Ford and Mellon Foundations Announce Final Disability Futures Fellows

The Ford Foundation and theMellon Foundationhave named the recipients of the 2024Disability Futures Fellowship. Administered by United States Artists, the fellowship was established in 2020 as a three-cycle program aimed at elevating and celebrating the work of disabled practitioners working across multiple creative fields, including those of arts and culture, journalism, and documentary film. With the intention of raising the visibility of disabled artists and creative practitioners and of drawing attention to the financial and professional challenges they face, the fellowship for three years distributed $1 million annually among twenty recipients, with each receiving an unrestricted $50,000 grant.

Among this year’s winners are Korean American writer, musician, and artist Johanna Hedva, who explores issues of grief, illness, and disability through the lenses of mysticism, ritual, and myth; actress, filmmaker, and writer Natasha Ofili, whose work tackles issues of mental health within the Black deaf community; and Emily Sara, founder and editor in chief of the publishing initiative cripple, which supports disabled artists and designers.

“Since the program’s launch in 2020, we have seen the Disability Futures fellows’ widespread resonance throughout the cultural sphere, and are thrilled to announce another impressive cohort of creative leaders in the program’s final cycle,” said Judilee Reed, president and CEO of United States Artists, in a statement. “We look forward to seeing their practices continue to grow, pushing the boundaries of their disciplines and supporting structures of care and coalition-building within their communities.”

The fellowship came after a yearlong research initiative commissioned by the Ford and Mellon Foundations and conducted by United States Artists, which interviewed dozens of disabled artists and creative professionals across the US to learn how to better serve their cohort. After receiving feedback from the first round of fellows regarding the additional labor and difficulties the application process presents for creative practitioners, the organizers of the prize scrapped the application-based model and shifted instead to a nomination-based method.

The list of 2024 Disability Futures Fellows is below.

Day Al-Mohamed(she/her)FilmmakerSilver Spring, MD

Saira Barbaric (they/he/ze/she)Mixed media makerSeattle

Kay Ulanday Barrett (he/they/siya)Poet, essayist, and cultural strategistRahway, NJ

Christine Bruno (she/her)Actor, teaching artist, and disability equity consultantNew York

Gabriela Cruz (she/her)Drag entertainerMiami

Anne Finger (she/her)WriterOakland, CA

Elliott Fukui (he/him)Organizer and writerOakland, CA

Luz Guerra (she/her)Activist-writer, storyteller, and historianAustin, TX

Kayla Hamilton (she/they)ArtistBronx, NY

Johanna Hedva (they/them)Writer, artist, and musicianLos Angeles

Cyrée Jarelle Johnson (he/him)PoetHudson Valley, NY

Gaelynn Lea (she/her)Musician, composer, writer, and activistDuluth, MN

Walela Nehanda (they/them)Writer and cultural workerLos Angeles

Natasha Ofili (she/her)Actress, writer, filmmaker, and producerLos Angeles

Saleem Hue Penny (he/him/friend)Hybrid poetChicago

Cara Reedy (she/her)JournalistNew York

Nancy Rourke (she/her)ArtistLoveland, CO

Emily Sara (she/her)Artist and designerMassachusetts

Finnegan Shannon (they/them)ArtistBrooklyn, NY

Warren “Wawa” Snipe (he/him)Actor and Music ArtistAldie, VA