1 Cultural Equity Grants FY2012-2013 Individual Artist Commissions – LITERARY ARTS Panelists Jordan Bass Managing Editor, McSweeney's Publishing Since 2004, Bass has helped to edit and design dozens of books, both fiction and nonfiction at McSweeney's Publishing. His main focus is McSweeney's Quarterly, a short-story journal which he oversees; McSweeney's has published work by George Saunders, David Foster Wallace, Stephen King, Lydia Davis, and hundreds of other notable writers. Several stories Jordan has selected and edited for the journal have gone on to appear in the Best American Short Stories, and to receive the National Magazine Award for fiction. He lives in San Francisco. Genny Lim Poet, Playwright, Performer, and Educator Genny is a San Francisco native poet, playwright, performer and educator. Her live poetry and music collaborations with artists such as Jon Jang, Francis Wong and Max Roach, have brought her acclaim at home and international recognition in Venezuela and Bosnia-Hercegovina. Genny's play, Paper Angels, was produced here in the U.S. as well as Canada and China. She is the author of two books of poetry, Winter Place and Child of War and Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island. Joan Pinkvoss Executive Director, Aunt Lute Book Company Ms. Pinkvoss has over 28 years experience in the commercial publishing world and has a national reputation in the field of editing, having won two national publishing awards. Originally the sole proprietor of a smaller Aunt Lute Book Company, Ms. Pinkvoss, in 1990, successfully led the transition of Aunt Lute to a non-profit corporation, the Aunt Lute Foundation, encompassing a broader vision for the field of literature. Under her direct supervision the company has published a total of 62 titles, many of them receiving literary awards and distinctions. The mission of the Aunt Lute Foundation is to support and publish new writers from a variety of cultures and sub-cultures, both within the United States and from other countries. Choosing narratives that are relevant to pressing community issues, Ms. Pinkvoss, has spent major energy on outreach, networking with community members and hiring consultants from within communities to produce accessible literary programs, panels and performances. Ms. Pinkvoss has led several manuscript workshops and tutorials in the Bay Area. She has also sat on national and local symposium panels, advocating for the importance of non-profit literature in a democratic and socially just world. FY2012-2013 Individual Artist Commissions - Literary Arts Grant RANKING Panel Rating Applicant Grant Request Grant Amount 93 Pireeni Sundaralingam $10,000 $10,000 91 Kevin Simmonds $10,000 $10,000 85 Michelle Tea $10,000 $9,000 85 Truong Tran $10,000 $9,000 84.3 Chun Yu $10,000 $9,000 82 Lyzette Wanzer $10,000 $9,000 82 Nomy Lamm $10,000 $9,000 81 Dan Lau $10,000 $9,000 80 Ingrid Rojas Contreras $10,000 $9,000 75 Ali Liebegott $10,000 $8,000 74 Alice Rogoff $5,000 $4,000 74 Charlie Varon $10,000 $8,000 72 Debbie Yee $10,000 $0 72 Rhiannon Argo $10,000 $0 63 Richard D’Elia $10,000 $0 63 Sona Avakian $10,000 $0 60 Clare Myers $10,000 $0 57 Kirk Read $10,000 $0 54 Maria Theresa Allocco $10,000 $0 53 Isis Rodriguez $10,000 $0 48 Judy B $10,000 $0 35 Lisa Ann Sniderman $10,000 $0 29 Judith Moraes Sakhri $10,000 $0 0 Parris Lane $10,000 $0 Total $235,000 $103,000 Summary Sheet 2013 IAC Literary Arts Panel Recommendations Pireeni Sundaralingam Group Size 93 Score: Project description Request: $10,000 "Unseen City" is a project in which I propose to write a series of poems calling Recommended: $10,000 attention to the overlooked aspects of physical spaces in our city. The poems will interleave "physical space" words taken from San Francisco's languages. The project consists of 4 writing workshops in which I will engage with the public, as well as a half-way reading and discussion, and a further reading and panel discussion, in addition to a website. Notes on panel's commentary This was one of the strongest applications. I didn’t have to interpret the narrative and how it relates to the work sample. It has organized goals and is very well articulated. The community aspect of the work is very integrated with the project itself. The community in some applications is a side project, but here it is integral. It’s a strength and uniqueness of the project. I love the engagement with the environment and the world. She’s calling attention to the overlooked. This has a compelling theme. Her engagement with communities and languages in the city shows an innate curiosity. Creating understanding