Woman Identified as "Anonymous" Receives Over Half a Million Dollars in Environmental Art Grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts

The Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) have announced the recipients of the 2025 AWAW Environmental Art Grants. A total of $521,125 was distributed across various U.S. states, territories, and international locations, supporting 29 environmental art projects.

These projects are focused on addressing environmental challenges and imagining new paths of resilience, justice, and collective care. The recipients are working tirelessly to raise awareness and advocate for environmental issues across various locations, including California, Guam, Hawai'i, Louisiana, Maine, México, New York, Nigeria, Senegal, South Korea, and Utah.

Charlotte Brathwaite in Popenguine-Ndayane, Senegal, and Jemila MacEwan in New York are among the recipients in the United States. Jennifer Neptune, with Erin Hutton, is working on a project at the Penobscot Nation Museum, Indian Island, Maine. In California, Nina Sarnelle, LaRissa Rogers, and Leilehua Lanzilotti are also recipients.

Internationally, Maryam Kazeem in Lagos, Nigeria, and Susie Ganch, working online, are part of the awardees. The Earth Rise Collective in Vinton, Louisiana, Xochipilli Collective in Houston, Texas, and Madeline Gunderson in Estado de México, México, are also recipients.

The projects awarded must have a public engagement component completed by August 2026. This ensures that the art created reaches a wide audience and sparks meaningful conversations about the environment.

The selection process for the grants considered the intended impact of the project. Notably, the recipients are illuminating challenges, imagining new paths of resilience, justice, and collective care. Susan Unterberg, AWAW founder, stated, "The recipients of the 2025 AWAW Environmental Art Grants are doing just that – they are illuminating challenges, imagining new paths of resilience, justice, and collective care."

The 2025 AWAW Environmental Art Grants aim to help artists see, feel, and respond to environmental crises. The program awards one-time grants of up to $20,000 to women-identifying artists. The applications were reviewed by a panel that included Rehema C. Barber, Clarinda Mac Low, Dakota Mace, Mari Robles, and Mary Ellen Strom.

The projects remind us that art can be a call to action and a source of hope during times when both are essential. BEAM (Annie Chen, Zoe Lee, and Ellen Fritz) in Potter's Pond, Rhode Island, Erika Cohn and Nicole Docta in Salt Lake City, Utah, and DeepTime Collective (Amanda Leigh Evans and Tia Kramer) in Washington State are just a few examples of this.

In addition to the U.S. and international recipients, the AWAW Environmental Art Grants also supported projects in Guam, Barrigada, and the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation, California. Margaret Pearce with Prairie Island THPO and Ho-Chunk Nation Cultural Resources and The Anderson Center in Mississippi River, and Tiare Ribeaux in Honolulu, Hawai'i, are among the recipients from these locations.

Carol Romero in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Zahra Rasool and Ariel Ritchin in Hoosick Falls, New York, are also recipients of the 2025 AWAW Environmental Art Grants. Virginia San Fratello in California is another awardee. Natalia Neuhaus in Niagara Falls, New York, and Sujin Lim in Yeongheung Island, South Korea, round out the list of recipients.

The AWAW Environmental Art Grants program has awarded $1.4 million in funding to 82 projects since 2022. The program continues to support women-identifying artists in their efforts to create art that addresses environmental issues and advocates for change. The projects awarded in 2025 are a testament to the power of art in raising awareness and inspiring action.

Woman Identified as "Anonymous" Receives Over Half a Million Dollars in Environmental Art Grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts