aSHE Fund Grantees
2022 Grantee Brenda Hayes considers herself at 66 "late bloomer" and is currently directing her second documentary, a Black women centered film, Ain't I A Woman - Liberation Lumpkin's Legacy is currently in production. Her first film, BackBurner Dreams, which premiered Mother's Day 2018, was screened from Brixton London to Baltimore, Maryland. From 2010 -2016, Brenda produced and hosted This Light: Sounds For Social Change a radio series that featured artivist who through their music, spoken word, film, dance, page poetry work to catalyze progressive social change. I want to tell stories that frequently go untold and give a platform to voices that too often go unheard. Brenda is the proud mother of award winning poet Taylor Johnson. Brenda’s Website
2022 Grantee Pamela Woolford is an interdisciplinary artist, intertwining her work as a writer, filmmaker, performer, and immersive-media director to create new forms of narrative work about Black women and girls and others whose joy, imagination, and inner life are under-explored in American media and popular art. She is the recipient of six Maryland State Arts Council Awards, five film-festival awards internationally, a Changemaker Challenge Award from United Way of Central Maryland and Horizon Foundation, and a Baker Artist Award in interdisciplinary arts. Her latest film, Interrupted: Prologue to a Mem-noir, had a limited online release with a premiere event attended by 1.5 thousand people. Pamela's Website
2022 Grantee Victoria Newton Ford (she/they) is a poet from Memphis, Tennessee. She has received fellowships and support from MacDowell, Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, the DC Commission on the Arts, the Hurston/Wright Foundation, and Lambda Literary. Her poetry and essays have appeared in Sojourners, Lit Hub, The Nation, and elsewhere. Victoria is currently working on her first full-length manuscript, which explores Black motherhood, captivity, and haunting by interrogating how slavery governs the organization of Black families. She is based in Washington, D.C Victoria's Website
2022 Grantee Sandra Davis is a local mixed media artist who exhibits regularly throughout Maryland, DC and Virginia. She has consistently participated in exhibits at the Activity Center at Bohrer Park and in the Kentlands. Davis is an active member of the Women’s Caucus of Art, DC Chapter and sits on the Board as the Membership Chair. Her most recent exhibit was a group show at the Anacostia Arts Center and with Art Watch DC One House Project at BlackRock Center for the Arts.Davis’ work is mainly collage based where she uses discarded papers, fabric, paint, and found items. The body of work in this exhibit illustrates the strength and beauty of African American women and depicts women working and dancing in sisterhood. Sandra's Website
2022 Grantee Aliana Grace Bailey thrives off of the use of vibrant colors, intricate textures, patterns, and bold typography. Her primary practices include graphic design, digital collaging, printmaking, and the study of color, movement, and texture through abstract and non-representational paintings. Her work often features commentary on black culture and feminist studies. Fusing a variety of mediums, Aliana uses her art as a means to explore and manifest awareness of self and the world around her. Aliana is a working artist and graphic designer, pursuing a practice in the intersection of art, design, and social impact. She is the founder of Vibrant Grace Studios, a design studio where is where color, softness, and care enrich our every day through mindful home & lifestyle products. Aliana's Website
2021 Grantee The aSHE Fund is excited to help support Lori’s vision and project, Voices Unbarred. Lori Pitts is a facilitator, Theatre of the Oppressed Joker, teaching artist, actor, director and improvisor in the DMV area. She is passionate about creating platforms for voices that often go unheard. She is the Founding Director of Voices Unbarred, an organization that aims to amplify the voices of people impacted by incarceration by using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to help them create an original performance around their stories and relevant issues. Pitts teaches and performs regularly with Young Playwrights’ Theater and has most recently been seen on stage with Second City, Rorschach Theatre, and Ally Theatre. She is currently completing Georgetown University’s Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate, and is a member of the inaugural cohort of the Culture Caucus with The Kennedy Center, a graduate of the 202Creates Fellowship, a graduate of the Movement Matters Community Organizing & Popular Education Institute, and a three-time recipient of the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program grant through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her work within the community.
2021 Marjuan Canady is a Broadway Producer and award-winning Caribbean-American artist, entrepreneur, educator, and literacy advocate. A native Washingtonian, her work spans theater, film, television, children’s media and literature. She is currently a Co-Producer on the National Tour / Broadway revival production of The WIZ. Canady made her Broadway Producing debut on the 2022 production of Death of a Salesman. Marjuan's Website
2019 Grantee Imani Haynes is a Curator, Exhibit Designer, Historian, and Art Administrator. We're ecstatic to support her project and vision The Million Woman March exhibition. The Million Woman March exhibition (as titled in the original march) celebrates a retrospective look at the organizing efforts, missions, and importance of the march for Black Women that took place in 1997. "This exhibition will subvert the narrative of mainstream white feminism and direct attention to the representation of women with intersecting identities."Imani's mission is to curate the stories of those who often are silenced and or ignored by society. Imani Hayne’s thesis project The Million Woman March Exhibition opened August 7-August 9, 2020 in Baltimore Maryland. The Million Woman March Exhibition is the first ever exhibit and retrospective about the historic Million Woman March that took place October 25, 1997. The exhibit is a beautiful bold and accessible moment that captures the lively and intentional revolutionary spirit of The Million Woman March. The Million Woman March Exhibition wants to continue to share the lived experience of The Black Woman by Black Women. FIND OUT MORE ON HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT at blackwomansmuseum.org
Check out the video above and project update from the first aSHE FUND Microgrant Grantee Imani Haynes. This exhibition will celebrate the organizing efforts, mission, and impact of the Million Woman March while bridging voices of the past to the current generation of young Black women.
“Having women from my community support this exhibition shows that with the investment, we can freely share our experiences with the world.”
Imani Haynes, Curator & aSHE FUND Microgrant Grantee