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Startup and creative fellowship accelerator gener8tor will host a virtual showcase for the 2021 gener8tor Art recipients on Thursday, September 9, at 5:30 p.m. CT. The virtual showcase is a celebration of the 2021 gener8tor Art recipients: Phoenix Brown (Milwaukee, WI); Jessica Harvey (Milwaukee, WI); LaNia Sproles (Milwaukee, WI); and Hope Wang (Chicago, IL). The four artists just completed this year’s program and will each present their work and speak about how the gener8tor Art accelerator program impacted their artistic practice. The virtual showcase will be live streamed and is free and open to the public. Registration is available here.
gener8tor Art is a free,12-week accelerator designed specifically for visual artists to achieve greater visibility and success by providing the support and mentorship needed to navigate the art industry. The four artists participated in the free accelerator, which included coaching, mentoring and networking with gener8tor staff, as well as with visual art leaders from Milwaukee and across the country. Of the top accelerator programs in the country, gener8tor is the only one to offer grants and programming for artists.
“Artists are critical in shaping the culture of any community,” said Nyra Jordan, social impact investment director at the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. “This is why we continue to support the programming of gener8tor Art. Congratulations to these incredible artists”
“It has been a pleasure to work with such a talented group of artists,” said Maureen Ragalie, Director of gener8tor Art. “These artists have spent the past 12 weeks focused on creating a sustainable business structure to support their creative practices, allowing their creative practices to flourish.”
In addition to the 12-week accelerator, gener8tor Art hosts free professional development webinars, with topics including creating a budget for your art project; preparing for a virtual
studio visit; digital strategies for artists; and how to write an artist statement. gener8tor Art also hosts an art collector education series for new collectors, with topics ranging from the art market to how to buy artwork from auction houses. You can sign up for future webinars on the gener8tor Art website.
Alumni from the gener8tor Art accelerator program include Ben Balcom, Brent Budsberg & Shana McCaw, Tyanna Buie, Sydney G. James, Le’Andra LeSeur, Dakota Mace, Open Kitchen, and Ariana Vaeth. In addition to working towards successful next steps in their art careers, all alumni artists are working on or have completed long-term projects as part of their experience with gener8tor Art.
gener8tor Art is made possible through support from the American Family Institute for Corporate and Social Impact.
Artist Profiles
Phoenix Brown uses painting, printmaking and drawing to highlight dialogues around Black feminism, personal narrative and pop culture. She uses diverse mediums and methods of making to confront western art history’s portrayal of nature, still life and the Black female body.
Jessica Harvey uses photography, video, sound, archival resources and objects constructed from everyday materials to create images and installations that focus on memory and place, with a particular emphasis on the role of women in personal or familial histories. Through humor and tragedy, Harvey creates a new way of re-evaluating life, death and the mythology of our own history.
LaNia Sproles uses printmaking, drawing and collage to interwork philosophies of self-perception, queer and feminist theories, and inherent racial dogmas. Her work focuses on the black femme body as a location of trauma and compromised autonomy, while the figures in her work act as a reclamation of space as a queer Person Of Color.
Hope Wang specializes in weaving, screen-printing, painting and photography to create trompe l’oeil documentations of sites of industrial labour, including building facades that have been eroded, redacted or defaced. By focusing on these architectural “scars,” Wang explores how people form complicated relationships with the structures of their daily lives.
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gener8tor is a turnkey platform for the creative economy that connects startups, entrepreneurs, artists, investors, universities and corporations. The gener8tor platform includes pre-accelerators, accelerators, corporate programming, conferences and fellowships focused on entrepreneurs, artists and musicians. gener8tor.com
gener8tor Art is a 12-week accelerator program for visual artists. gener8tor Art helps artists achieve greater success by providing the support and mentorship needed to maintain a sustainable practice and navigate the industry. https://gener8torart.com/
The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact is a venture capital firm and partner of choice for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building scalable, sustainable businesses in a long-term effort to close equity gaps in America. The Institute invests in companies working to provide economic opportunity for all, to build resilient communities, to create healthy youth development and to increase learning and academic achievement. It is based in Madison, Wisconsin and can be found on social media @AmFamInstitute or on their website amfaminstitute.com/.
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