Congrats to the 2026 Art Meets Activism Grantees!
The Kentucky Foundation for Women has awarded 33 Art Meets Activism Grants totaling $256,113 to feminist artists and social change organizations from across the state. These artists and organizations received grants to advance social change through feminist-led, arts-based activities in communities throughout Kentucky. The projects center on accessible arts, participatory storytelling and historical documentation, mentoring youth, mental health, environmentalism and LGBTQIA+ issues.
“Facing challenging times locally and nationally, these grants focus on nurturing talent through education, promoting the self care needed to be creative, and sharing truthful, authentic histories. These grantees are bringing Kentucky artists together in collective action and compassion to elevate their voices, create awareness and shape a better society. This important activism creates lasting change in Kentucky and beyond,” said Sharon LaRue, Executive Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
The Art Meets Activism program supports a wide variety of individual artists and organizations committed to building on the power of art to increase awareness about feminist issues, alter perceptions, stimulate dialogue, open new spaces for civic participation and imagine new ways to create a more just and equitable Kentucky. The grants are for activities that are artist driven and include the direct participation of individuals and communities.
AMA 2026 Summaries
Literary Arts
Dasia Woods (she/her), Louisville, $8,050
For “Keepers of the Flame: A Healing, Creative Collective”: a series of community-based poetry and writing workshops for women and gender-expansive individuals in Kentucky, centered on healing, storytelling, and collective liberation. The workshops will lead to a participatory public showcase, a community performance amplifying marginalized voices and directly addressing a specific social issue, in collaboration with local Louisville-based advocacy organizations, mental health resources, and feminist groups.
Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, Lexington, $5,400
For seven female and/or nonbinary writers to mentor female/nonbinary 9th-12th graders as they explore writing and literary performance techniques while examining issues of concern, including body image and self-esteem, LGBTQ+ issues, and feminism. In a supportive and welcoming environment, seven intensive workshops will culminate in a public reading and Writer Mentoring Day for younger elementary students.
Backwoods Literary Press & Amanda Jo Slone (she/they), Frankfort $7,000
For the literary arts initiative Rural Feminist Story Circles that convenes women, trans, and gender-nonconforming creatives in rural Kentucky for facilitated, trauma-informed writing workshops and collective storytelling gatherings. The project uses literary artmaking as infrastructure for visibility and documentation, building connection across rural communities, challenging the erasure of gendered rural experience, and strengthening local capacity to use storytelling as a tool for increasing dignity and sparking long-term social change. This initiative will culminate in a public reading showcase, a curated digital archive, and a social media series that preserves the work of selected participants.
Young Authors Greenhouse, Louisville, $8,825
To publish a book that captures the unique experiences of young women from immigrant families, from navigating dual cultural identities to advocating for social justice. The book is the culmination of a nine-year book writing partnership with Olmsted Academy South; an all-female public school whose student body collectively speaks 30 different languages. 40-45 young women (ages 11-14) will discuss culture and leadership, grow their skills through writing poetry and creative non-fiction, learn first-hand how writing can be a powerful way to create change, and take part in the publishing process.
Cat Rhoden Goguen (she/her), Barbourville, $5,000
For The Sweet Life Story Project, which uses Cat’s play, The Sweet Life – The Story of Ruth Hunt, to lead Knox County students and community members in feminist participatory storytelling. The students will interview women in their lives, particularly in their Appalachian communities, to write monologues, and share narratives that document women’s labor, leadership, and entrepreneurship. This will culminate in the creation of a shareable storytelling toolkit that ensures continued recognition of women’s experiences beyond the grant period.
ZZ Packer (she/her), Louisville
To expand her work on a book about the Buffalo Soldiers, and particularly Cathay Williams, a female Buffalo Soldier. She will present workshops and readings in schools and colleges about this historical subject, since much of history is being erased or rewritten. She will also highlight Kentucky’s role in this part of our nation’s history. This project will bring the past to life and allow students to understand how history shapes us today, in terms of racial justice, systems and women’s history, all which are integral to American history.
