Artist Leadership Fellows

Believing in the power of artists supporting artists

Artist Leadership Fellows is a transformational program that strengthens the professional skills of the next generation of artist leaders across the region. Designed with belief in the power of artists supporting artists, the program utilizes peer-modeling and mentorship to develop the talents of artists to serve as future program facilitators.

M-AAA’s Artist Leadership Fellow program selects artists, who are nominated by community partner organizations, from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. Over a course of eight weeks, the artists meet virtually with the facilitators to explore and develop professional aspects of their work as leaders in their communities.

Fellows leave the program with a cross-discipline, geographically broad network of peer artists, the strategic framework to manage enduring artistic careers, and the tools to serve as facilitators and mentors to others in their home communities across M-AAA’s region and beyond.

Through the program, artists deepen their knowledge, tools, and skills to strengthen their professional practices and directly apply them in supportive small group environment with the mentorship of M-AAA’s experienced peer facilitators. Topics include goal-setting, financial strategy, marketing, contracts, legal business structure, time management, and self-care.

The public is invited to join the virtual event to learn about the artists’ work on Monday, October 28, 2024, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Central.

To attend, guests are required to register in advance, and a virtual Zoom meeting link will be emailed upon registration.

Program Overview

Participating artists will explore the following topics:

Current arts ecosystem
Integrated goal setting including long-term and near-term
Artist tool refinement including resume/CVs, statements, bios, online presence, and artist presentations
Finance including strategy integration, budgeting, revenue streams, and taxes
Time management and self-care
Marketing including strategy integration, branding, product analysis, and audience analysis and development
Contracts
Legal business structure

Program Outcomes

Participating artists leave with:

Strengthened professional components of their personal art practices
Refined, well-developed tool-box of collateral materials
Goals and a strategic roadmap for their career
Access a strong cross-disciplinary and regional network of artists
Facilitation skills through the modeling of the program’s senior facilitators
Shared knowledge, tools, and skills with non-participant artists in their regions
Acquired artist professional development knowledge, tools, and skills to facilitate M-AAA Artist Services programs; and
gain access to additional streams of revenue through artist professional development facilitation (both through M-AAA and with organizations in their communities)

Goals

Through the program, M-AAA Artist Services:

Increases the racial/ethnic, discipline, and geography diversity of their facilitator pool
Exponentially increases the number of artists prepared for facilitation roles in their programming
Increases capacity to sustainably and quickly launch programming in new communities
Uses the ALF program experience as a vehicle for rapid-prototyping new content/processes
Accesses the larger ALF cohort for input on new content/processes

Current Fellows

Fall 2024 Artist Leadership Fellows

Brian Barreto (he/they) – Sculptor; Dixon, NM

Yashi Davalos (she/her) – Curator, Lens-Based Artist, Art Writer; Kansas City, MO

Hannah Demma (she/her) – Papermaker and Mixed Media Artist; Lincoln, NE

Toni Federico (she/her) – Visual Artist; Wichita, KS

Amaris Feland Ketcham (she/her) – Writer and cartoonist; Albuquerque, NM

MacKenzie Fulmer (she/her) – Painter; Kansas City, MO

Lindsey Rae Gjording (she/her) – Writer; Taos, NM

Xavier Jackson (he/him) – Coordinator, Facilitator, and Producer; Omaha, NE

Karen Jones Meadows (she/her) – Literary, Performing, and Visual Artist; Placitas, NM

Alex Kimball Williams (she/they) – Musician and Protest Artist; Lawrence, KS

Mika Maloney (she/her) – Writer and Artist; Albuquerque, NM

Dalamar McTizic (he/him) – Musician and DJ; Omaha, NE

Azalia Molina (she/her) – Visual Artist; Tontitown, AR

Daral Moore-Washington (she/her) – Art Administrator and Visual Artist; Houston, TX

Nathan Murray (he/him) – Sculptor; Lincoln, NE

Jennifer Perren (she/they) – Mixed Media Artist; Little Rock, AR

Taiomah Rutledge (he/him) – Multidisciplinary Artist; Wichita, KS

Zandra Sneed-Dawkins (she/her) – Visual Artist; Topeka, KS

Hugo Zamorano (any pronouns) – Visual Artist; Omaha, NE

Past Fellows

Scroll down to see fellows since Fall 2022

Spring 2024 Artist Leadership Fellows

Laura Blumenberg (Kansas City, MO)

