The 44 Artists as Witness Grant Recipients
Thank you to everyone who applied for Artists As Witness grants for Minnesota artists and culture bearers who are bearing witness
Applications closed at 11:59pm on February 8, 2026
The response to Artists as Witness has been extraordinary. Within the first day, we received significant interest from artists, reflecting both the urgency of this moment and the deep care artists and culture bearers across Minnesota are bringing to their communities.
This incredible response affirms how essential artists’ witnessing and documentation are right now. We are grateful to every artist who has shared their work and trust with us.
These grant recipients are sharing community stories through a full-length play, a short-form documentary, zines and collaborative videos, as well as documenting mutual aid and support networks, marking places where ICE agents took people, holding space for community to tell their stories, making visible underreported impacts of the ICE occupation, preserving social memory through poetry, creating a community-centered portrait series, and much more.
We are humbled to announce this incredible group of artists selected to receive a total of $44,000 in Artists As Witness grants:
Aaliyah Henrie • Abdimalik Ahmed • Akiko • Alex Barreto Hathaway • Anniessa Antar, Avery LaFlamme, and Serena Violet Hodges (team) • Anonymous (2) • Antonio Duke • Ashawnti Sakina Ford • Binta Kanteh • Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo • Charlie Andrés • Constanza Carballo • Crystal Sokuu • Darius Dotch • Drew Arrieta • FM People’s Pride Art Collective • The Ghost Shoe project • Grover Hogan • Jamie Capps • José A Luis • José Felipe Ozuna • Juan Diego Perez La Cruz • Kassie Bradshaw Kmitch • Katie Ka Vang • Klo Vivienne Garoute • Kyle Tran Myhre • Lara Mimosa Montes • Loren Niemi • Mai’a Williams • Martha Essi Sykes • Minna • Mounisha Gorle and Gautham Vijayasankar Raja (team) • Nedahness Rose Greene • Ngân Elic Huỳnh • Nia Navarro • Nimo H. Farah • Noval Noir • Tall Paul, Haley Day Rains, Uzoma Ngwu, Mike Owens, Wendie Owens, Samara Jones, Faith Phillips, Natalia Poteryakhin, and Marcy Price Jackson (team) • Sagirah Shahid • Shankaron Hassan • Udeshi • Wei Vivian Lu •
We congratulate these grantees, and share gratitude for the important work they are doing. We look forward to witnessing and amplifying their stories.
Grant recipients
Presented alphabetically by first name; check back for more info in the coming months
Aaliyah Henrie
Read Aaliyah’s bio
Aaliyah Henrie is an educator, writer, and storyteller whose work centers on identity, family, and the complexities of growing up and living as a mixed woman in America. Her writing blends reflection, cultural commentary, and intimate storytelling, exploring the quiet moments and lived experiences that shape who we become. With a background in education and years of experience working with children and young adults of diverse abilities, Aaliyah approaches storytelling with empathy, curiosity, and a deep respect for human experience. Her work often draws from personal memory, family history, and the everyday realities of motherhood, community, and belonging. Through essays, poetry, and narrative nonfiction, Aaliyah’s writing seeks to challenge assumptions, invite honest conversations, and illuminate the nuanced intersections of race, identity, and family dynamics. Her forthcoming work, Color Theory, is a poetic and reflective exploration of lived experience in America from the perspective of a mixed woman navigating bias, perception, and personal truth. In addition to writing, Aaliyah works in education and career development, helping young people build confidence, independence, and meaningful paths forward. This work continues to shape her storytelling and reinforces her belief that stories have the power to connect people across backgrounds and experiences. Aaliyah lives in Minnesota with her husband and their son. Her work is grounded in the belief that the most powerful stories often come from the ordinary moments we carry with us.
"Spilled Ink"
This collection includes pieces the artist, Aaliyah Henrie, created for the Artists as Witness Grant, “But,” Aaliyah shares, “Spilled Ink became more than a submission.”
“It turned into a space where I let my thoughts exist without overthinking them. No filters. No perfection. Just truth.”
Aaliyah describes this book as “pages that meet you where you are are,” written for: the over-thinkers, the feel-everything people, and the ones who have something to say but don’t always know how.
She invites you to go read it. Sit with it. Interpret it your way.
Abdimalik Ahmed
Read Abdimalik’s bio
Abdimalik Ahmed is a multi-award-winning playwright, director, and filmmaker based in Minneapolis, MN. His play “Your Hello to My Goodbye” won top awards at the 2025 MN Fringe Festival. He is currently working on an artist residency with Soomaal House of Art and the University of Minnesota. He works as a 2nd AD/production assistant on local commercials, film, and TV.
Akiko
Read Akiko’s bio
Akiko Ostlund is a visual artist, performance artist, teaching artist, curator, and an activist who lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A native of Osaka, Japan, she uses poetry, music, dance, collage, found objects and shadow puppetry to tell stories that reflect her time, and a narrative of immigrant women of color that is often underrepresented in white Eurocentric society.
Alex Barreto Hathaway
"Tropiculture"
Tropiculture
Tropiculture reconsiders Minnesota as a tropical place—by climate, culture, and people. Each July, Minnesota transforms: the earth’s tilt brings longer daylight, more humidity, and luscious vegetation. The state joins with other tropical communities across the globe to celebrate sounds, ecologies, foods and street culture. Centering nature’s lines over borders, the project resists division and erasure of immigrant culture. Instead, the project affirms and unites Minnesota’s diversity as visible, rooted, and long-lasting.
