Year in Review | Fiscal Sponsorship in 2018

To wrap up what has been an eventful year, NYFA is commemorating our artists’ blossoming achievements!

NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship is proud to support these projects by helping them fundraise and bring their work to wider audiences. Here are a few highlights from this past year:

Monika Fabijanska
THE UN-HEROIC ACT: Representations of Rape in Contemporary Women’s Art in the U.S.

In September, art historian and curator, Monika Fabijanska, launched the impactful exhibition, THE UN-HEROIC ACT: Representations of Rape in Contemporary Women’s Art in the U.S., at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Fabijanska’s vision for the curated exhibition was sparked by seeing Carole Thea’s Sabine Woman sculpture in 2015. The exhibition was a milestone not only for female artists who aim to dismantle the romantic representations of rape in the media, but also for survivors whose voices and perspectives have been left out in contemporary art. The New York Times featured THE UN-HEROIC ACT as an exhibition in which “female artists delete rape’s ‘heroic’ underpinnings.”

The Luminal Theater

Founded by Curtis John, The Luminal Theater is a microcinema based in Central Brooklyn which provides a platform for filmmakers and film enthusiasts who exhibit media of the African diaspora. The Luminal Theater has catered to their growing audiences by screening films from emerging filmmakers and film enthusiasts through their Cinema Garden Parties and special film screening events. In June, The Luminal Theater’s short films Kafou and Tezen were shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of BAM’s Caribbean Film Series event. The organization also co-hosted Selebrasyon!, a film festival celebrating film made by the Caribbean diaspora, with Haiti Cultural Exchange, Caribbean Film Academy, and Hudson Guild. The Luminal Theater was awarded a 2018 NYSCA Grant.

Deanna Witkowski
Nossa Senhora Suite

Pianist and Composer Deanna Witkowski has had a jam-packed year with Nossa Senhora Suite, a musical project which fuses Afro-Brazilian ritual music and jazz. The idea for Nossa Senhora Suite grew from Witkowski’s first visit to Brazil in 2006, where she returned as a performer in 2007 and 2010. Witkowski was selected as a 2018 NYSCA individual artist grant recipient and was also awarded a residency fellowship at the Sacatar Institute in Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil, where she met fellow pianists, held workshops, and continued doing research for Nossa Senhora Suite. Witkowski’s next performance is on Saturday, December 8 at The Hillman Center in Pittsburgh, PA. 

Zakir Thaver
Salam – The First ****** Nobel Laureate

After a decade of research and compilation, Zakir Thaver premiered the documentary film Salam – The First ****** Nobel Laureate to audiences in the U.S. and abroad. The documentary follows the history of Nobel Prize-winning Pakistani Physicist Abdus Salam, who made a profound impact on modern science but who was shunned in his home country because of his religion. In 2018, Salam has managed to snag a plethora of awards and official selections from the Raw Science Film Festival, Washington, D.C. to Chicago’s South Asian Film Festival, and the Human Rights Film Festival, to name a few. The next screening of Salam will be on Saturday, December 15 at The South Asian International Film Festival in the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway in New York City.

Roger Grunwald
The Obligation

Internationally-acclaimed actor Roger Grunwald premiered his one-man performance The Obligation at Potrero Stage in San Francisco, CA. The story follows the life of a Polish Jew living in Bialystok during World War II. The Obligation was a 2018 Theater Bay Awards Finalist for Outstanding Solo Production, Outstanding Lighting Design, and Outstanding Sound Design. Broadway World called Grunwald’s performance “a thoroughly compelling, thrilling experience.”

– Eleysha Sajous, Fiscal Sponsorship Intern

NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship’s next quarterly no-fee application deadlines are December 31, March 31, June 30, and September 30, with out-of-cycle reviews accepted year-round. You can learn more about NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship program here.

Images From Top: The Obligation, Courtesy of Roger Grunwald; The Coerced Contact, Roya Amigh, Courtesy of Monika Fabijanska; Act of Protest, Courtesy of The Luminal Theater; Sacatar Institute in Brazil, Courtesy of Deanna Witkowski; Abdus Salam, Courtesy of Zakir Thaver; The Obligation, Courtesy of Roger Grunwald.