Nicole Mitchell, Regina Harris Baiocchi, et al. Awarded 3Arts Awards

3Arts today announced this year's twelve recipients of the 3Arts Awards.  The awards were presented by the 3Arts Board of Directors and Awards Host Committee in a celebratory gathering at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Monday, October 3, 2011.

 

Driven by the belief that the vitality and creative spirit of Chicago is reliant upon a diverse spectrum of artistic voices, 3Arts advocates for women artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts. Through the 3Arts Awards program, twelve artists will receive $15,000 to put to use according to their individual needs and priorities-no strings attached.  Additionally, 3Arts is thrilled to announce two new initiatives to further support Chicago artists.  Next year's awards will extend to reach dancers and choreographers and starting now past awardees will be able to use the 3Arts website to further raise project support with the new crowd-sourcing project support platform called 3Arts Artist Projects (3AP).  With this new program, 3Arts aims to extend and deepen support of past awardees, helping them build momentum in their careers. Unlike similar crowd-funding programs, 3AP features an additional support stream to artists, with up to 1/3 of each project's total cost contributed by 3Arts, allowing great projects to see the light of day and introducing the community to some of the most brilliant artists among us.

 

"Artists need all the support they can get-and our city's vibrancy must in part be measured by whether local artists are valued and thriving-so we are deepening our programs once again. When artists have the freedom to dig deep and explore the far reaches, new possibilities open for all.  We are also excited to create some momentum for our awardees by adding a layer of project support. Our award recipients will now be able to derive ongoing, multi-faceted sustenance from our organization through awards, residency fellowships, and project support," said3Arts Executive Director, Esther Grimm.

 

Attendees at the 3Arts Awards celebration were treated to performances by 2010 awardee Nicole Cabell and this year's awardees Regina Harris Baiocchi, Ami Saraiya, and Nicole Mitchell.  The program also featured a surprise performance by DanceWorks Chicago.  The 2011 awards will provide a total of 12 Chicago artists with $15,000 each to use according to their individual priorities, with no strings attached. 

 

The recipients of the 2011 Awards are:

 

Performance:

Regina Harris Baiocchi, Composer

Regina is a composer and author whose music has been performed by Detroit and Chicago Symphony orchestras, US Army Band, and internationally-acclaimed artists. European performances include concerts in Paris, Rome, Bari, Italy, as part of Festival Incontri Musicali di Musica Sacra; in Turkey and Unna, Germany at the Women Composers' Library. Regina wrote music for symphony orchestra; a libretto and one-act opera; hand drum concerto; marimba concerto; ballet; chamber music; liturgical and secular music; vocal and instrumental, including pipe organ. Her writings on Artists of Color, Spirituals, Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Hip-Hop, Poetry, and Women are published by Oxford University, Third World, Greenwood, CBMR presses; Chicago Tribune Magazine and National Writers Union. Regina founded Haiku Festival to celebrate children and promote literacy. She wroteIndigo Sound; Urban Haiku; Blues Haiku; produced children's music on Kidstuff CD; her music appears on Soul ofa Singer; Good News Falls Gently; and Kaleidoscope CDs. Excerpts from Urban Haiku appear in Nicole Franklin's When Sistas Jump, a film on Double Dutch rope jumping. Regina received awards from National Endowment for the Arts; Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest; 3Arts; Arts Midwest; Illinois Arts Council; City of Chicago Cultural Affairs Department; Chicago Public Library Foundation; and ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers).  www.ReginaHarrisBaiocchi.com and www.HaikuFest.com

 

Kareem Bandealy, Actor

Kareem was born in Karachi, Pakistan, brought up in the USA, and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance from the University of Central Florida.  His Chicago theatre credits include: Rock 'N' Roll, Gas for Less, King Lear (Goodman Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Edward II, and Romeo & Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Illusion (Court Theatre); Heartbreak House (Writers' Theatre); The Last Act of Lilka Kadison, Peter Pan (Lookingglass Theatre Company); It's a Wonderful Life, Oklahoma! (American Theater Company); The Real Thing (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Wedding Play (About Face Theatre Collective);Our Enemies, Back of the Throat, 10 Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith (Silk Road Rising); and many others.  Regional credits: The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Three Musketeers, The Tempest (Illinois Shakespeare Festival); Love's Labour's Lost (Notre Dame Summer Shakespeare Festival); Stuff Happens, Julius Caesar(Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre); Cyrano De Bergerac, The Winter's Tale, Taming of the Shrew, Jack & the Beanstalk, As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet (Orlando Shakespeare Theater).  He has also appeared in commercials and feature films, and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association as well as SAG and AFTRA.  Kareem is an Ensemble Member of American Theater Company and an Associate Artist of Silk Road Rising.  See him next at Writers' Theatre as Mick in The Caretaker (Fall 2011-Spring 2012).