Media Arts
Imani Dennison (she/they), Louisville, $10,000
To create an 8-week Super 8 self-portrait film workshop for Black women and gender-expansive people. Participants will learn analog filmmaking and create 3-minute cinematic self-portraits documenting their lives, bodies, memories, and environments. By equipping participants with the tools to author and preserve their own cinematic representations, the workshop increases artistic capacity, confidence, and authorship, contributing to a broader cultural shift in who has the power to create, control, and preserve visual history.
Demi Gardner (she/her), Louisville, $10,000
To produce a workshop, Finding Your Department, that introduces Black women and teens to the variety of career options the film industry has to offer. Participants will learn filmmaking basics, what each department head is responsible for, and how to break into the industry. They will also gain exposure to film equipment and techniques and local industry leaders. The workshop will conclude with participants creating their own Public Service Announcement on a social issue important to their community.
Lynn Pruett (she/her) & Kayla Bush (she/her), Versailles, $3,800
To collaborate on a film that highlights five women farm owners from Elm Bend, Kentucky, from 1790 to the present. The film will dive into ownership, inheritance, racial division and alliance as a model for how these discussions can create a new social landscape. Building on their website, a tool of social engagement, the film demonstrates how these women were each, in their own way, an agent of social change. These stories will inspire by example and model a conversation between landowners and descendants to redefine the traditional idea of “Home Place.
Performing Arts
Jessica Sharpenstein (she/her) & Arlene Grullón (she/ella), Louisville, $10,000
To establish a participatory arts practice rooted in the historic 1718 West Jefferson Building community site in the Russell neighborhood of West Louisville. Women and femme-presenting caregivers will use theatre, visual art, poetry, movement, food ritual, and embodied regulation practices to transform lived experience into shared culture. Practicing rest, connection, shared authorship, and co-regulation will allow them to carry these practices into other spaces while interrupting systems that isolate caregivers and restrict how life is collectively shaped.
Leah Van Winkle (she/they), Berea, $10,000
For a feminist, community-based performing arts initiative that uses embodied movement practices to build a relational and artistic infrastructure that supports women+ in sustaining themselves and one another while shaping more inclusive cultural and civic life in their communities. The project is anchored by a 3-day summer convening in Rockcastle County and followed by a series of public movement gatherings. Drawing from yoga as somatic inquiry, accessible dance improv, contact-improv based movement, and ensemble creation practices, participants will engage in collaborative artmaking.
Carrie Brunk/Clear Creek Creative, Disputanta, $9,100
For a multi-disciplinary Interdependence spectacle that includes a large-scale public parade and concert, a series of seasonal art-making salons and week-long summer art camps for creatives, mothers and children to develop a multi-year community story play. The Interdependence Project offers an inclusive, creative complement to conventional “independence” celebrations in July. The project includes opportunities to engage in seasonal evolutions of a community story throughout the year and a learning laboratory to practice and publicly model joyful, liberatory alternatives to dominant culture in our communities.
Annie Mayer (she/her) & three witches shakespeare, Louisville, $9,890
To direct a gender-bent, site-specific production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale that will center queer, female, and gender-nonconforming artists. They will use the classical text to open a discussion of intimate partner violence within the queer community and to dissect false representations of feminism, while providing a supportive, healing space for queer artists.
Looking for Lilith Theatre Company, Louisville, $10,000
To lead five youth groups, five partner theatre companies and community organizations in Louisville, and two LFL ensemble groups in developing 12 new plays. The plays will directly respond to current local, national, and world events. LFL artists will guide each ensemble in choosing a topic rooted in their passions and concerns as feminist/womanist artists, and in devising, rehearsing, and performing the work. Youth works will be performed in community centers, and professional pieces (along with two youth selections) will culminate in a 10-minute play showcase at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.
Voices Amplified, Lexington, $10,000
To lead “Generations,” a ten-month developmental cycle of bi-monthly intergenerational workshops in Central Kentucky, culminating in a performance at the 2027 Voices HEaRd Festival. Through playwriting, sketch comedy, and devised movement, elder and youth artists will co-create original works that dismantle ageist stereotypes and preserve feminist lineages.
