About the Artist Production Fellowship
The Institute's Arts Production Program champions artists through its Artist Production Fellowship. We recognize your dedication to your craft and community. Our fellowship empowers you to produce, arrange, record, and release your creative projects. With resources for purchasing supplies, securing space, and compensating collaborators, we support you in every step of your journey. Annually, we award three small fellowships and host wellness retreats to help you rest, create, and unplug. |
Introducing the 2024 Artist Production Fellows
Catalina Gonzalez
Catalina González, also known as Girl of the Vine, is a Latino-American self taught photographer and multimedia artist born and raised in Michigan. Her artistic journey has taken her on many adventures, internationally and domestically allowing her to explore different photography practices. Catalina is recognized by her euphoric yet documentative photography style. In each of her portraits she illuminates her subjects using mindful positioning in natural light accompanied by her specific style of color grading to create a dreamy scene in an outdoor setting. Her work has been showcased at “The Space” gallery, featured at OutFront Kalamazoo and WWMT. She has Permanent pieces with the Black Arts and Cultural Center and Kalamazoo Valley Museum. She is
currently a freelance photojournalist for NowKalamazoo. |
Maya James
Maya James is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, educator, and activist based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her work explores themes of feminism, anti-racism, collective economics, and her identity as a cross-cultural Black American from a racially hostile town in Northern Michigan. As a young freelance journalist, her writing appeared in The New York Times Race/Related, USA Today College, and YR Media. Maya is a member of Forbes The Culture and the recipient of the 2022 ArtPrize Underdog Award for her Black Femme Rider Waite Taurus collection.
Maya’s art draws inspiration from advertising and pop art, celebrating the beauty and resilience of BIPOC experiences in the context of late-stage capitalism. Through hybrid techniques, hand-crafted works, public art, and portraiture, she examines the intersection of the present moment with a complex, trauma-laden past, highlighting the richness of diasporic culture. Her artistic achievements include exhibitions across the United States, such as ArtPrize 2018 at the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives (winner of the Best Juried Venue award), ArtPrize 2021 at Fountain Street Church, a sponsored mural at Calder Plaza, and appearances at Black on the Block in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., the Dennos Museum, the Black Arts and Cultural Center, and the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. In 2019, Maya became the first Black female recipient of the National Arab American Museum City Hall Art Space Residency. |
James Palmore
James C. Palmore is a celebrated artist and a cornerstone of Kalamazoo’s fine and performing arts communities. His passion for the arts was ignited during his time as a student in the Kalamazoo Public School system. In the 1970s, he honed his craft by taking art classes at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, which laid the foundation for a career dedicated to artistic expression and community engagement.
Palmore’s dedication to youth development began with teaching arts and crafts for Kalamazoo’s Parks and Recreation Department, where he retired in 2003 as the Youth Program Coordinator. A visionary leader, he co-founded the Civic Black Theatre and collaborated with Gray & Gray Theatrical Productions in Detroit, enriching the theatrical landscape. In 1986, Palmore co-founded the Black Arts & Cultural Center, where he played pivotal roles for more than 25 years, shaping its growth and impact. His influence extends across decades through his work with organizations such as the Farm Research Cooperative, the NAACP’s Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) program, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and the Northside Association for Community Development. James C. Palmore’s legacy reflects a lifelong commitment to nurturing creativity, fostering community, and advocating for cultural expression. |
Interview Snippets with our Fellowship Recipients
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