Announcing | NYFA Holiday Gift Guide

‘Tis the season for gift giving, and we’re here to help with ideas for the artists and arts lovers in your life.

Get creative with your gift giving and inform your own wish list this holiday season, courtesy of NYFA! All purchases help support the work of NYFA affiliated artists and entrepreneurs. 

NYFA Gift Ideas

The Profitable Artist: NYFA’s comprehensive “how-to” guide identifies common challenges of being an artist; examines specialized areas of strategic planning, finance, marketing, law, and fundraising; and distills these topics in such a way that artists of all disciplines can digest them and apply them to their own experience and practice. Authored by NYFA’s expert staff in conjunction with outside professionals. Purchase the book here.

NYFA Coaching Gift Certificate: This holiday season, give the artist or arts administrator in your life the gift of time with an expert NYFA staff member. Help your loved ones and friends take their career to new levels in the new year with a one-on-one NYFA Coaching consultation. Our coaches give personalized feedback and actionable next steps to help artists grow their careers and further expand their resources. Each gift certificate is ready to be printed immediately after purchase. To redeem, recipients book their own appointments through the NYFA Coaching website by using the unique code listed on the certificate. Gift certificate options here.

Art by NYFA-Affiliated Artists: Purchase an original artwork this holiday season, created by a NYFA-Affiliated Artist. A portion of proceeds from your purchase will go towards supporting NYFA and the artists we serve. View available artworks here.

Art, Objects, & Art Books

Dawoud Bey (Fellow in Photography ’86, ’90)’s Seeing Deeply is a 40-year career retrospective of the award-winning photographer that features images ranging from street photography in Harlem to a commemoration of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. Purchase the photo book here.

Zhong-hua Lu (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18) learned traditional brush painting during the Cultural Revolution in China, secretly practicing until Chairman Mao died in 1976. His delicate, nature-inspired work is available for purchase in the form of notecards or matted prints. Purchase Lu’s prints here.

Sara Lynch (MARK ‘09)’s one-of-a-kind jewelry and ceramics are handmade in New York State. Find items including a custom tea bowl of your favorite animal; pyrite, labradorite, and amethyst dangle earrings; and a moon cycle porcelain cup in her Etsy shop.

Helen Taylor Condon (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18) has been designing and making hand-braided rugs for nearly 50 years. Her Adirondack-themed baskets and wreaths are available for sale this holiday season and are functional works of art for your home. Purchase hand-braided baskets and wreaths here.

Tim White (Fiscally Sponsored)’s 16mm film bookmarks are composed of 40 16mm film frames from the production of the short film “3-22-11.” Each bookmark is one-of-a-kind and helps support the film’s completion. Visit this page for more information, and scroll to “The Perks of Donating” section to purchase.

Fiction and Nonfiction Books

Artist-scholar Danielle Brown (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18)’s book East of Flatbush, North of Love, is an ethnographic memoir that examines life growing up in the West Indian enclave of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. She uses music to teach the reader about life in this immigrant community, as well as in her parents’ native Trinidad. Purchase the book here.

Caitlin Cass (Fellow in Fiction ’18) makes comics, drawings, and counterfeit historical exhibits that folklorize historic failures and foretell grim futures. One of her latest works, Pre-History (Vol8 Iss6), is an artful hand-folded book about extinction and life. Purchase the book here.

YZ Chin (Finalist in Fiction ’18)’s Though I Get Home re-examines the relationship between the global and the intimate. Central to the book is Isabella Sin, a small-town girl—and frustrated writer—transformed into a prisoner of conscience in Malaysia’s most notorious detention camp. Purchase the book here.

Dana Czapnik (Fellow in Fiction ’18)’s forthcoming The Falconer: A Novel is a coming-of-age story that provides a snapshot of 1990s New York City and America through the eyes of the children of the Baby Boomer generation who are grappling with privilege and the fading of radical hopes. Pre-order the book here.

Monique Duncan (Boot Camp ’17)’s children’s book When Mama Braids My Hair captures a young girl’s experiences of having her hair braided and the bond it creates with her mother. Readers will enjoy going on an adventure with the main character and learning about the origins of the popular braided hairstyles of today. Purchase the book here.

Eric Gansworth (Fellow in Fiction ’18) is an enrolled Onondaga writer and visual artist. His most recent book, Give Me Some Truth, is a Native American coming-of-age story that navigates loud protests, even louder music, and first love. Purchase the book here.

Wafa Ghnaim (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18)’s Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora celebrates the centuries-old folk art tradition of Palestinian embroidery through 40 patterns, nine family recipes, and a complete guide to the techniques, meanings, and origins of each embroidery thread and color.  Purchase the book here.

Marwa Helal (IAP ’14, ’16, ’18)’s forthcoming book of poems, Invasive species, centers on urgent themes in our cultural landscape, creating space for unseen victims of discriminatory foreign policy: migrants, refugees—the displaced. Helal transfers lived experiences of dislocation and relocation onto the reader by obscuring borders through language. Pre-order the book here.

Sigrid Nunez (Fiction ’06)’s The Friend follows the story of a woman who unexpectedly loses a lifelong friend and mentor to suicide and finds herself burdened with an unwanted dog he has left behind. It was recently awarded the 2018 National Book Foundation award for Fiction. Purchase the book here.

Garrett Robinson (Boot Camp ’15)’s Beauty Beyond Reason is a collection of lyrical poems celebrating performance dance. Through this short story collection, Robinson expresses his appreciation for the sacrifices and commitment made by dancers while illustrating the important lessons that art teaches humanity. Purchase the book here.

Hugh Ryan (Fellow in Nonfiction ’17)’s forthcoming When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History is a never-before-told-story of Brooklyn’s vibrant and forgotten queer history from the mid-1850s to today. Pre-order the book here.

Amanda Stern (Fellow in Fiction ’12)’s memoir Little Panic: Dispatches from an Anxious Life documents the transformation of New York City in the 1970′s and ‘80s, through a deep, personal, and comedic account of the trials and errors of seeing life through a very unusual lens. Purchase the book here.

Music 

Master folkloric percussionist Moris J Canate (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18) is the founder of Afro-Colombian musical ensemble Group Rebolu. From traditional songs to original compositions, the Robulo repertoire is loaded with energy, history, and danceability. Purchase an album here.

Parthenia (Fiscally Sponsored)’s Nothing Proved – New Works for Viols, Voice, and Electronics creates a rich tapestry of stories from works that were written for and premiered by Parthenia over the past decade, by three women composers. Purchase the album here.

Maggie Roche (Music Composition ’02)’s Where Do I Come From is a two-CD set of 24 songs with four previously unreleased tracks, released posthumously after Roche’s passing in 2017. The collection spans forty years and her entire musical career, providing an immersive and poignant look at an original American songwriter. Purchase the album here.

Violinist Jake Shulman-Ment (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18) is among the most highly regarded klezmer musicians performing today. Shulman-Ment’s band, Midwood, features some of the most exciting performers on the international music stage. Purchase their first album, Out of the Narrows, here.

Salieu Suso (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18) was born into a family of farmers and traditional musicians/historians from Gambia, West Africa. He plays the 21-stringed Kora (West African harp); his father is a renowned Kora player and he is a descendant of the originator of the instrument. Purchase an album by Suso here.

Techung (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18) is a Tibetan folk and freedom singer/songwriter/performer living in exile. His music captures the traditional soundscapes of Tibet, but also transcends description through collaborations with musicians from other heritages. Purchase an album by Techung here.

Experiences

Nomi Ellenson (Boot Camp ’17) is offering empowering boudoir photography shoots for those who want the experience of feeling like a supermodel and confirmation that a super-vixen resides within. Ellenson’s goal is to help clients discover their beauty and creatively explore their alter-egos and inner divas. Book a “Boudoir On-the-Go” session here.

See new work by Justin Peck (Fellow in Choreography ’13) as part of New York City Ballet’s “New Combinations” program in late January and February 2019. The Resident Choreographer’s work will be joined by encore performances of Kyle Abraham (Fellow in Choreography ’10)’s Fall 2018 world premiere “The Runaway” and the first full staging of “Herman Schmerman” since 1994. Purchase tickets here.

Taylor Mac (Inter-Disciplinary ’09)’s Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus is coming to Broadway, beginning previews in March 2019. Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin will star in the comedy, which takes place just after the conclusion of William Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Purchase tickets here.

Marlon Mills (Boot Camp ’17) is offering group or private dance lessons to those interested in experiencing the excitement of dance this holiday season. His expertise includes Salsa and West Coast Swing as well as partner dances including Bachata, Cha Cha Cha, and some Ballroom. Contact the New York City-based Mills for more details at [email protected]. 

More Ways to Give

With friends like you, we can continue to fulfill our mission to empower artists in all disciplines at critical stages in their creative lives. Consider making a donation to NYFA to help us continue our vital services.

And, if you’re doing your holiday shopping on Amazon, start shopping with AmazonSmile. Every time you shop, Amazon will make a donation to NYFA.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more news and events from NYFA affiliated artists. Also, don’t forget to like us on Facebook to see what current fiscally sponsored projects are up to! To receive more artist news updates, sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter, NYFA News.

Images from Top: Amy Cheng (Fellow in Painting ’90, ’96), Gorgeous Wish, 2011, archival pigment print, available to purchase through Artspace; The Profitable Artist, Photo and Artwork Credit: Marco Scozzaro (IAP ’16); 16mm film bookmarks by Fiscally Sponsored artist Tim White, from the project “3-22-11;” Moris Canate (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’18), Grupo Rebolu, 2016, Photo Credit: Diana Bejarano; Marlon Mills (Boot Camp ’17) teaching salsa outdoors at Pier 45 in Manhattan.