be a compilation of photographs I’ve taken in my neighborhood of Swansea posted inside my local swimming pool. Through this project, I aim to create representation showcasing our identities, all while beautifying this very public space to create a lasting cultural asset, and encourage community engagement and physical interaction.
