A Blade of Grass is a New York City-based organization that supports socially engaged artists nationally through fellowships, public programs and efforts to expand the discourse around their work. Founded eight years ago as the term “socially engaged art” was coming into common usage, though without a lot of consensus around its exact meaning, A Blade of Grass has worked hard to create a context for the disparate practices that flourish at the intersection of art, community and social justice and to raise the visibility of this work in the art world and beyond.
A Blade of Grass
Guests plant flowers chosen by incarcerated mothers in A Blade of Grass Fellow jackie sumell’s cell-sized garden bed as part of “What It Takes to Be Free: Artists Respond to the Criminal Justice System,” an A Blade of Grass event at the Lower East Side Girls Club, New York. Photo by Chris Green.
Jury members are sworn in during "I Speak for the Trees: A Mock Trial," an A Blade of Grass event that tested whether art copyright law could be used to legally halt construction of a natural gas pipeline, as proposed by A Blade of Grass Fellow Aviva Rahmani. Photo courtesy of RAVA Films.
“The Warhol Foundation aims to support the full range of artistic activity in America—from exhibitions at major museums to neighborhood projects by artist collectives. Arts writers, through the range and specialization of their individual interests, touch upon all of this activity—illuminating and interrogating it and bringing it into conversation with the public. Support for artists is not complete without support for the circulation and serious consideration of their ideas. The Arts Writers Grant program keeps artists at the center of cultural dialogue and debate—in our opinion, right where they belong.”
Joel Wachs, President