2016 Arts Writing Awards in Digital Art

The Thoma Foundation will announce the winners of the 2016 Arts Writing Awards in Digital Art on May 3, 2016. The Arts Writing Awards recognize arts writers who have made sustained and innovative contributions to writing about digital art. This is the second year of a program that includes:

• A $40,000 award for an established arts writer in the U.S. who has made a significant contribution to writing about digital art ($30,000 unrestricted, merit-based award + $10,000 project grant)

• A $20,000 award for an emerging arts writer in the U.S. who demonstrates great promise in writing about digital art ($15,000 unrestricted, merit-based award + $5,000 project grant)

A selection committee comprised of three distinguished panelists will select the two awardees from a pool of 23 nominees.

The Arts Writing Awards are the first of their kind to target the importance of innovative arts writing that directly impacts scholarship, history, criticism and theory of digital art and evolving technologies within contemporary art. The awards are no-strings-attached, merit-based awards recognizing the achievements of writers who have contributed to new dialogues and the growth of the field of writing about digital art through general audience criticism or academic scholarship in articles, books, blogs and alternative media. In addition to rewarding and promoting the writers for their individual accomplishments, the awards for writing about digital art serve to further broaden scholarship and awareness within this increasingly relevant area of study, highlighting its importance within art history, contemporary art and the broader cultural landscape.

The winners of the inaugural Arts Writing Awards in 2015 were Jon Ippolito and Joanne McNeil. Ippolito, who received the award for an established arts writer, is Professor of New Media and Director of the Digital Curation program at the University of Maine, and from 1991-2006, was Associate Curator of Media Arts at the Guggenheim Museum. McNeil, who received the award for an emerging arts writer, is a New York based writer who was both a resident at Eyebeam in 2014 and a 2012 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism fellow.

For press inquiries please contact:
Julia Miglets, Communications & Grants Manager
312.254.3365, julia@thomafoundation.org