Anniessa Antar, Avery LaFlamme, and Serena Violet Hodges
Read Anniessa’s bio
Anniessa Antar is a filmmaker, educator, software engineer, and performance artist. Her pedagogy and creative practices center the power of sensory, playful and collective work to make liberation irresistible. She has worked with organizations such as Springboard for the Arts, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Mizna, Confluence: An East Lake Studio for Community Design, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, the School for Poetic Computation and Backwoodz Studioz. She currently teaches in the MFA program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Read Avery’s bio
Avery LaFlamme is a film scholar, archivist and filmmaker based in Minneapolis. His research focuses on Black film history, historiography and aesthetics. His filmmaking is rooted in experimental documentary traditions and explores local ecological experience. He currently works at the Walker Art Center as a moving image archivist.
Read Serena’s bio
Serena Violet Hodges is a documentary cinematographer and filmmaker. Serena has worked on series including High on the Hog (Netflix) and Asian Americans (PBS) and provided cinematography for Academy Award winning short film, The Only Girl in the Orchestra (2024), and documentaries, Food & Country (Sundance 2023) and Following Harry (Tribeca 2024). Serena is a recipient of the Jerome Foundation Video and Digital production grant (2023) for their personal documentary, Muncie Didu.
Anonymous
"Community Visibility and Education"
Community Visibility and Education
Support for a series of videos being created in collaboration with others covering what’s happening with DHS/ICE violence in affected communities in Minnesota, and to educate affected communities.
Anonymous
Antonio Duke
Read Antonio’s bio
Antonio Duke is a Twin Cities based actor and playwright. He’s the program director of The Ifẹ̀ (Ee-fay) Lab which is a fellowship highlighting black solo performing artists. The fellowship combines film and live performances culminating into a multimedia, multidisciplinary, Afro-futuristic showcase. His goal is to provide easily accessible digital theater that motivates, inspires, and replenishes black communities. Digital theater is live theater that is filmed and streamed online. After graduating from The University of Minnesota/Guthrie B.F.A. Actor Training Program he received The Naked Stages Fellowship with Pillsbury House + Theatre where he created his first solo play Ashes of Moons. His second solo play Tears of Moons was accepted into The Guthrie Theatre’s Solo Emerging Artist Celebration. Tears of Moons was filmed and streamed with Park Square Theatre. With these two pieces he received an inaugural Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship the same year. He created his third solo play Missing Mississippi Moons with additional support from The Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant. Missing Mississippi Moons was filmed and streamed by Combustible Theater Company, Los Vegas Theater Company, and The Guthrie Theater. He’s a Wonderlust Ensemble Member. He is honored to be a 2024-2025 McKnight Fellow in Playwriting.
"Security — A Staged Reading"
Security — A Staged Reading
Security is a staged reading of a full-length play set in Minneapolis that documents the lived experiences of Black cultural workers inside a public theater during a period of protest, ICE activity, and social unrest. Centering security staff, custodians, and artists, the project bears witness to how communities practice care, resist harm, and preserve dignity under pressure. The reading functions as documentation, countering erasure and affirming shared humanity through storytelling.
Ashawnti Sakina Ford
Read Ashawnti’s bio
Ashawnti Sakina Ford is an actress, improviser, poet, cultural producer, teaching artist and multi-disciplinary theatre artist. Raised with the richness of Black artistic expression by parents who embodied Hip Hop and spoken word poetry, it was a natural path for her to become a professional creator. She has been a performer since the age of 8, a poet and improviser since the age of 10 and has been seen on multiple renowned Twin Cities stages such as Penumbra Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company, Pillsbury House Theatre, The Jungle and Ten Thousand Things. She has performed and taught workshops internationally as an improviser being featured in prominent festivals in Oslo, Amsterdam and Berlin. Her work has always highlighted the spirit of resistance, community and joy. She is a proud mother to Iniko and dog mom to Nina SiBone.
"Unity Poems"
Unity Poems
Ashawnti will write and distribute poetry as a source of hope and documentation in our current times. For 30 consecutive days, Ashawnti will continue to bear witness to the political and social climate of the Twin Cities by writing one poem per day to reflect on the present time, resist fascist regimes and unite our community members in hope and solidarity. This collection of poems will be called “Unity Poems”. Movements need poetry.
Binta Kanteh
Read Binta’s bio
Binta Kanteh is a proud daughter of immigrants from Gambia and is the eldest of three children. The immigration journey of Binta’s parents inspired her to pursue a life of service to assist individuals who have been historically disadvantaged and isolated. Binta’s writing explores the intersections of culture, religion, immigration, and captures the stories of successes and challenges of various communities. Binta is pursuing her Masters at the University of London SOAS in Global Journalism concentrating on Investigative and Human Rights Journalism.
Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo
Read Cecilia’s bio
Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo is a Chilean-American documentary filmmaker, artist and educator based in Northfield, Minnesota, the occupied ancestral land of the Wahpekute Band of the Dakota Nation. Locally rooted yet globally minded, her work examines notions of home and the immigrant experience while exploring the traces of historical trauma on people and places. Since moving to Northfield in 2010, Cecilia has produced two feature-length documentaries in close partnership with underrepresented groups in town: Making Noise ~ The Story of a Skatepark (2016), developed with the local skateboarders, and Ways of Being Home ~ Between Northfield & Maltrata (2020), made in collaboration with members of the Latinx community in town. Her latest explorations, The Wandering House, The Embroidery Project and The Wandering House ~ Sonic Archive, have sparked collaborations with individuals and organizations inside and outside of Northfield and expanded her practice beyond filmmaking.
"Stitching Memory & Resistance"
Stitching Memory & Resistance
Using the Chilean technique of arpillera, Cecilia will invite members of the Latinx community of Northfield to document their daily lives under the current immigration crackdown. She will hold in-person workshops to explore embroidery and appliqué techniques while also sharing our stories, hopes, and fears. Participants will receive all the materials at no cost and will be equipped to create a small tapestry of their own design that documents their lived experience.
