06 Jul Telluride Arts: Social Justice Grants Awarded to Six Regional Artists!
Telluride Arts is proud to announce the recipients of its inaugural Social Justice Artist Grant, which awarded $20,000 total funds to six artists from across Creative Districts in Western and South-Central Colorado. Made possible through the generosity of local philanthropists, the grant program supports the creation of new visual artwork that explores themes of social justice, identity, community, history, and belonging.
More information about grant recipients and their projects: telluridearts.org/social-justice
For more information, contact info@telluridearts.org or visit telluridearts.org.
Go here to learn more about Telluride Arts.
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Selected through a competitive regional review process, the funded projects reflect a wide range of perspectives and artistic practices while demonstrating the power of visual art to inspire dialogue, deepen understanding, and strengthen communities.
“Artists help us reflect, question, and connect,” said Jessica Galbo, Executive Director, Telluride Arts. “We are honored to support these remarkable artists as they create new work that encourages thoughtful conversation and invites us to see our communities, and one another, with greater empathy and curiosity.”
2026 Social Justice Artist Grant Recipients:
Aela Morgan
Based: Telluride, CO
Project: “In Pieces Together”
“In Pieces Together” is a mixed-media body of work created from shredded paper and layered paint that examines political division, civic unrest, and the tension between fracture and connection. Through acts of breaking apart and rebuilding, the project asks whether wholeness is possible within a landscape of competing narratives and collective uncertainty.
Christy Ferrato
Based: Durango, CO
Project: “Obantu Series”
The “Obantu Series” confronts systemic oppression and the erosion of basic human rights. The series includes five figures built on 13 artist’s mannequins covered with text, symbols, and found objects. These works operate as vessels for truth and reflect how visual art has historically been used to challenge tyranny, corruption, terrorization, violence, censorship and the denial of civil rights and due process. They stand as radical symbols of defiance against authoritarian structures and demand justice.
Cie Hoover
Based: Ouray, CO
Project: “Eroded World”
“Eroded World” is a proposed large-format (48″ x 72″) mixed-media wood relief that explores the intersection of environmental degradation and intergenerational justice. The piece will serve as a visual meditation on the “inheritance” of a precarious planet, centering on a father and child standing at the precipice of a shifting landscape.
Jed Smith & Amy Cao
Based: Durango, CO
Project: “Los Migrantes”
During the late 1800s, trappers were hired on by local and state officials to eradicate wolf populations across the western landscape. Through large-scale watercolor and replica historic letterpress prints, artists Jed Webster Smith and Amy Cao use “The Wolfer” narrative in a subversive manner to spark conversation about who has the right to call this land home, the lasting impacts of xenophobia, and the targeting of an “othered” group. Drawing upon historical research, “Los Migrantes” addresses parallels to conversations, debates, and lived experiences with immigration, borders, and removal and deportation today.
Olivia Perea
Based: Durango, CO
Project: “Too Bad”
“Too Bad” is a collage series that explores the complexity of womanhood through a collective, community-based lens. The project is built from anonymous written submissions describing lived experiences of womanhood, foregrounding voices from a range of perspectives rather than a single narrative. It reflects the belief that women in the artist’s community have experienced a wide spectrum of highs, lows, and in-between moments that may not be captured by one individual’s perspective, and it seeks to platform those experiences visually and conceptually. Through this approach, “Too Bad” offers audiences a more nuanced and expansive view of female identity that extends beyond a singular lived experience.
In addition to receiving direct funding, each artist will have their completed work professionally presented in a curated traveling exhibition opening in Telluride in fall 2026 before traveling to participating Creative Districts on the Western Slope. The exhibition will provide opportunities for public engagement through artist talks, educational programming, and community dialogue.
View the Traveling Exhibition:
• Telluride, Colorado:
Dates: August 3–28, 2026.
Location: Telluride Arts HQ.
Opening Reception: August 6, 2026 during Art Walk
• Ridgway, Colorado:
Dates: September 3–30, 2026
Location: Decker Room, Ridgway.
Opening Reception: September 3, 2026
• More Dates + Details to Be Released Soon! Stay Tuned: telluridearts.org/social-justice
The Social Justice Artist Grant is part of Telluride Arts’ broader mission to invest directly in artists while fostering creativity, civic engagement, and meaningful cultural exchange throughout rural Colorado.
“We believe art has the power to encourage reflection and raise awareness about the world around us,” said Melannie Tavano, Community Partnerships Lead for Telluride Arts. “We are so grateful to support artists whose work invites meaningful conversations about community, our environment and social justice.”
About Telluride Arts
Telluride Arts District
Founded in 1971, Telluride Arts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the arts and supporting artists through exhibitions, grants, public art, education, and community programs.
Serving Telluride and the broader region, Telluride Arts believes strong communities are built through creativity, dialogue, and cultural exchange.
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