Jennifer Schwartz, Executive Director of Crusade for Art, announced the finalists today for the first $10,000 Crusade Engagement Grant. The Crusade Engagement Grant was created to foster the exploration of innovative programs to connect new audiences to photography. Over 170 artists and photography professionals submitted applications online, outlining their proposed project idea. The ten finalists include Ken Winnick, Amy Parrish, Jason Parker, Lindsay Nicole, Larissa Leclair, Matt Eich, Matthew Conboy, Cleveland Print Room, and Lisa Armitage, Joseph Gamble, Jamie Jackson, Marian Tagliarino, Cyndi Vickers.

Press Release

Schwartz Announces Engagement Grant Finalists

Jennifer Schwartz, Executive Director of Crusade for Art, announced the finalists today for the first $10,000 Crusade Engagement Grant, awarded annually to the photographer or group of photographers who come up with the best idea for building an audience for fine art photography.

Crusade for Art is a non-profit organization, founded in 2013, dedicated to helping fine-art photographers identify, build, and connect with collectors. The goal is to help address the imbalance between the supply of fine art photography and the demand for it. Traditional marketplaces, such as galleries and auctions, are under stress, limiting exposure opportunities for new artists. Crusade for Art aims to help fine art photographers tap into and cultivate new marketplaces.

The Crusade Engagement Grant was created to foster the exploration of innovative programs to connect new audiences to photography. The unrestricted grant will underwrite the execution of the best idea.

Over 170 artists and photography professionals submitted applications online, outlining their proposed project idea. Assisted by a couple of Board members, we sifted through these applications, reading them again and again, until we selected the ten most promising. The process was grueling because many of the 170 were excellent.

Each of the ten finalists will now submit a detailed application, including how their project would advance the overall fine art photography marketplace and increase the number of collectors. A summary of each of these great ideas are posted on the Crusade website (www.crusadeforart.org/finalists).

The finalist applications will be reviewed by an esteemed jury of photographic professionals, including Whitney Johnson (Director of Photography at The New Yorker), Karen Irvine (Curator and Associate Director at Museum of Contemporary Photography), and Rupert Jenkins (Executive Director at Colorado Photographic Arts Center). The jury will pick the winning application, which will be announced on September 15.

The ideas presented by the finalists are both creative and promising. They include everything from the use of social media to old-fashioned advertising (with a twist), from new platforms for photobooks and “zines” to creating photography collections in schools.

The ten finalists are:

Lisa Armitage, Joseph Gamble, Jamie Jackson, Marian Tagliarino, Cyndi Vickers, Mark Vickers (Tampa, FL) – photography subscriptions

Boxman Press (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) – Zine Machine

Cleveland Print Room (Cleveland, OH) – Cleveland photography events

Matthew Conboy (Pittsburgh, PA) – newborn collectors

Matt Eich (Norfolk, VA) – Photobook Collective

Larissa Leclair (Washington, D.C.) – Photobook Club

Lindsay Nicole (New Orleans, LA) – photography collections in schools

Jason Parker (Atlanta, GA) – photography billboards

Amy Parrish (Granville, OH) - photography collecting reality tv show

Ken Winnick (Shoreline, WA) – Speed Dating events for collecting

For more information and short descriptions of each finalist’s program idea, visit http://www.crusadeforart.org/finalists

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