The Springfield Area Arts Council has announced its three recipients of the 2024 City Arts Grants: Reggie Guyton for performing arts, Devin Larson for visual arts and Jaliyah Ross for literary arts. Each of these artists will receive $3,000 to develop their craft and enhance the vibrancy of Springfield's art community and culture. The selection criteria included artistic merit, community involvement and project impact.
"SAAC is honored to fund individual artists who enrich our community through the arts," said SAAC executive director Bella Szabo. "Their dedication has significantly added to Springfield's cultural vitality. The City Arts grant is unique in our local community, made possible by the city of Springfield's support."
City of Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher added, "I am thrilled to congratulate the 2024 City Arts Grant recipients personally. Their artistic vision and creativity are essential to making Springfield an inspiring living place. We are proud to support their endeavors."
Performing arts
Guyton graduated from Blackburn College with a bachelor's degree in performing arts and currently works at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum as an actor. He will be using the grant money to write and produce his original play, Miles by the North Star.
"The idea came from realizing folks didn't have a true understanding of what the underground railroad was," Guyton said. "I want this play to help illuminate that important part of our history while incorporating narratives from Illinoisans of the time."
Guyton sees this award as a steppingstone to achieving his other artistic dreams. "I'd really love to have my own arts education and advocacy agency and have a performing arts career along with it," he said.
He wrote his first full-length, professionally produced play in 2020, Small Beginnings, which will continue its run at the ALPM this fall. Guyton understands the multifaceted components that art has on a community.
"My hope with all my work is for us to come to an understanding about humanity," he said. "We have to come away loving each other a little more while hating the circumstances that prevent us from seeing our neighbors as equally important and worthy."
Visual arts
Larson, who works as a graphic artist for Illinois Times, has been collaborating with other area artists for several years, first on an art show, then expanding into additional events. Receiving the City Arts grant will now allow the group to bring a festival themed around Renaissance fairs and fantasy lore to Springfield.
Azia Donovan, Bri Skeels, Seth Hedgepath, Cee Jones and Larson are in their third year of hosting the Fae Propaganda Art Show. With the success of their art shows the group formed the Fae Folk Collective and created a new event, The Goblin Invasion, that was attended by more than 800 people last October.
"We were looking for other funding sources, so Jones spearheaded the process for applying, creating an amazing portfolio of our past shows. I didn't win this. Cee Jones won this for our group," Larson said of the grant application.
Even with the previous support from the public, Larson and his team didn't expect to win this grant. "When you deal with fairies, you have an open perspective on how things might shake out. Gremlins and tricksters make up a lot of the Fae world," said Larson.
The city's first Renaissance fair is planned for Saturday, Sept. 7, in Union Square Park, in conjunction with this year's Fae Propaganda Art Show, "Autumn Court."
Literary arts
Ross also didn't expect to win this year, but felt more confident than with past grant applications. "I knew I was bringing something new, elegant and soulful to town," she said. Ross has been hosting a series of poetry nights at various locations in Springfield since last year.
The next event will be a formal, all-pink themed event, Snaps & Jazz Poetry Night. Scheduled for Oct. 19 in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 30% of the profits from this event will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Ross grew up engaging in all forms of art, from dance to singing to baking, and has a deep sense of musicality. "All art is a form of expression, and all expressions are a form of poetry," she said. "These events shine a light on the unheard voices of our community. I aim to remind people there are others like them. We can finally have a jazzy night together to get lost in music and art in the best way."