The Lexington Theatre Company, Lexington, $4,995
To enhance the communication, social skills, and job skills of incarcerated women at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, by providing them with theatre workshops that teach basic acting and improvisation skills. The workshops will give the inmates a voice, renewed sense of self, self-confidence, and allow them to tap into their own humanity and personal purpose.
Steam Exchange Community Arts Center, Louisville, $10,000
For a youth program where participants will work with StEx staff, alumni, and visiting dance instructors to learn various dance styles and choreograph a dance that explores feminism, body positivity, and Black joy. Youth will also work with fashion designer, Kara Mason to create custom costumes for their choreographed dance. The class will culminate in a youth-organized Student Showcase to share their performance, costumes, music, and other art they created throughout the year with the community.
Nora Moosnick, Faye Adams-Eaton, and Tori Cuz-Falk, Lexington, $5,000
For The Kentucky Climate Choir to bring voices (singers and non-singers alike) from central Kentucky together to raise awareness and protest the environmental difficulties confronting our communities. There will be monthly rehearsals and 3 events, during which participants will be building democratic actions through the power of songs created through an eco-feminist lens. Both the practices and performances aim to overcome rural-urban divide by bringing women together to take peaceful action against the threats to water, forests, and other natural resources in the state.
Bridge Kids International/ Stacy Bailey-Ndiaye (she/her) & Play Cousins Collective/Kristen Williams (she/her), Louisville, $10,000
To create Returning to Yaye: Stories of Black Women & Girls in Kentucky, an oral and miniature storytelling collaboration that will reframe Black girlhood and womanhood as assets to Kentucky’s cultural and social future and nurturing leaders grounded in communal responsibility and matriarchal models of care that contribute to long-term community wellbeing. Returning to Yaye engages 50-75 women and girls in intergenerational and intracultural Story Circles, artmaking, female-centered Kentucky folktales, video stories art pieces, and a community storytelling celebration.
Ambo Dance Theatre, Louisville, $7,500
For the outreach efforts and production of The Path Forward, a series of dance works created and presented by Ambo Dance Theatre’s company and community partners. Through a collaborative dancemaking process, participants will explore the question: In a world divided by politics, misinformation, status, and identity, what is the path forward toward a more equitable and unified future? This will result in community-informed performances that center collective authorship and use artmaking as a tool for connection, reflection, and social change.
Visual Arts
Robin Verson (she/her), Edmonton, $4,775
To support hands-on workshops across the Commonwealth where participants will learn the processes of dyeing with Kentucky plants to create one-of-a-kind weaving, textiles, and garments. This project embodies an art form that begins in the garden, honoring the land and those who create beauty with and amongst it. Each participant will have the opportunity to learn the art of plant dyeing and incorporate that sustainable art form into a meaningful place in their community of practice.
I Was Here, Inc., Lexington, $10,000
To support an expansion of their Nation Builders Workshop Series with an emphasis on young women from underserved communities. The Nation Builders workshops invite participants to explore ancestry and civic identity through facilitated conversation and creative practice led by Marjorie Guyon and Roberta Davis in tandem with Junior Advisors from Operation Be You. This series will focus on the power of African American ancestry as young women create original spoken word and narrative works, contribute directly to public art installations, and present their work in public forums; transforming creative learning into lived civic leadership and engagement.
Recovering Joy Arts and Nature Center, Somerset, $9,998
To support Sky Hope Recovery Center for Women to engage women in individual and group projects in indigo-dyeing, felting, and weaving. Participants will make connections with a variety of art forms, with other participants, the earth, and this universe with the aid of a telescope. As they nurture a passion for life in themselves and others, they will become better able to choose recovery and healthier outlets long-term.
Kyndred Arts & Culture/ Bethany Pelle (she/they), Newport, $8,000
For the Kyndred Clay Apprenticeship, a pilot program which plans to convert compulsory labor for people with disabilities into a restorative, accessible, and culturally rich ceramics practice. The program hopes to generate documented work credits, earned income, and peer support for adults at risk of losing healthcare coverage. Rooted in the theory of intersectional access intimacy developed by Mia Mingus, the program will expand the local arts ecosystem and build a community of care through collaborative and self-directed craftwork, entrepreneurship training, and advocacy.
