EN FOCO ANNOUNCES 2023 MEDIA ARTS FUND: WORK-IN-PROGRESS (WIP) INITIATIVE AWARDEES

En Foco is proud to announce the awardees of the 2023 Media Arts Works in Progress Fund. The Initiative was organized in collaboration with public access television network BronxNet, and supports NYC-based, early-career artists of color who engage with digital media technologies in their art-making processes and need support for the completion of a quality work in progress. Click here for complete details.

The five 2023 Media Arts Fund: Work-In-Progress Initiative Awardees were chosen from a pool of 47 applicants by panelists, Estefania Chavez, Producer at Univision41, Will Roberts, Immersive Artist-In-Residence at BronxNet, and Tanika Williams, Filmmaker and 2022 Media Arts Fund Recipient.

Awardees will receive a $2,000 support grant to be used towards the completion of the proposed projects, a special feature within the Fellowship issue of Nueva Luz, and an exhibition.

The 2023 Media Arts Fund Awardees include:

Daisy Ruiz - Better known online as @Draizys, is a Bronx-bred Illustrator, Founder and Creative Director of award-winning compilation zine Deadass Tho NYC, and Gordita: Built Like This. Her illustrations take inspiration from her 5 year-long Scene phase, her East Coast Chicana upbringing, and everyday NYC living, just to name a few.

MarÍlia Gurgel - is a multimedia artist focused on visual narratives. She was born in Mossoro, north east of Brazil and in 2007 she moved to Rio de Janeiro to study. She has a BA degree in Performing Arts - Theater Direction from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In 2021 she moved to New York to study, she is a graduate of the Documentary Practices program at the International Center of Photography.

Nancy Ma - is a first generation Chinese American actor, filmmaker, and teaching artist. Her work focuses on finding the funny, intimate and redemptive in forgotten places. Her solo show about growing up in Chinatown, Home, produced by The Latino Theater Company, has been performed at schools and festivals around the country. She currently co-hosts a podcast, Hoisan Hour, with her sister on the Chinese diaspora.

Sean-Josahi Brown - is a documentarian whose work depicts hope and the resilience of people living in impoverished conditions. Born in Harlem, he draws inspiration from the common human experience to capture raw emotion and share compelling stories that raise awareness for social issues. Sean uses the medium of storytelling to amplify the voices of others through art and creativity while producing work geared towards radical change.

Zoë Marie Jimenez - is an NYC based Black & Puerto Rican filmmaker. Her goal is to seamlessly blend marginalized characters and stories into the narrative to combat the backhanded "just another black film" or some other variation of a shallow and eurocentric description. Zoe graduated from NYU Tisch school of the Arts, previously interned at Katch Media as a Media Genome Analyst and 1st Ave Machine in the Creative Development department.