Charlie Andrés
Read Charlie’s bio
Charlie Andrés is a nonbinary, queer, neurodivergent Colombian adoptee and book artist whose work navigates the intersections of their identities. As a lifetime Minneapolis resident, they are called to respond to the ongoing events of Metro Surge.
"We Say ‘Stay Safe’ Instead of ‘Goodbye’ Now"
We Say “Stay Safe” Instead of “Goodbye” Now
Charlie will create an artist book that is part tools for legal observers and activists, part personal reflection. It is equal parts functional and reflective so that it can be used presently and serve as something of a time capsule.
Constanza Carballo
Read Constanza’s bio
Constanza Carballo is a bilingual Argentine-American public artist and printmaker based in Minnesota. Through murals, mosaics, and participatory linocut printmaking, she centers migration, environmental justice, and collective healing while inviting communities to become co-creators in public space. Rooted in dignity and cultural memory, her practice positions art as a tool for visibility, connection, and liberation.
"Bearing Witness: Community Linocuts for Dignity and Care"
Crystal Sokuu
Read Crystal’s bio
Crystal Sokuu is a talented visual artist, accomplished muralist, and passionate paint instructor dedicated to empowering individuals through art. With a focus on themes of women empowerment, self-discovery, and mental health, Crystal creates thought-provoking pieces that resonate with her audience on a deep emotional level. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Crystal facilitates engaging workshops tailored for youth and families, where she helps participants recognize and navigate their emotions through artistic expression. Her ultimate goal is to inspire others and share powerful stories through the transformative medium of art, making a positive impact on the community and beyond.
"Holding Space, Bearing Witness"
Holding Space, Bearing Witness
This project documents the emotional landscape of my Minneapolis community through guided art workshops and visual storytelling. Participants process grief, fear, hope, and resilience through creative expression, creating a collective record of lived experience during this moment. Through artwork, written reflection, and documentation of the process, the project counters misinformation by centering emotional truth, dignity, and shared humanity as witnessed directly within community spaces.
Darius Dotch
Read Darius’s bio
Ivey Award winning actor and hip-hop artist Darius Dotch has been an artist for over 15 years. His passion is to express the dreams, joy, love, pain, frustration, humor and hope of my journey as a Black American. He has released 30 songs including and EP, 8 music videos which has allowed his artisty to reach countless Minnesotans.
Drew Arrieta
Read Drew’s bio
Drew Arrieta is a documentary photographer and interdisciplinary visual artist based in Minneapolis. Their work spans photography, printmaking, storytelling, writing, and installation, often built through portraits, conversation, archives, and public participation. Shaped through listening and collaboration, their practice centers care, interdependence, and collective imagination, using documentary approaches and archives to explore how futures are dreamed, remembered, and built together. Their work has been featured in Vogue, NBC News, and the Columbia Journalism Review, with support from the Jerome Foundation, Magnum Foundation, and Minnesota State Arts Board
FM People’s Pride Art Collective
Isabetta Bleu, Margaret McKenzie-Ray, Melina Holtzer-Benitez, Logan S
Read Isabetta, Margaret, Melina, and Logan’s bios
Isabetta Bleu uses art to parallel their journey of reconnection to ancestral roots. They are a youth development professional and teaching artist who believes strongly in co-creating publicly accessible creative spaces. As a cook, poet, and multi-media maker, they are driven to create nourishing experiences. Margaret McKenzie-Ray is a first-generation American artist, organizer, and educator currently working in reproductive healthcare. Using watercolor, collage/paper arts, and ceramics, they explore history, storytelling, myth, and religion. Ryan Flynn is an artist, teacher, and organizer. Their work focuses on political and emotional paper collages. They create with secondhand sources such as magazines, comics, and old library books. Melina Holtzer-Benitez plays the role of organizer and community outreach. They create paintings, collage, mixed media, and perform as an actor and musician. Logan S. (He/Him) is a queer illustrator, writer, and zine maker. The artist’s goal is to inspire joy in others and connect to the community in a way that is only possible through art.
"melt the ICE, build a bridge"
melt the ICE, build a bridge
This project will be a collective, collaborative, culmination of photo and video documentation, oral stories, instructional resources, and community gatherings put together in the form of a zine that can exist and be distributed both digitally and physically. We will be sourcing stories, footage, and art from immigrants, activists, organizers, and neighbors to capture the wide array of experiences and feelings that are coming from this unique moment in time that we are living.
We are a collective of artists and community organizers in the Fargo-Moorhead area that aim to create work and cultivate gatherings with abolitionist, decolonial, & anti-capitalist values. Our studio space is a place of learning and un-learning, of creating and collaborating.
The Ghost Shoe project
Laura Migliorino, Anthony Marchetti, Melissa Borman, Chavonn Williams Shen, Luis Fitch
Read about the artists
The Ghost Shoe project was started by a small cohort of creative practitioners to create a remembrance project for the ICE siege Minnesota endured in the winter of 2026. The artists are Melissa Borman, Laura Migliorino, Anthony Marchetti, Chavonn Williams Shen, and Luis Fitch. This core group represents a broad spectrum of creatives in our state, many are recipients of McKnight and Jerome awards, Minnesota State Arts Board funding, and other prestigious awards. We are Queer, straight black, white and brown; we are citizens of Minnesota. The group represents publishing and exhibiting both locally and worldwide but most importantly this project belongs to everyone and will expand and invite participants from all walks of life. While we may be the ones who established the idea it is not about us, it’s about the resistance movement within our communities.
"ICE Ghost Shoes 26: A Remembrance"
ICE Ghost Shoes 26: A Remembrance will mark the places where ICE agents have kidnapped /arrested people and mark it with a pair of shoes/boots including children’s shoes. This is a remembrance project to never forget what we witnessed.
