Laundromat Project Announces 2022 ‘Create Change’ Artists and Fellows

The Laundromat Project has revealed the 2022 cohort of creative practitioners selected to participate in our 17th annual Create Change Artist Development Program! The cohort will collaborate with New York City communities of color to develop and implement creative projects that deepen trust, build relationships, and leverage the power of creativity for positive social change.

2022 Create Change programming, which includes the Create Change Fellowship and the Create Change Residency, will combine cultural organizing and community-building strategy workshops with hands-on instruction in creative engagement. Faculty includes Ebony Noelle Golden (Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative), Urban Bush Women, Fernanda Espinosa, and Laundromat Project staff, among others.

“The Laundromat Project has a long history of working with artists and cultural producers to strengthen their creative practice while building stronger relationships between neighbors,” said Kemi Ilesanmi, Executive Director of The Laundromat Project. “As communities all across the city are able to reconvene and reconnect after so much isolation the past two years, we could not be more eager to support and empower artists and creative problem solvers, whose role in the resilience of NYC remains essential. We look forward to an inspiring year collaborating with this powerful cohort of artists.”

Each Create Change Artist-in-Residence will receive $20,000 in funding, and will collaborate with an array of local partners to develop their projects, addressing themes of cultural preservation, history, identity, and community wellness.

Create Change Fellows will develop and practice strategies for making community-engaged art programming over a rigorous six month period. Fellows will work on proposals to amplify local cultural resources in Bed-Stuy that center the voices and histories of long term residents, small business owners, youth, activists, cultural institutions, and artists. For the second consecutive year in 2022, Create Change Fellows will receive stipends for their participation in the program. 

The full list of Create Change Fellows follows below.

Kyra Assibey Bonsu

Community development, oral storytelling, writing, event production | Crown Heights, Brooklyn

Jessica Cortez

Applied theater | Crown Heights, Brooklyn

Jing Dong

Theater, socially engaged art, education | Lower East Side, Manhattan

Brianna Harlan

Multidisciplinary art, community organizing | Astoria, Queens

Madjeen Isaac

Painting | Flatbush, Brooklyn

Maya K. Jeffereis

Visual art, education | Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

Walis Johnson

Social practice, documentary film | Clinton Hill, Brookly

Shari Jones

Multi-dimensional practice | Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Duneska Suannette Michel

Social practice, visual art, sound, community organizing, education | Brooklyn

Mon M.

Community and collaborative art | Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

Emmanuel Oni

Community design, and architecture | Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

Natalia Guzmán Solano

Activism, scholarship, artivism | East Elmhurst, Queens