Cultural Council For Palm Beach County Announces Recipients of Emerging Artist Prize For Palm Beach County-Based Artists

Posted by: Linnea Bailey

January 31, 2025

A collaboration with the Norton Museum of Art, the new program is meant to help emerging artists take the next steps in their careers

LAKE WORTH BEACH, FL — The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County has announced five recipients of a new grant program designed to help emerging Palm Beach County-based artists develop their careers.

The five recipients of the Council’s Emerging Artist Prize are Laura Tanner, of Boca Raton; Hodaya Louis, of Loxahatchee; Kelvin Small, of Jupiter; Jamie Rodriguez, of West Palm Beach; and Sitki Dogan, of Lake Worth Beach.

Part of the Council’s Year of Extraordinary Support, the award is meant for creative professionals across all artistic disciplines and includes a nine-month program focused on professional development. The five recipients will each be paired with mentors who are arts professionals and receive ongoing training and advice. They will also receive a $3,000 stipend for materials or supplies, access to the Norton’s Artist-in-Residence studio spaces for four weeks each and complimentary access to the Museum.

“We are constantly exploring ways to support creative professionals at each stage of their careers,” said Jessica Ransom, the Council’s director of artist services. “This is an opportunity for artists in the early stages of a professional career to focus on developing their artistic ‘voice’ while also establishing a business foundation, creating a cohort of individuals in a similar phase of their career, and accessing mentorship to aid in successfully building a pathway for the future.”

Selected through a highly competitive application process, the five recipients were chosen from a significant number of applicants by a committee of regional and national arts professionals.

Tanner is an artist who works with interdisciplinary forms of storytelling, including drawing, printed catalogs and film, while Louis is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, drawing and video. Small is a fine art photographer and contemporary visual artist focused on navigating the realms of reality and surrealism. Rodriguez is a mixed media artist whose works (including installations) are inspired by the historical significance of the landscape and the universality of the human condition and environment. Dogan is a muralist and artist with a passion for public art, specializing in trompe l’oeil and 3D chalk murals.

The program will guide the artists as they create business plans, focus on growing and sustaining their businesses and pursue future exhibition, residency and gallery opportunities. The artists will each have access to group coaching sessions, one-on-one mentoring and business training sessions. The artists will be working at the Norton’s Artist-in-Residence studio spaces from June through August — each will have a dedicated month in the space.

“Equity is essential to a sustainable arts and cultural sector and a vibrant and thriving community, and we’re proud to celebrate and serve artists at all stages of their careers,” said Dave Lawrence, president and CEO of the Cultural Council. “Our emerging artists are an important part of our community, and we’re so happy to be able to offer this new grant program through the Council’s Year of Extraordinary Support.”

The Council’s Year of Extraordinary Support, or YES!, was launched by the Cultural Council in November 2023 as a celebration of the record funding for Palm Beach County’s arts and cultural sector, the largest in the Cultural Council’s 47-year history. Other new Cultural Council programs include an Arts Administrator of Color Fellowship program and a third round of the Council’s popular Artist Innovation Fellowship program.

About the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County
The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is the official support agency for arts and culture in The Palm Beaches, Florida’s Cultural Capital®. Headquartered in the historic Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. building in Downtown Lake Worth Beach, the Council presents exciting year-round exhibitions and performances featuring artists who live or work in Palm Beach County. The Council features spectacular work by Palm Beach County-based professional artisans in its Roe Green Uniquely Palm Beach Store and offers complimentary resources for visitors in its Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Visitor Information Center. The Council is open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and a comprehensive calendar of cultural events in The Palm Beaches, visit palmbeachculture.com.

About the Norton Museum of Art
The Norton Museum of Art, Florida’s largest art museum, is home to a distinguished collection of art, with holdings in American, European, Contemporary and Chinese Art and Photography. Founded in 1941 by Ralph Hubbard Norton and his wife, Elizabeth Calhoun Norton, the Museum collects, preserves, and exhibits art, and engages visitors through exhibitions, events and live entertainment featuring local musicians and performance artists. Public programming is year-round and designed to inspire conversations and build community through the power of art. The Museum is accessible to all. The Museum’s expansion and renovation was led by London-based architecture firm Foster + Partners, adding a building and more than 12,000 square feet of new gallery space, an educational center, a store and restaurant, a sculpture garden, and a Great Hall, serving as the Museum’s “living room.” The campus is home to renovated, Museum-owned, 1920s-era cottages that house artists-in-residence. The Museum’s Artist-in-Residence program was made possible by the generosity of the Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund/MLDauray Arts Initiative. Visit the Museum’s website at Norton.org or connect on Instagram and Facebook.

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Media Contact:
Linnea Bailey (561) 713-0673
[email protected]