Grover Hogan
Read Grover’s bio
Grover Hogan (they/them) is a queer, Black and Mexican interdisciplinary artist from Houston, TX, currently based in Minneapolis, MN. They received their BFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Fine Arts Studio, Drawing and Painting, with a minor in Teaching Art. Grover’s work combines pedagogy, esoteric trial and error, and personal narrative to bridge the gap between the individual and our collective American Shadow Self. Their art and writing has been exhibited both virtually and in-person, including venues such as CLUES Gallery of St. Paul, Mardag Gallery at Franconia Sculpture Garden, Teen Vogue, Houstonia Magazine, and MN Women’s Press. They are currently a studio artist at Public Functionary and a 2025/26 Jerome Fellow. Find Grover’s art and writing at groverhogan.com
"Future Artifacts"
Future Artifacts
Future Artifacts is an ongoing collection of multimedia art objects that serve as both documentation of the emotional responses to ICE’s occupation in Minnesota, as well as objects that serve a spiritual or functional purpose. Objects include protective altars, papeles (papers) pouches, and courage talismans. This body of work will be well documented and archived so that future generations may use this work as a primary source when looking back to this time.
Jamie Capps
Read Jamie’s bio
Jamie Capps is a California-born artist whose practice centers on papermaking, printmaking, and book arts. After changing career paths midlife, she returned to school as a nontraditional student at Mount Holyoke College and later earned her MFA from the University of Iowa Center for the Book, where she focused on papermaking. Capps’s work explores paper and print as embodied thinking processes that carry memory, labor, and quiet resistance. Through handmade paper, sculptural books, and print-based works, she investigates how material can hold emotional weight and narrative without relying on text. Drawing on myths, folklore, and imagined creatures, her work considers themes of uncertainty, protection, and transformation, using fiber and repetition as collaborators in shaping fragile yet insistent surfaces. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including Cedar Crest College, Evanston Art Center, Morgan Conservatory, Lyndon House Arts Center, K.K. Merker Gallery, Public Space One, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Taber Art Gallery, and Nishino Heritage House in Echizen, Japan.
José A Luis
Read José’s bio
José A. Luis was born in Minatitlán, Veracruz, Mexico, has lived in Milwaukee, WI, Chicago, IL, and now in Minneapolis, MN. As a queer-bilingual-immigrant-choreographer/dancer he navigates the complexities of the self/identity in relation to space, time, and relationship in community. The physical, emotional, and mental conditions we navigate are present and blurred in José’s approach to dance. He centers curiosity and vigor in navigating the spectrum of knowness and possibilities. His 12+ years as a primary solo artist continues to unfold as he dissects the solo form by integrating collaborators, rotating performance roles, and revealing the unseen labors of dance through writing. For more: https://www.jose.dance.
José Felipe Ozuna
Read José’s bio
José Felipe Ozuna is a previously undocumented poet living in Minneapolis, MN. He was a 2022 Undocupoets Fellow and a 2023–24 Mentor Series Fellow. His poems are published in Best New Poets, Poetry Daily, The Rumpus, the anthology Here to Stay, and elsewhere. Find more of his work at josefelipeozuna.wordpress.com
Juan Diego Perez La Cruz
Read Juan Diego’s bio
Juan Diego Pérez La Cruz is a Venezuelan visual artist, experimental filmmaker, and architect based in Minnesota. His interdisciplinary practice explores memory, migration, and political history through archives, performance, and image-making, creating works that function as living records of displacement and collective experience. He developed the award-winning experimental documentary Let Me Know When You Get Home as a New Angle Fellow at St. Paul Neighborhood Network; the film has screened internationally and received Best Short Documentary at The Alternative Film Festival in Toronto. His work bridges artistic research and community engagement, positioning art as a space for testimony, resistance, and shared memory.
"Invisible Infrastructure"
Invisible Infrastructure
Invisible Infrastructure documents the mutual aid and support networks that have sustained me as a Venezuelan migrant and public school teacher. Through a zine combining text, photographs, and visual mapping, the project highlights the quiet heroes, colleagues, neighbors, and community members whose acts of care often go unnoticed. It captures the cohesion, resilience, and solidarity that enable migrants to navigate daily life, transforming personal experiences into a collective narrative of survival and community support.
Kassie Bradshaw Kmitch
Read Kassie’s bio
Kassie Bradshaw Kmitch is an archaeologist and digital archivist who is documenting the art of protest in the twin cities. She has been using photogrammetry to conserve street art as a form of protest since the 2020 lynching of George Floyd. She has been documenting the resistance movement against the fascism of Trump’s second Presidency since January 2025. Currently, she is documenting the art of protest during Operation Metro Surge (Dec 2025-present) and has been legally observing ICE actions in the Twin Cities. Photographs and 3D scans can be found on her website: www.digitizemsp.com
Katie Ka Vang
Read Katie’s bio
Katie Ka Vang is a Hmong American playwright, screenwriter, and narrative strategist, focusing on identity, race, gender equity, culture shifting, transformation, and joy. Her work has been produced and developed nationally and internationally. She recently received the Creative Impact Award from United States Artists; 2025 Joyce Foundation Recipient to create HMong Futures; she’s received two fellowships from the Playwrights’ Center as well as other awards and grants, and holds an MFA in Playwriting from Brown University.
"capturing processes of SE Asians who have been deported"
Klo Vivienne Garoute
Read Klo’s bio
Klo Vivienne Garoute (she/her) is a transgender, Hatian American composer, conductor, pianist, and voice educator. Having studied choral music at University of Southern California and jazz and electronic production at Berklee College of Music, her original works are shaped by a blend of eclectic influences and often center around themes of loss, identity, reflection, and social progress. She has devoted much of her time to singing in and directing choirs, studying voice science and pedagogy, playing piano and keyboard for jazz, rock, and classical groups, and producing original work for various ensembles. Notable achievements include conducting positions for Calliope Women’s Chorus, Boston Choral Ensemble, and Boston Children’s Chorus; published research and conference presentations on the subject of gender-affirming voice pedagogy and voice science; and performances and commissions of original choral compositions by ensembles including Boston Choral Ensemble, Exilio Ensemble (Los Angeles), University of Southern California’s University Chorus, and Minneapolis Choir Collective.