and drawing connections to diverse communities is an ambitious goal. This is fresh, searing, compact, vivid and commands my total attention. This is unique to her own way of looking at the world. The images are compelling. It’s a well thought out plan. Her approach to working with the community in the workshops and the discoveries and explorations there will inform the poetry she’s putting together for the collection. The final presentation is well structured and organized. This has artistic accomplishment meeting with community impact. I also thought this was very good. The public interaction piece is obviously well developed, multilayered, interesting, and pretty innovative compared to the rest of the applicant pool. The poetry is elegant, well done, and compelling. I like the commitment to pushing her vocabulary. She’s introducing local terms. I like the Mandarin term she uses in the narrative. The use of expert communities is thoughtful and imaginative. There’s a lot to grab onto here all the way through— whether the idea behind the project or her commitment to community. She has a strong sense of connection to her audiences. The work itself is quite strong. I don’t have much to add. This is well articulated. The poetry is great. The project is great. She’s even pointing to the larger question of what is unseen. I like the connection to her neighborhood bookstore. The project is still a risky exploration and she’s making it accessible to her community. Her letters of recommendation are very strong. She discusses how she brings together topics around transnationalism and localism. The letter writer feels she’s capable of that. This is overall a strong application. This is probably the most detailed project budget we’ve really had. She knows how she’ll use the funds. She has a detailed list. This is well thought out and she knows what that funding means for her. She’s using the community as a holistic aspect of the work. She does it in a way nobody has done so far in their projects. That’s not a requirement, but I see that as a bonus. She has the natural ability to reflect the community and make it fresh and informed. She dispels the ivory tower idea of an artist. We’re in an era where that can happen, so these kinds of projects inspire a greater social connection that I like. If you’re writing today, you need to be engaged. It’s nice that there’s a web component. She’s actively pursuing ways of getting her work out outside of the poetry journals she’s worked with before. That’s a fairly central part of the project. It’s very laudable here to see someone interested in alternate means of getting their work out there. If we encourage that, other people will respond and look at their work from a different angle as well. page 1 2/7/13 Summary Sheet 2013 IAC Literary Arts Panel Recommendations Kevin Simmonds Group Size 91 Score: Project description Request: $10,000 Based on interviews and the history of civil rights for Americans with "disabilities," Recommended: $10,000 The WHOLE Story, a new poetry-centered performance project, considers limb and sensory loss (sight, hearing and feeling) and the attendant emotional trauma and life upheaval of those affected, alongside their personal and public triumphs. Notes on panel's commentary This is a thoroughly multidisciplinary project. He seems to be giving equal weight to each element— the writing, filmmaking, and musical composition. I was impressed by his willingness to approach it on all fronts. But it left me a bit unable to conceive of what the end result looks like. As an artistic challenge, there’s a lot of meat there and lot to tangle with personally. I feel supportive of the work and his description of it. And the craft is there. It seems like he has clear eyes on the fact that he might not connect with his target audience with this experimental work. He knows that and this response will be incorporated into his process. He articulated this well and talked about his ability to connect with them in a way that will work for him and them. [Break here to review the work sample.] I don’t know if I would modulate my feelings much after viewing the sample. There’s a pretty good balance between the elements. Text is still at the center of his work in an encouraging way. It’s more grounded than the other multidisciplinary pieces we’ve seen. Language is still the core of it. I’m encouraged by this as a multidisciplinary approach to a literary project. He’s committed to the project itself and capable of doing it. I still have no idea what the performance will ultimately look like, but feel encouraged by it.