 

Nicole Mitchell, Composer

Nicole is a composer, improviser, and virtuoso flutist who incorporates her woman's voice.  Nicole transcends the boundaries of swing, free and modal jazz, blues, avant-garde, bebop, new music and non-melodic experimentation. She collaborates with choreographers, filmmakers and visual artists, is the bandleader and founder of multiple ensembles, and the former first woman president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Nicole is also the founder of the critically acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble and Black Earth Strings. Nicole's compositions reach across sound worlds, integrating new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, pop, and African percussion to create a fascinating synthesis of "postmodern jazz." With her ensembles, as a featured flutist, and as a music educator, Nicole has been a highlight at art venues, festivals throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada.  http://www.nicolemitchell.com/

 

Ami Saraiya, Singer/Songwriter

Ami is a veteran of the Chicago music scene.  Her songwriting is often described as magically surrealist in flavor and uniquely combining elements of chamber pop, blues, and gritty soul.  Before she released her first solo album, Archaeologist, Ami was the lead vocalist of pop collective Radiant Darling and R&B band Pelvic Delta, and has toured locally and regionally throughout the U.S.  A classically-trained pianist and a former music major at Indiana University, Ami also plays accordion and acoustic guitar. She currently performs live with her band, The Outcome, including Marc Piane (upright bass), Ronnie Kuller (violin), Gary Kalar, (electric guitar), Shirley Caen Rogiers (vocals), and Courtney Glascoe (vocals).  Ami and the band are in the process of recording a new album with famed producer/composer Mark Messing of Mucca Pazza/Maestro-matic productions that will be released in the spring of 2012 with a grandiose tour to follow.

 

Alison Siple, Costume Designer

Alison is a freelance costume designer who has been working in Chicago for 12 years. Recent projects: The Great Fire (Lookingglass), Sophocles Seven Sicknesses (Hypocrites), Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis) and Pirates of Penzance (Hypocrites).  Upcoming projects: Goodnight Moon (Chicago Children's Theatre),Mr. Rickey Calls A Meeting (Lookingglass), Our Town (Broad Theatre, Los Angeles) and Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly (First Stage Children's Theatre, Milwaukee). Off Broadway: Our Town (Barrow Street Theatre) and The 4^th Graders Present an Unnammed Love Suicide (Hypocrites at 59e59). Alison won the 2010 Equity Jeff Award for The Mystery of Irma Vep (Court Theatre) and the 2011 Non-Equity Jeff Award for Cabaret (Hypocrites). She also won Non-Equity Jeff Awards for Time and the Conways (Griffin Theatre) in 2006 and for Leonce and Lena (The Hypocrites) in 2005.  She is an undergraduate of Northwestern University, an Associate company member of The Hypocrites and an Artistic Associate with Lookingglass Theatre Company. Alison was named one of the 5 Most Prolific Theatre Artists of the Decade by Time Out Chicago and was included in New City's 2010 year-end list of 50 Important People in Chicago Theatre.  alisonsiple.com

 