"Lost"
Lost
A choral piece depicting fear and loss in daily life for immigrants and people of color in the Twin Cities during ICE’s “Operation Metro Surge”
Kyle Tran Myhre
"Resources for Creative Troublemakers"
The resource zine from Kyle Tran Myhre gathers everything that the artist found himself sharing during the surge, with a special focus on the ways that artists and culture workers showed up (and continue to show up) to support our communities.
These include invitations into the work, action ideas, a list of links for artists and writers, favorite poems and essays from Minnesota voices, and more.
The zine is meant to be useful—both to people in Minnesota doing this work, and to people preparing in other communities.
He’s since shared copies of the zine everywhere from the Netroots Nation conference, to the Immigrant Defense Network’s Midwest Summit, to dozens of performances, workshops, trainings, and beyond. Find both the digital version and a PDF to print/fold/share your own at guante.info/try.
Lara Mimosa Montes
Read Lara’s bio
Lara Mimosa Montes is a writer, editor and teaching artist. She is most recently the author of The Time of the Novel (Wendy’s Subway, 2025) in addition to two previous books of poetry.
Loren Niemi
Read Loren and Christine’s bios
Loren Niemi is a Minnesota based storyteller with 45 years of telling to audiences of all ages in urban and rural settings, a published poet/author, and the Founder of the American School of Storytelling. The American School of Storytelling provides in-person and online classes and workshops, performances and open mics in support of the oral narrative arts and building vibrant community.
Christine Mounts is a poet, memoirist, the co-founder of the American School of Storytelling and the smiling face of everything that happens at our 1762 Hennepin Ave venue.
"Witness Open Mic"
Witness Open Mic
The American School of Storytelling will add a “Witness Open Mic” on the 1st Monday of the month to join / compliment our existing community building Storytelling (3rd Monday) and Poetry (4th Monday) open mics. Specifically, we’ll hold space for artists, neighbors, and community to tell their stories. What have you seen or done? How are you living with fear, anger, anxiety? What can we learn from listening to each other?
Mai’a Williams
Marcie Rendon
"We Are Still Here"
Martha Essi Sykes
Read Martha’s bio
Martha (she/her) is a writer and community member dedicated to art, environment, and relationships as a means to healing, particularly for Black Diasporic communities. “Artist” is a newer title for her, but has been creating her entire life and more recently started engaging with collage, dance, theatre, and voice in addition to her writing. Stories from the Movement is a project borne out of the roles that she hopes to play in document, archiving, and dreaming towards liberation and rest for all.
"Stories from the Movement: Collective Storytelling of Minnesota’s Response"
Stories from the Movement: Collective Storytelling of Minnesota’s Response
Stories from the Movement is meant to be a way to not only primarily support Black and Brown writers and artists and their too-often role of truth telling in their work, but also to capture our lived reality in a hopeful and imaginative framing. We are looking for archival work but we also invite Afro-futurism, speculative fiction, poetry, visual art, and more. Through providing this platform, we hope to provide artist mutual aid and position art as powerful.
Minna
Read Minna’s bio
Minna is a writer, researcher, and radio maker. The child of Chinese immigrants, they have a longstanding interest in the untidy notion of Asian Diaspora and the collective task of renarrativization. They care about accessibility and nuance and are always learning more. For the MN Asian Movement Archive (MAMA), they bring together archivists, security nerds, artists, and community members to co-create a digital archive documenting the latest chapter in Asian Minnesotan struggle and resistance.
"MN Asian Movement Archive"
MN Asian Movement Archive
The MN Asian Movement Archive is a community-generated digital archive by and for the people. It will document and make visible the largely underreported impacts of the ICE Occupation on Asian immigrant and refugee communities in the Twin Cities. It also serves as a record of Asian Diasporic resistance, which is often overwritten by false narratives of complacency. This archive fights cultural and historical amnesia by providing a platform for collective storytelling.
Mounisha Gorle, Gautham Vijayasankar Raja
Read Mounisha’s bio
Mounisha Gorle is a Minneapolis-based advocate and BIPOC artist whose work centers on trauma-informed support for survivors of domestic violence. She serves with SEWA and Hennepin County’s Domestic Abuse Service Center, empowering individuals through compassionate advocacy and culturally responsive care. Currently pursuing her Master of Social Work at the University of Minnesota, Mounisha’s practice bridges social justice and expressive healing. Through her community art workshops across Minneapolis, she shares Lippan art, acrylic, and watercolor techniques that honor culture, creativity, and resilience.
Read Gautham’s bio
Gautham Vijayasankar Raja is an immigrant storyteller, filmmaker, and arts organizer in Minneapolis. A lifelong lover of human stories, he creates short films and community-centered projects that explore memory, identity, and belonging. His award-winning films include Stained Moment (Best VFX, Bangalore Film Festival) and Nadappavai (Best Editing & VFX). As Vice President of SAATH and founder of Tham Collective and LearnTamilWithUs, he builds spaces where culture, language, and lived experience are shared across generations.
"What it feels like to stay: A South Asian immigrant perspective"
What it feels like to stay: A South Asian immigrant perspective
This documentary bears witness to how South Asian students, employees, restaurant owners, residents, neurodivergent and queer people in Minneapolis are experiencing ICE activity, each from their own position of safety, risk, or visibility. Through firsthand stories, the project also examines why some South Asians support enforcement while others fear it, drawing parallels to caste systems of power, compliance, and survival. By documenting internal complexity, we counter erasure and preserve lived truth with care and dignity.
