COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) is pleased to announce that Gamal Brown and Kenia Lamarr will receive the Neighborhood Arts Connection fellowships for the Linden area. Lamarr will receive a $5,000 grant for the Coloring Linden Program, while Brown will receive a $10,000 grant for a multi-disciplinary fiber art and dance piece. The Linden fellowship is supported by The Crane Group.
Launched in 2021, the fellowship is designed to celebrate a specific neighborhood each year by inviting resident artists to create participatory arts experiences for the selected neighborhood. The 2021 round featured the South Side, while earlier this year fellowships were given for projects in the Near East Side neighborhood. The latest round is focused on the combined North and South Linden communities, as defined on the Columbus Area Commission’s website.
“After successful Neighborhood Arts Connection fellowships in the South Side and Near East Side, we’re excited to continue these investments in Linden,” said Tom Katzenmeyer, president and CEO of GCAC. “We’ve seen already how the arts can bring communities together, and we’re excited to see how these new projects will celebrate and enhance Linden’s history and cultural identity.”
Gamal Brown is a Columbus dancer and choreographer. He is a former principal dancer with the Thiossane West African Dance Company and guest artist with BalletMet’s Outreach Program, YouthMet. Brown trained at Wright State University’s dance department and Jeraldyne’s School of the Dance, and his studies have taken him to West Africa to work with the National Ballet du Senegal and to Washington, D.C. for workshops with Kankouran West African Dance Company. Brown’s project is a multi-disciplinary fiber art and dance piece designed to capture the history of Linden and celebrate its future. Movement artists will work with quilters to create a final presentation that bring the quilts to life; the presentations will be filmed for historical preservation.
Kenia Lamarr is an art enthusiast, creator and painter. She and her spouse Ambrosia founded Got It N’ Us, which provides an accessible arts enrichment program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade residing in underserved communities. Lamarr, who received her BA in public affairs at The Ohio State University, will use the fellowship to facilitate the Coloring Linden Program, an art enrichment program that fosters relationships between students from Linden McKinley STEM Academy, Hamilton Elementary School and Linden Opportunity Center after-school program. Participants will create murals on treated plywood that will be installed as part of the One Linden program in February 2023.
A committee consisting of neighborhood residents, community leaders and a GCAC Board representative selected the two fellows out of 10 applications. The neighborhood projects will be completed between September 2022 and February 2023.
Mission of the Greater Columbus Arts Council: To support and advance the arts and cultural fabric of Columbus. www.gcac.org
The Greater Columbus Arts Council receives major financial support from the City of Columbus, Franklin County Commissioners and the Ohio Arts Council.
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CONTACT: Jami Goldstein
(614) 221-8492
jgoldstein@gcac.org