Period Y’all, Louisville, $10,000
To create 10 Period Y’all Pantries painted by femme Kentucky artists and installed in communities across the state. This project uses public art as a feminist tool to fight period poverty and increase free, 24/7 access to essential products. The project will launch with a community event at Portal in Louisville, Kentucky, featuring Louisville and Appalachian femme musicians, live painting of pantries, and accessible education on period poverty and how Kentuckians can organize to end it.
Susan G. Zepeda (she/her), Louisville, $3,080
To invite fiber artists throughout the Commonwealth to share their families’ immigrant experiences by creating their own 12″ quilt square and describing how that square tells their story. The squares and oral histories will be made into a quilt, with the intent that the quilt, with the stories, will travel to host institutions, libraries, community centers, schools, etc. to put a human and more humane face on the immigrant experience. This “Immigrant Experience” quilt and a large portrait “Neighbors” quilt that depicts contemporary immigrants will be a springboard for guided community conversations.
Erin Miller (she/her), Katie Bister (she/her), & The Woodworking School at Pine Croft, Berea, $10,000
To organize free craft classes through the Woodworking School at Pine Croft taught by local women and non-binary folks for students to create together in a supportive environment. The grant will support the instructors with a fair artist fee for their time, cover class costs for students, and serve as a catalyst for creating a community that can band together, support each other, and learn from each other.
Erica Chambers (she/her), Berea, $10,000
To create, “Let’s Worsh Up,” an extension of her photography exhibition and film “Dirt Pearls.” Women farmers from the previous project will come together to share meals and create space for rest, artistic expression, and collective accountability. These seasonal gatherings invite participants to review evolving documentary material, co-author how their stories are represented, and collaboratively create original art and merchandise that supports the project. This will potentially generate income for them and contribute directly to the final exhibition and public presentation of Dirt Pearls.
Art Center of the Bluegrass, Danville, $5,500
To support Her Story Studio, a feminist workshop series led by artist Licia Priest in conjunction with her upcoming I Am We exhibit at the Art Center. In this creative wellness and narrative arts program, women will engage in self-reflection and artistic expression, learning to document their personal experiences through visual art. Pieces will be accompanied by audio and/or written narratives, adding an element of social preservation. Following the workshop, participants’ art will be on display at the Art Center, with the display incorporating an interactive element that invites viewers to reflect on the pieces and themes presented.
Jada Lynn Dixon (she/her), Louisville, $2,500
To support “Unmasked: Women and the Art of Healing”, a trauma-informed exhibition hosted at Louisville Visual Arts that centers diverse women artists whose work explores personal trauma, resilience, and healing in response to systemic gaps in women’s mental health support. Through curated artwork and facilitated community workshops with community partner Seven Counties Services, participants will engage in feminist-centered art-making practices that transform personal narrative into collective empowerment, fostering dialogue, visibility, and social change around the emotional wellbeing of women.
April Morales (she/her), Mount Vernon, $7,700
For a women+ series of intensive theatre camps rooted in deepening relationships, understanding intersections in cultural context, and cross pollination between mediums. The work will be centered on the local mythology of Granny Chestnut: a magical being and giant puppet character developed through the Interdependence Community Parade that has sprouted and evolved since 2023. Artworks initiated through the series will culminate in a community-based interactive theatre, puppet, children’s storybook, processional, ceremonial seed planting and meal performance.
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KFW’s Artist Enrichment grant applications will be available in August. Applications will open August 1st and close Aug. 24th at 5pm ET / 4pm CT. KFW offers virtual and in-person workshops for those interested in learning more about the 2026 Artist Enrichment grants. The in-person workshop will be at the Carnegie Center in Lexington on Saturday, July 25th at 10:30am ET, and a virtual workshop Monday, July 27th at 6:30pm ET / 5:30pm CT. You can find more info HERE.
The Kentucky Foundation for Women is a private foundation formed in 1985 by Louisville writer Sallie Bingham. Its mission is to promote positive social change by supporting varied feminist expression in the arts.
KFW Executive Director Sharon LaRue and selected grant recipients are available for interviews/appearances. Contact Ms. Wright for further information and to schedule interviews.