Ne-Dah-Ness Rose Greene
Read Ne-Dah-Ness’s bio
Ne-Dah-Ness Rose Greene is a BIPOC photographer and social justice activist from the Leech Lake Reservation. Her compelling imagery captures the raw, unscripted poetry of our human world, with a particular focus on Indigenous identity, resilience, and truth. Through the lens, she weaves powerful narratives that center on culture, land, and people, creating a visual legacy that educates, inspires, and shifts perspectives. Her work has been featured in major publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, People Magazine, ELLE Magazine, USA Today, The Star Tribune, Indian Country Today, Cowboys & Indians, The New York Post, The Grist, and the BBC. Her photography has made national headlines, and her work has been included in exhibitions and institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City. Ne-Dah-Ness has been commissioned by a range of prominent figures and organizations, including actor and activist Mark Ruffalo, National Geographic, The Solutions Project, Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and many respected authors and publishers across Indian Country. Her images have also appeared in numerous best-selling books and are regularly featured by university professors and PhD scholars across academic institutions nationwide. Ne-Dah-Ness has also worked closely with National Black Farmers association during the filming of “The American Farm” a National Geographic documentary and was also hired for the remainder of the film. In addition to her work in advocacy and cultural documentation, she has also captured the energy of the music world, photographing major concerts and events for artists like Lil Wayne, Montana of 300, 2 Live Crew, and Bobby Brown. Her photography has been used on artist websites and in promotional materials. She has interviewed and photographed notable figures such as Doja Cat, Trippie Redd, Salt-N-Pepa, and many other musicians and performers. Ne-Dah-Ness is regularly sought after to photograph culturally significant events, community gatherings, and specialized photoshoots. Her unique creative vision, combined with her intuitive understanding of light, emotion, and composition, has positioned her as a rising force in the highly competitive field of photography. Her talent and voice through the lens have earned her international recognition and deep respect throughout Indian Country. She uses photography not just as art, but as activism—bridging gaps, preserving truths, and telling stories that matter.
"Confronting Indigenous Erasure"
Ngân Elic Huỳnh
Read Ngân’s bio
Ngân Huỳnh is a Vietnamese illustrator based in Minneapolis. Ngân graduated from MCAD with an Illustration degree. As a lover of mythology, fairy tales, and family oral storytelling, Ngân’s illustration and design focus on what it’s like to turn everyday moments into a mesmerizing story that captivates you like how a fairy tale did when you were young. As a child of deep family roots in the heart of South Vietnam, they want to highlight cultural heritage and have a piece of their identity in all of their work, no matter how small or big. Ngân is the designer / illustrator of many publications, such as Blue Marble Review Anthology Volume Two, Paranoid Tree Press, and most recently, When We’re Under the Same Roof—their debut children’s book!
"The New Daily"
Nia Navarro
Read Nia’s bio
Nia Navarro (she/they) was born in Morelos, Mexico and migrated to Minnesota in 2005. She is a grassroots community organizer, documentary and narrative filmmaker transmuting digital storytelling as a catalyst for healing and justice. An alum of SPNN’s DocU Fellowship (2021), Spotlight Short Series (2022), New Angle Fellows (2023), Fresh Vantage Awardee (2024), Firelight Media member, an inaugural fellow of Mama Papaya’s Film Sparks Fellowship and sole Minnesota member of UndocuFilmmakers Collective their work explores themes around personal identity, the immigrant experience, cultural pride, grief and belonging.
Nimo H. Farah
Read Nimo’s bio
Nimo Farah is a writer, storyteller, and artist organizer. Her poetry and short stories have been published in Water-Stone Review, Saint Paul Almanac, and Loft Inroads, and she has shared her work on stages including Pangea World Theater, the Loft Literary Center, and Pillsbury House & Theater. She is the founder of SALLI (Somali Arts Language & Leadership Institute), a nonprofit promoting Somali art and literature, and is currently curating Maandeeq in Motion, a project highlighting Somali women’s clothing throughout history. She has won numerous arts and leadership awards, including the prestigious Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship.
"We Guard the Door Together: Social Memory as Sanctuary"
We Guard the Door Together: Social Memory as Sanctuary
As a Somali American poet and Minnesota resident, Nimo Farah’s work bridges the “distant road” of the refugee experience with the reality of our streets. In a moment of heightened fear and surveillance, she documents sanctuary—not as law, but as human action. She witnesses neighbors, often quietly and at personal risk, standing for one another. Through poetry, Nimo preserves social memory as an act of care, courage, and refusal to be erased.
Inspired by Nimo’s poem “Neighborly Crush and Watchful Whistles,” is a cartoon by Jenny D Fine (pictured below)—part of #ICEOUTCOMICS—where art becomes a form of witness, care, and community presence.
Read the poem, "Neighborly Crush and Watchful Whistles"
Neighborly Crush and Watchful Whistles
We didn’t know each other at first—
shutting doors politely,
avoiding eye contact in the snow,
pretending we didn’t notice.
Then the hard times came,
the protests, the streets,
the cold wind cutting through layers,
and suddenly—
we were noticing.
Whistles at all times,
a signal to watch out,
to stand close without words,
to protect, to check in.
Minnesotans, quiet and layered,
revealed themselves in courage
and care that warms like Somali tea.
I have a crush on these neighbors now.
I want to share my plate of bariis with them—
grains separate, proud,
just enough for two.
A side of banana, a squeeze of lime,
and Somali tea so strong
it practically flirts back.
Split my sambuus in half—
careful, the basbaas isn’t too hot.
It’s very Minnesotan, very Somali
to share the last bite,
and I won’t stop you—
I live for that grin while you do it.
I’ll teach you how to bargain shop
at the Somali mall—
laugh first,
walk away, come back winning,
and judge the mannequins quietly together.
