Artadia, a non-profit grantmaking organization and nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons, is thrilled to announce the 2025 New York City Artadia Awardees: Zalika Azim, Abigail DeVille, and Nile Harris.

The 2025 New York City Artadia Awards application was open to visual artists working in any visual media, at any stage in their career, who have been living and working within the five boroughs of New York City for a minimum of two years. We received 664 applications, with 34% of the applicants identifying as LGBTQIA+; 54% as Arab, Asian, biracial or multiracial, Black, Latinx, Native American or Alaskan Native; 57% as women, gender nonconforming, or nonbinary; and 60% as emerging artists. 

The Awards decision was reached after an extensive two-tiered jurying process. This year’s finalists for the Awards included Niloufar Emamifar, Rose Salane, and Shala Miller selected by Round 1 jurors Antawan I. Byrd, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History, Northwestern University; Rebecca Klassen, Curator of Material Culture, The New York Historical; and Alison Coplan, Chief Curator, Swiss Institute.

Round 1 juror Antawan I. Byrd, reflected on the significance of the selection process. “Being on the jury offered a remarkable opportunity to engage with a truly staggering range of creative practices and perspectives from artists at various stages of their careers,” he shared. “The selected finalists are impressive—through their conceptually rich and diverse approaches they demonstrate the myriad ways contemporary artistic practices can boldly address history and intervene within recent social and political realities.”

All six finalists held virtual studio visits with Round 2 jurors Alison Coplan joined by Vic Brooks, Independent Curator.

“It has been a profound honor and privilege to serve as a juror for this year’s New York Artadia Awards. It was inspiring to witness how the finalists interrogate the conditions of contemporary life to generate new forms and ways of thinking and being,” shared Coplan about the selection process.

Vic Brooks echoed this reverence for the selection process: “It was such an honor to meet with the six exceptional artists selected as Artadia finalists. Each is an extraordinary cultural communicator, and the generosity and rigor of their work and ideas opens portals and broadens horizons. At a moment when the kind of support offered by Artadia is more invaluable than ever, the experience reminded me—yet again—why we do this work, and why supporting artists and their practices is crucial to shaping a future we can all cherish.”

Read the full press release here.