Henrico artist among 40 statewide to earn VMFA grant

A Henrico County artist was one of 40 from Virginia selected to receive a $5,000 grant form the Virginia Artist Relief Fellowship Program, which was funded by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The announcement was made yesterday. The program is designed to assist visual artists who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.

Sandy Williams IV of Glen Allen was among about a dozen local artists to earn a grant.

The museum received more than 350 applications for the program. Recipients were selected by a jury made up of three staff members at VMFA: Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art; Natasha Campbell, head of the museum’s fellowship program; and Jeffrey Allison, head of statewide programs.

Artists were honored during a ceremony at the museum.

“Art has a way of bringing people together—something we need now more than ever,” said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. “These grant recipients hail from more than twenty different cities and towns across the Commonwealth, and Pam and I are proud to help support their important work.”

“Artists’ livelihoods and their ability to continue making art have been directly impacted by cancelled exhibitions and gallery and museum closures as a result of the pandemic,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA’s Director and CEO. “We sought to use resources we have available to help sustain artists in Virginia through this critical time.”

The Virginia Artist Relief Fellowship Program is funded utilizing the accrued excess balance of the museum’s existing Artist Fellowship Endowment established in 1941 through a gift made by the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg. Pratt stipulated that the funds be used to support professional artists as well as art and art history students in Virginia and not for other purposes. Through the endowment, VMFA has awarded nearly $5.8 million to Virginia artists in the Commonwealth during the past 80 years.