Artists＆Mothers Announces $25,000 Grant Assisting New York City Artists with Childcare

New York nonprofit Artists & Mothers has announced an eponymous $25,000 grant in support of New York City–based artists identifying as mothers. The funds are meant to cover the cost of nine months of childcare, and are awarded to emerging or midcareer artists parenting a child under the age of three.

“It has become increasingly prohibitive for artists to balance the demands of raising children, both financially and logistically, while maintaining the space needed to think creatively and remaining committed to their practices. With little to no public options for childcare before the age of three, too often mothers are expected to pause their careers in order to fulfill their obligations as caretakers,” wrote the organization on its site. “Artists & Mothers recognizes the compromises artists are faced with in the early years of parenthood and seek to provide support at a crucial time in a mother’s personal and professional development.”

New York–born artist Carissa Rodriguez has been named the grant’s inaugural recipient. A founding member of the collaborative Reena Spaulings Fine Art, of which she was a core member from 2004 to 2015, Rodriguez is known for work exploring the social and physical conditions amid which art is made and consumed. “I am grateful to Artists & Mothers for recognizing that social reproduction—or more simply put, the care work that holds us together as families and communities—is a vital part of what makes art possible,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “By addressing the crisis of care that so many of us are experiencing, Artists & Mothers stepped in to provide much-needed support that the professional sphere has long overlooked.”

Artists & Mothers was cofounded by arts consultant Julia Trotta and artist and filmmaker Maria de Victoria. The nonprofit’s board includes gallerist Bridget Donahue, artists Camille Henrot and Maia Ruth Lee, and arts professionals Elizabeth Karp-Evans and Sarah Goulet.