The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and the The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Program are proud to announce the recipients of the inaugural Assemblage Art Fund, distributing $60,000 to artists and collectives based in Salt Lake County for new visual art projects that will be created and presented within the county.
The Assemblage Art Fund provides targeted support to visual artists and collectives in Salt Lake County, Utah, for projects that are alternative, collaborative, and intentionally engaging new and diverse audiences. By cultivating resources that enable artists to experiment, connect, and thrive, Assemblage Art Fund serves as a building block for the creation of long-term support structures for artists in Utah.
This year, nine artists and collectives were selected by a four-person national jury to receive either a $5,000 Process Grant or a $10,000 Project Grant, depending on project scope and resource needs.
2025-26 Assemblage Art Fund Awardees
Process Grants ($5,000 each):
• Construction Company — Steven Chodoriwsky, Joshua Graham, and Chaz Prymek
An experimental platform for collective making, exploring repair as both practice and philosophy through installation, public programming, and mobile education.
• Alexandria “Inez” Garcia — The Monarch Migration
A mobile, site-responsive performance project using sculpture and live butterflies to explore migration, belonging, and renewal.
• A Madden — The Queer Birth Project
A multimedia project tracing queer family building and caregiving through installation, performance, and community dialogue.
• Sophie Nebeker — Ceramic Kiln Firing Craft-Art Experience
A communal ceramics and raku firing project that connects craft, ritual, and collective making.
• Kat Nix + Connor Estes — Sounds of a Life Well-Loved
An immersive sound installation exploring pleasure, presence, and the sensory experience of dying and remembrance.
• Sara Serratos — Restaurantes Mexicanos en Salt Lake County
A photographic documentation of local Mexican restaurants as vital sites of labor, memory, and community identity.
Project Grants ($10,000 each):
• Cara Despain — Home Front Doom Town
An installation-based project confronting Salt Lake City’s nuclear legacy through reconstructed structures, oral histories, and uranium glass displays.
• Rae Luebbert — Soft Shoulder
A six-hour, interdisciplinary performance exhibition centered on endurance, care, and accessibility as artistic forms.
• Punto de Inflexión — El Puesto
A long-term, participatory performance and installation exploring intergenerational Latinx culture through a market-stand environment.
“The inaugural Assemblage awardees reflect the ingenuity and depth of Salt Lake County’s artist community,” said Laura Allred Hurtado, Executive Director of UMOCA. “By supporting projects rooted in collaboration, experimentation, and care, the Fund strengthens the foundation for a sustainable and inclusive arts ecosystem in Utah.”
“The inaugural Assemblage Art Fund will support new and collaborative public-facing projects throughout Salt Lake City County. This year’s grantees have proposed works that address a wide range of engaging topics including migration, repair, legacy, and cultural memory,” says Khadija Nia Adell, Regional Regranting Program Officer at the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, “We are grateful to the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art for their partnership in administering these grants with thoughtfulness and care, so that the artistic voices of the region can continue to thrive.”
The Assemblage Art Fund is supported through the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Program, which recognizes and funds independently organized, public-facing, artist-centered activity across the United States. Since its establishment in 2007, the program has expanded to 39 partner organizations nationwide, each administering grants of up to $12,000 for experimental projects that lie beyond the reach of traditional funding sources.