Lakisha Bradley (Fayetteville, AR)

Paula Castillo (Belen, NM)

Lindsey Clausen (Lincoln, NE)

Princeton Coleman (Little Rock, AR)

Elexa Dawson (Emporia, KS)

Connie Fiorella Fitzpatrick (Lawrence, KS)

Bo Hubbard (Brooklyn, NY)

Jake Jackson (Topeka, KS)

Barbara Mehlman (Santa Fe, NM)

Sonny Mehta (Houston, TX)

JahVelle Rhone (Manhattan, KS)

Spade Robinson (Bentonville, AR)

Sabrina Staires (Santa Fe, NM)

Eric Stearns (Lincoln, NE)

Y. E. Torres (Houston, TX)

Nolan Tredway (Lincoln, NE)

Toan Vuong

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington (Santa Fe, NM)

Fall 2023 Artist Leadership Fellows

Raie Crawford (Houston, TX)

Pablo Diaz Carballo (Saint Marys, KS)

Maximiliano Dominguez (Little Rock, AR)

Brian Ellison (Houston, TX)

Pablo Guerra-Monje (Fort Smith, AR)

Elizabeth “Zed” Howard (Lee’s Summit, MO)

Letitia Huckaby (Benbrook, TX)

Cheryl “CandySoul” Humphrey (North Little Rock, AR)

Kimi Kitada (Kansas City, MO)

Amy Kligman (Kansas City, MO)

Chris Long (North Little Rock, AR)

Naima Lowe (Tulsa, OK)

Colin McLaughlin (St. Louis, MO)

Eddie Moore (Riverside, MO)

Julia Othmer (Parkville, MO)

Tracy “T-Spirit” Stanton (St. Louis, MO)

Sara Vanderbeek (Austin, TX)

Hope-Lian Vinson (Kansas City, MO)

Christine West (Albuquerque, NM)

Spring 2023 Artist Leadership Fellows

Oluwatobi Adewumi (McNeil, AR)

Vanessa Aricco (Kansas City, MO)

Ilene Berman (St. Louis, MO)

Tina Casagrand Foss (Jefferson City, MO)

con christeson’s (St. Louis, MO)

Brody Parrish Craig (Fayetteville, AR)

Zenique Gardner Perry (St. Louis, MO)

Andrew Heise (Kansas City, MO)

Araceli Lopez (Springdale, AR)

Hannah McBroom (St. Louis, MO)

Luisa Otero-Prada (St Louis, MO)

Charles Pace (Texarkana, AR)

Sarah Paulsen (St. Louis, MO)

Mariah Richardson (St. Louis, MO)

Alisha Saucedo (Topeka, KS)

Kholoud Sawaf (Fayetteville, AR)

Chico Sierra (Kansas City, MO)

Kody Stadler (Topeka, KS)

Becki Waugh (Topeka, KS)

Anna Zusman (Magnolia, AR)

Fall 2022 Artist Leadership Fellows

Kalyn Fay Barnoski (Tulsa, OK)

Kristin Beal (Wichita, KS)

Allison Bowman (Olathe, KS)

Wolfe Brack (Kansas City, MO)

JerMarco Britton (Saint Louis, MO)

Summer Brooks (Kansas City, MO)

Justin Bryant (Little Rock, AR)

Lydia Cheshewalla (Skiatook, OK)

Thomas Clifton (Little Rock, Arkansas)

Kai Coggin (Hot Springs, AR)

Kevin Demery (Kansas City, MO)

Mina Estrada (Wichita, KS)

Ben Grimes (North Little Rock, AR)

Lisa Krannichfeld (Little Rock, AR)

Lisa LaRue-Baker (Topeka, KS)

Lisa Maione (Kansas City, MO)

Sukanya Mani (Ballwin, MO)

Jeremiah Pickett (Fayetteville, AR)

Veronica Wirges (North Little Rock, AR)

Blake Worthey (Bentonville, AR)

Facilitators

Current Artist Leadership Fellows Facilitators

Upcoming Events

To celebrate the completion of the eight-week program, the Artist Leadership Fellows present their WorkShares, five minute presentations, where the artists will highlight and discuss their practices.