We’ll buy fine garments
because the wedding invites us.
No crashing—
a Somali wedding is a community party,
where everyone dances
like they’re the one getting married.
Elelelee!
No one even notices the cake—
because joy has stolen the room.
This is what trying times did for us—
no more shy neighbors.
No language needed,
skip the awkward silences,
just hold hands, hug,
and stand together.
There is no going back
to the way we were.
I love the way
we’re showing up.
In solidarity,
with humanity,
against tyranny,
we find peace,
protesting in joy.
It’s cold outside,
but our hearts are warm.
And yes—
if you want a sambuus, don’t be shy—
oh, I forget, you’re Minnesotan.
Noval Noir
Read Noval’s bio
Noval Noir is a Twin Cities–based multidisciplinary visual artist whose work explores public memory, transformation, and collective healing through large-scale portraiture, assemblage, and live painting. Her practice blends storytelling and community engagement to create immersive works that invite reflection, dialogue, and restoration. Rooted in civic witness, her projects honor everyday people and shared experiences, turning lived moments into lasting visual testimony.
"A Portrait of Renee Nicole Good — An Act of Remembrance"
A Portrait of Renee Nicole Good — An Act of Remembrance
Bearing Witness: Portraits for Healing is a community-centered portrait series and pop-up exhibition honoring Minnesotans impacted by racialized and political violence while creating space for collective healing. I will complete and publicly display my life-size portrait of Renee Nicole Good alongside new portraits and audio/AR storytelling activated by QR codes. The project includes free public viewings, facilitated reflection, and live-painting gatherings in Saint Paul and at the Minnesota State Capitol (pending approvals).
Tall Paul, Haley Day Rains, Uzoma Ngwu, Mike Owens, Wendie Owens, Samara Jones, Faith Phillips, Natalia Poteryakhin, & Marcie Price Jackson
Read Tall Paul and Haley Day Rains’s bios
Tall Paul is a Native Hip Hop artist whose ancestral roots flow from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota and beyond. Born and raised in South Minneapolis, his music strongly reflects his inner-city upbringing. From personal expressions of self, to thought provoking commentary on issues affecting Indigenous and diverse communities as a whole, Tall Paul’s music evokes a wide variety of substance and soul. His acclaimed single Prayers in a Song is the first rap song to incorporate the Ojibwe language in rhyme for more than 60 seconds. The track was produced as part of Tall Paul’s language revitalization focused senior project at the University of Minnesota, where he became a first-generation university graduate in his family. The chorus in Prayers in a Song is composed entirely in Ojibwemowin. Tall Paul’s most recent album The Story of Jim Thorpe was released in November 2022. Through deft writing and masterful storytelling, the album pays homage to Tall Paul’s childhood hero Jim Thorpe, a legendary Potawatomie and Sac and Fox Olympic gold medalist, NFL Hall of Famer, Major League Baseball Player, and Native rights advocate. In addition to being a groundbreaking Hip Hop artist, Tall Paul is an uplifting inspirational speaker and artist-educator. He has performed and given keynotes all over the world, from his hometown in Minneapolis, MN, to Chemnitz, Germany and many places in-between. Tall Paul is also one half of Native rap duo Red Poets Society, who have opened concerts for major artists like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mobb Deep, Jay Electronica, and more.
Haley Day Rains, Ph.D. (Mvskoke) is a documentary and feature filmmaker, photographer, scholar, and UC President’s/Andrew Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Film & Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz. She earned her BA from Haskell Indian Nations University (a former Indian boarding school) and her MA and Ph.D. in Native American Studies with a focus on film and media production from the University of California, Davis. Haley also formerly taught film production courses in the Cinema & Digital Media department at UC Davis, earning an Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Read Uzoma, Samara, Mike, and Wendie’s bios
Uzoma Ngwu is a Nigerian-American multidisciplinary artist whose work encompasses film, animation, and illustration. She began as a freelance illustrator and animator, creating artwork for clients such as Hulu, MTV, Freeform, VH1, Oxfam America, and Adult Swim. She earned her B.A. in Art, Film and Visual Studies from Harvard University.
Samara Jones (she/her) is a Choctaw filmmaker and multimedia artist from the Bay Area, now based in Los Angeles. Her work centers Indigenous stories, community, and restorative storytelling, shaped by years of service in Urban Indian Health Centers and deep relationships within urban Native communities.
Mike Owens is a Director, Producer, Storyboard Artist and Animator creating character driven content for television and film. A pencil and paper trained animator working with traditional mediums and digital tools. As the Co-Creator/Executive Producer of the Amazon Original animated series Danger & Eggs, Mike, alongside a team of MN based Directors, won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program. A few years later Mike was an animator on the Oscar winning Short Hair Love.
Wendie Owens is a Director, Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, and Animator, and has been part of creative production and storytelling across multiple mediums for over 30 years.
Read Faith, Natalia, and Marcie’s bios
Faith Phillips, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is known for her work as a novelist, screenwriter, and producer living in the Ozark foothills. She created, wrote, and executive-produced the national docu-series The Girl Scout Murders in 2022.
Natalia Poteryakhin (they/them) is a 2d animation director, story artist, and writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They currently act as showrunner on an original series of shorts called Sunny Side Down with MAKE Originals, while also contributing to MAKE’s commercial projects, screenwriting, and boarding.
Marcie Price Jackson is an illustrator, designer, and writer from Oklahoma. She creates fun visual works for clients such as the Metropolitan Library System and 405 Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys writing and reading young adult sci-fi, mystery and romance novels. She has also worked for twelve years as an actress and in various crew positions within the Oklahoma and Texas independent film communities. Marcie is an award-winning screenwriter and was selected as one of twelve writers across Oklahoma to participate in the deadCENTER Film Festival Screenwriting Intensive.
