About

Artadia Video: Building Life-Long Artist Networks

Our Values:

  • Visual artists are storytellers and civic leaders, with the power to unite people from all backgrounds.
  • Through our work, Artadia celebrates and supports the invaluable role visual artists play in society. 
  • Our vision is for artists to prosper through stronger communities and a more just arts economy.

Artadia is a nonprofit grantmaker and nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons. We elevate the careers of artists at pivotal moments in their practice and help strengthen their communities through a proven combination of recognition, grantmaking, community support, and advocacy. Since its founding in 1999, Artadia has awarded over $6 million in unrestricted funds to 383 artists in 8 cities.

Founded by Christopher E. Vroom and a group of arts leaders in San Francisco, Artadia was built on the belief that visual artists play a foundational role in shaping society and the arts economy, both as storytellers and as civic leaders. In dialogue with the artists’ communities they intended to support, Artadia launched an awards program that now encompasses seven major U.S. cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Over two decades, Artadia has offered programs that reflect our mission to not only support artists, but remain informed by them. The Awards program identifies culturally underrepresented artists through a competitive process that convenes a rotating committee of curators as jurors, and annually supports at least 22 visual artists with $15,000 each in unrestricted funds. In addition to strengthening our core Awards program, we have developed the Artadia Network—an innovative platform for meetings and workshops that will unite artists across geographies, disciplines, and generations, increasing their access to the expertise of Artadia’s colleagues—and to one another. Also, as cofounder of Artist Relief, Artadia joined a coalition of arts grantmakers to offer immediate aid to artists throughout the United States working in many disciplines, who experienced extreme financial hardship as a result of COVID-19. A total of $25 million as part of this joint effort, supporting 4,682 artists with $5,000 emergency relief grants from April 2020 to June 2021.

2016 NADA New York Awardee/Board Member Summer Wheat; Artadia Executive Director Carolyn Ramo; 2006 Chicago Awardee/Board Member Nick Cave; Board Member Marilyn Minter
Artadia community celebrates 2007 San Francisco Awardee Hank Willis Thomas's exhibition "An All Colored Cast" at Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles.
Curator Michelle Kuo giving the Artadia community a private tour of "Artist's Choice: Amy Sillmans" at the new MoMA

Through our collaborative work across artists’ communities and institutions, Artadia continues to create conditions necessary for artists from all backgrounds to thrive and succeed.

View All Awardees

Staff
Anastasia Kidd

Senior Development Officer

Carolyn Ramo

Executive Director

Bora Kim

Program Manager

Ajshe Sulejmani

Development Assistant

Manuela Mozo

Deputy Director

Maya Teich

Program and Communications Assistant

Board of Directors

Ian Alteveer
New York

Susan Bridges
Atlanta

Nick Cave
Chicago

Joelle Connolly
San Francisco

Aurele Danoff Pelaia
Los Angeles
Co-Chair

Laura Roberson Fisch
New York
Co-Chair

Oliver Frankel
New York

Eugene Fu
Chicago

Marjory Graue
San Francisco

John Guess, Jr.
Houston

Tony Karman
Chicago

Naima J. Keith
Los Angeles 

Lucy Kim
Boston 

Olivia Marciano
Los Angeles

Karen Mehiel
New York
Treasurer

Marilyn Minter
New York

Judy Nyquist
Houston

Marie Samuels
New York

Jessica Shaefer
San Francisco

Franklin Sirmans
Miami

Seth Stolbun
Houston

Christopher E. Vroom
New York
Founder

Summer Wheat
New York
Secretary

Jennifer Williams
Dallas

Grant Withers
Los Angeles

Lisa Wolman
New York

Richard Ziegelasch
New York

Laurie Ziegler
Los Angeles

Margot Ziegler
New York
Vice-Chair