Jacqueline Williams, Actor

Jacqueline is a Chicago based actor who works in theatre, film, TV, and is also a voice-over artist.  She was last seen at in Hot L Baltimore at Steppenwolf Theatre, where she also performed in The Brother Sister Plays (both directed by Tina Landau).  For well over twenty years Jacqueline has performed at Goodman Theatre; most recently as Aunt Daisy in Trinity River Plays.  Goodman credits include: Oo-Bla-Dee, The Story, Blue for an Alabama Sky, Amen Corner, Melanctha: Each One As She May, Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, Crowns, Richard II,and Skin Of Our Teeth.  Other Chicago credits include: Caroline, Or Change, Fences, Eelectra (directed by Moscow Arts Theatre's Mikhail Mokeiev), First Breeze of Summer (Court Theatre); Gee's Bend, The Miser, Po' Boy Tango (Northlight); Yellowman and Fabulation (Next); as well as work at Victory Gardens and Chicago Shakespeare.  Jacqueline's extensive regional credits include: LaJolla Playhouse, Huntington Playhouse, Hartford Stage, ACT-Seattle, Berkeley Rep, Portland Stage Co., Arena Stage, and others.  She performed On-Broadway in Robert Falls' Goodman production of Horton Foote's Young Man From Atlanta and was an original member of Jonathan Wilson's internationally acclaimed production of From The Mississippi Delta for two and a half years.  Off-Broadway credits include The Talent Tenth at MTC, and Goodman's production of Mill Fire.  Jacqueline also performed The Vagina Monologues off and on for two and a half years, raising money for women's issues worldwide.  TV credits include the cast of "Turks" for CBS, "Chicago Code," "Prison Break," and "Early Edition."  Film work includes The Break Up, The Lake House, Harball, White Boyz, and the recently filmedJust Like A Woman.  Jacqueline is also an acting coach, writer, adapter, and director.  She represented Goodman Theatre as a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow at Ten Chimneys (mentor, Shakespearean expert Barry Edelstein), and her awards and nominations include Helen Hayes, Jeff, American Arts Council, Sarah Siddons, Excellence in the Arts, Black Theatre Alliance, After Dark, and others.  Jacqueline's greatest blessing and highest calling is being mom to daughter Kara.

 

Visual:

Alberto Aguilar, Visual Artist

Alberto was born in Chicago to parents of Mexican descent. He has three brothers and one sister. Upon receiving his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) he married Sonia Leticia Guillen and together they have four children, half of which are girls. Alberto also received his MFA from SAIC and is currently a tenured instructor of studio art at Harold Washington College --one of the City Colleges of Chicago-- and co-coordinator of Pedestrian Project. Pedestrian Project is an initiative dedicated to making art accessible to people from all walks of life. Alberto's current practice merges his various roles in an attempt to capture fleeting moments, personal discoveries, and his interaction with others in tangible form. http://albertoaguilar.org/

 

Lisa Lindvay, Photographer

Lisa's current photographic series depicts the lives of her father, sister, and two brothers as they take on the burden of her mother's deteriorating mental state. Her photographs show the complexity of family, and explode the myth of domestic bliss. Lisa received a Master of Fine Arts in photography from Columbia College Chicago and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.  She has exhibited nationally at the National Portrait Gallery at Smithsonian Institution, the Hyde Park Art Center, Erie Art Museum and internationally at the Turner Contemporary in England. Her work is included in the Museum of Contemporary Photography's Permanent Collection, as well as several private collections.

 

Norman W. Long, Sound Artist

Norman is a local sound artist/designer/composer born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. He has exhibited and performed in galleries in Chicago, Ithaca, NY, London, and the San Francisco Bay Area. His current work focuses on sound art production within the larger context of landscape. His work revolves around the themes of memory, space, silence and the invisible. Norman's goal as an artist/designer is to create spaces reflecting history, culture and diversity of community and ecology. He now lives in Chicago and continues to compose, design and perform. He has performed at Kavi Gupta Gallery, HungryMan Gallery, the OPP shop, Brown Rice, and the Chicago Underground Library. He has composed a sound installation at the Lincoln Park Conservatory as part of the Experimental Sound Studio's Florasonic Series. Norman is also a member of the World Listening Project and the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology.

 

Teaching:

JoVia Armstrong, Teaching Artist

From Detroit, MI hails percussionist and songwriter JoVia Ljiljana Armstrong. JoVia began studying percussion as a high school freshman and by her senior year was section leader in the symphony orchestra, the symphony band, the concert band, the percussion ensemble, and the jazz orchestra. She enrolled at Michigan State University as a percussion performance major where she continued to perform and study orchestral percussion (including 4- mallet marimba/vibraphone). She also studied and performed with various on-campus ensembles of different genres including African drumming & dance, Latin Jazz, and Korean drumming. After earning a B.A. in Music Business at Columbia College Chicago, she quickly relocated back to Motown in 2002. Since her move back to Motown, she has performed with various artists such as El DeBarge, Martha Reeves, Omar, Joe VasConcellos, RES, Alison Crockett, Angela Johnson, Maysa, Rahsaan Patterson, Eric Robeson, Gordon Chambers, Conya Doss, flautist Nicole Mitchell, Althea Rene, Nadir, Wendell Harrison, BSTC. She played Cajon (box drum) for the "Tour of the Americas 2004". The group performed original and traditional songs of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Argentina. She has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Amp Fiddler, Trey Anastacio and Michael Franti & Spearhead. Currently, JoVia is composing songs for her World Jazz group, Musique Noire.  They were nominated for two Detroit Music Awards in 2009, 2010, and 2011 for Outstanding Jazz Recording ("Good Hair") & Outstanding World/ Reggae Group.  JoVia was nominated as well for Outstanding World/ Reggae Instrumentalist.  She has been busy writing songs and arrangements for various artists.  Her debut album, "Fuzzy Blue Robe Chronicles" was released in 2009.  http://jovia.bandcamp.com/