"Right to Remain"
Right to Remain
Right to Remain is a Native American-led animated film series rooted in Minnesota that transforms existing know-your-rights information into powerful, culturally grounded, and widely shareable media. The first short film, Ikogaan Mikwam, animates an original track by Tall Paul (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) and Big Jess, and addresses the targeting of Native American people by ICE and other federal enforcement agencies. Ikogaan Mikwam was illustrated by Link Matt (Arikara of MHA Nation) and animated by WOMO Studio. Each 1–3 minute film in the Right to Remain series centers on Native testimonies and directs viewers to vetted legal resources. All films also feature call-to-action QR codes that connect audiences to resources supporting targeted communities. This project aims to translate urgent information into innovative, accessible, and visually and emotionally engaging formats.
Shankaron Hassan
"hoy tusbax, waaq noo hoy"
Sagirah Shahid
Read Sagirah’s bio
Sagirah Shahid is a Black American Muslim poet from Minneapolis, MN. She is a 2015-2016 recipient of a Loft Literary Center mentorship award in poetry. Her poetry and prose are published in Mizna, About Place Journal, Paranoid Tree, Prose Online, and elsewhere.
Udeshi
"Inside Lives"
Wei Vivian Lu
Read Wei’s bio
Wei Vivian is a Taiwanese artist and educator based in the Twin Cities since 2012. She earned her degrees in animation and comic arts from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Vivian’s works primarily focus on narrative arts seeking understanding how nationality and migration shape one’s morality and identity. Drawing inspiration from East Asian mythology and history, Vivian’s comics explore the effects of time in relation to generations of humans. With her family history of immigration, her narrative works center around the clash between inherited and learned identity. Vivian’s book arts is in the collection of the Minnesota Center of Book Arts and Fanzineist Festival in Vienna, and has received a variety of merit awards for her work. Vivian is also an art educator and has taught animation and comic arts at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and Artlet26 Studio.
Thank you to our generous donors
for supporting twenty-four of these Artists As Witness grants for Minnesota artists
• MN Arts Rise and Respond Fund
• Sally Karioth
• Amanda Thompson
• Anonymous
• Brinsley Davis
Overview
Artists As Witness: Grants for Minnesota Artists and Culture Bearers who are bearing witness
Forecast awarding 20 grants of $1,000 each
To our Minnesota community: we support you, and we are with you in solidarity. Like so many Minnesotans, we are heartbroken, angry, and shaken by what our communities are living through. We also see the strength of community and the power of love and creativity among neighbors. We didn’t ask for this chaos, but we will fiercely stand up for one another today and every day. Alongside you, we mourn the killings of our neighbors, including Keith Porter in Chicago and poet Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
Artists and culture bearers, we see you in this moment. Through your voices, bodies, stories, and presence, you are on the front line of courage and care in our communities. You are helping people stay connected, grounded, and human. We see you showing up in the cold, documenting, feeding, comforting, creating spaces to gather and grieve. We see you showing us what democracy looks like in real time, standing up for freedom of expression, peaceful protest, and the right to disagree and dissent. You are standing up for truth and pushing back against racism, misinformation, and hate, reminding us that democracy depends on our ability to see one another in our shared humanity and resist division.
We want to support the courageous artists who are bearing witness to what is happening to Minnesotans. Because of you, history will not forget this moment.
Applications are now closed
Applications closed at 11:59pm on February 8, 2026
Starting January 21, 2026, Forecast is offering 20 small grants, of $1,000 each, to Minnesota-based artists and culture bearers who are documenting what is happening to their communities, countering disinformation and telling the lived, human stories and strength of Minnesota’s people. This documentation and storytelling is critical. What happens in Minnesota now, will be lessons for others around the country and the world.
Artists may work in writing, photography, video, design, dance, murals, sound, music, visual art, or other creative forms. We know there are risks in telling the truth so the work may be public or private, shared widely or held close. If you give us permission, we will share your stories/creative works on our digital platforms, including our social channels and our free FORWARD publication, which amplifies the power of artists to address the most pressing issues of our time.
This opportunity is for Minnesota artists and culture bearers who are:
- Witnessing what is unfolding in their own communities
- Documenting lived experience of this moment, so it is not erased or misrepresented
- Countering misinformation, racism, and narratives meant to divide Minnesotans
- Telling stories that affirm dignity, hope, connection, and our shared humanity
In moments like this, bearing witness is a democratic act. Supporting artists who are doing that work matters.
How Applications Will Be Reviewed
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and grants will be awarded until all available funds are allocated. Due to limited resources, we regret that we are not able to fund every application.
We will prioritize proposals that demonstrate:
• a clear connection to lived experience in Minnesota, including the artist’s own community, relationships, or direct witnessing
• a thoughtful intention to bear witness to this moment
• care, integrity, and responsibility toward people and communities involved
• timely work that can reasonably be carried out with a $1,000 grant
In this moment, we are especially interested in work that bears witness to experiences of communities closest to harm, including immigrant, refugee, Native, youth, and other communities facing heightened risk, displacement, or erasure.
No single discipline, format, or aesthetic will be prioritized.
Our goal is to get funds to artists as quickly as possible, so they can bear witness in their communities now.
All applicants will be notified within one week of applying and payments will be made in full within one week of signing the grant agreement. Applications will be reviewed by a three-member panel, including staff, artist, and advisor.
Please note: if we can’t fund you now, we can offer technical assistance, guidance or connections to other resources.
We can fund 20 projects at this time, but are seeking additional funding partners to help us grow the amount of available funds. Please note: if we can’t fund you now, we can offer technical assistance, guidance or connections to other resources.
Find more Relief
Emergency Relief Fund – Metro Regional Arts Council
Artists Respond: Safety in Neighbors – Springboard for the Arts
Questions?
Contact Theresa Sweetland at theresa-at-forecastpublicart.org