 

Regin Igloria, Teaching Artist

Regin maintains an interdisciplinary studio practice which revolves around teaching and serving as an arts administrator. He teaches studio courses regularly at Marwen and has taught at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Rhode Island School of Design, Terra Museum of American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and various workshops throughout the Chicagoland area. Currently he serves as the Director of Artists-In-Residence at The Ragdale Foundation and also runs North Branch Projects, a community bookbinding studio and project space in Albany Park, Chicago, which he founded in 2010. He received his MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design and his BFA from The School of the Arts Institute of Chicago and has exhibited his work internationally, most recently at the 2010 ANTI Festival in Kuopio, Finland. He is represented by Zg Gallery in Chicago, IL. www.reginigloria.com, www.northbranchprojects.com

 

Mirtes Zwierzynski, Teaching Artist

Mirtes is a visual artist, muralist, and teaching artist. She was born in Brazil and has lived in Chicago since 1981. Her studio work, through either individual or collective exhibitions, has been extensively shown in the Chicago area. She has also shown work in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Brazil.  Mirtes left Brazil for Paris as a political refugee, and her studio work reflects her lifelong concern with social justice and political discourse at both the public and private levels. She firmly believes in the capacity that art has to challenge conventions and status quo. Her current studio work has explored the changing nature of the urban landscape, and the new symbolic meanings involved in public space. During the past seven years she has documented the demolition of the CHA housing projects in Chicago as an artistic reflection that translates into her artwork. As an arts educator, she has worked with numerous arts organizations producing around 60 mosaics and painted murals and countless art residency programs for over fifty Chicago and suburban schools.

 

The Nomination and Judging Process:

Recipients of the 3Arts Artist Awards were selected based on a nomination and jury process.  Nearly 100 artists were nominated by 30 anonymous nominators who are Chicago artists, arts leaders, curators, and presenters acutely knowledgeable regarding artists working in a wide variety of communities in the greater metropolitan area.  Four discipline-based panels of three judges, each comprised of one local judge and two from out of state, selected the award recipients from among the applicants.  The judges are artists, presenters, curators, teachers, and arts leaders who assembled in Chicago to make their selections. 

 

The 2011 3Arts Artist Award judges are: Alvin Singleton, Composer (Atlanta, GA); Caroline Girgis, Former Community Outreach Manager for Stanford Lively Arts (San Francisco Bay Area); Jim Hirsch, Executive Director of Chicago Sinfonietta (Chicago); Abel Lopez, Associate Producing Director of GALA Hispanic Theatre (Washington D.C.); Dipankar Mukherjee, Artistic Director of Pangea World Theater (Minneapolis, MN); Henry Godinez, Resident Artistic Associate at the Goddamn Theatre (Chicago); Candida Alvarez, Artist and Professor of Painting and Drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago); Naomi Beckwith, Curator at the MCA (Chicago); Sarah Urist Green, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis, IN); Cynthia Weiss, Director of the Arts Integration Mentorship Project (AIM) at the Center for Community Arts Partnerships and Adjunct Faculty member at Columbia College Chicago (Chicago); Frank Baiocchi, Senior Program Officer at the Polk Bros. Foundation (Chicago); and Paul Sznewajs, Executive Director of Ingenuity Incorporated (Chicago).

 

About 3Arts

3Arts supports Chicago artists. Driven by the belief that the vitality and creative spirit of our city is reliant upon a diverse spectrum of artistic voices, 3Arts advocates for women artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts.  Our programs are designed to support artists in multiple and tiered ways-through validation, promotion, residencies, and unrestricted cash grants that let them know their risk-taking and determination are deeply valued.

 

For more information on 3Arts, please visit www.3arts.org or call Esther Grimm, Executive Director or Mark Becker, Associate Director at 312-443-9621.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.