Miami’s Visual Arts Awards

The Ellies

Celebrating the artists who make Miami

The Ellies fuel creative projects that elevate artists and art teachers’ careers. With $2.5 million in support over the past five years, Ellies recipients have exhibited at major museums and galleries, produced award-winning films and created public art that shapes our community. What would you do with an Ellie? Apply for funding from April 19 – May 17, 2023.

Ellies winners have shown their work in Miami around the globe, including:

• Leo Castaneda (2018 and 2021 winner) whose transmedia game “Levels and Bosses” was featured in interactive exhibitions in Miami and Europe and led to the development of a new fine-art video game studio, Otro Inventario.

• Cristine Brache (2021 winner), whose short film “Carmen” won the Miami Film Festival’s Made in the MIA Short Award;

• Pepe Mar (2021 winner) whose work will be featured in a career retrospective this year at the Tampa Museum of Art;

• Maria Corina Ramirez (2019 winner) had her film Bridges featured at the Miami Film Festival and available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

We’re delighted to name these awards in honor of our founder, Ellie Schneiderman, a visionary who recognized the power of supporting artists in their work. As Ellie often said, Oolite Arts is here to help artists help themselves.

Ellie Schneiderman

Awards

The Ellies

The Ellies are offered in four categories to support Miami-Dade working and emerging artists, art educators, and established, professionally accomplished artists.

The Ellies Creator Awards

The Creator Awards support individual artists with grants of $2,500 to $25,000 to realize a significant visual arts project that will advance their careers. These projects should be bold ideas that speak to our community and our times. These awards are open to all Miami-Dade artists. A panel of arts leaders will select recipients from the applicant pool.

Applications are now closed

The Ellies Teacher Travel Grants

Teacher Travel Grants will provide K-12 art teachers with $5,000 in funds for travel that will ultimately enrich their classroom curriculum. By encouraging teachers to explore and share art experiences with their students, these grants will help create the audiences that our museums and arts organizations need to thrive. The opportunity is open to all Miami-Dade art teachers, grades K-12. A panel of arts leaders and educators will select the recipients.

Applications are now closed

The Michael Richards Award

The Michael Richards Award is a nomination based award, given to a Miami-Dade artist who has created a recognized body of original, high-quality works of art over a sustained period of time and who, through their practice, is achieving the highest levels of professional distinction in visual arts. This artist is someone who has established and sustained their practice in Miami and has given back to the community throughout their career in a variety of ways. The award will support the selected artist’s practice and creative growth through a stipend of $75,000 over a two-year period.

Michael Richards (1963 – 2001), to whom this award pays tribute, was an incisive, provocative, and poetic artist whose body of work primarily addresses racial inequity and social injustice. Richards, an Oolite Arts alum, passed away tragically in his art studio in the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. A jury of national and local curators and experts will both nominate candidates and select the award winner.

About Michael

Learn about the Oolite Arts alumnus whom this award pays tribute to.

The Ellies Social Justice Award

The Ellies Social Justice Award honors a visual artist who has made a commitment to working for equality in their daily lives and artistic practice. This award will support the selected artist’s practice and creative growth through a stipend of $25,000. A jury of artists and social justice leaders will nominate candidates and select the award winner.

The Ellies Service of the Arts Award

The Ellies Service to the Arts Award honors a leader for their dedication to visual artists in our community. The award comes with a $10,000 gift for the honoree to bestow to the artist of their choice.

FAQs

Creator Awards

These awards will support individual artists with grants of $2,500 to $25,000 to realize a significant visual arts project. These awards are open to all artists who reside in Miami-Dade County.

Applications will be accepted through May 17, 2023 at 6 p.m.

Because The Ellies are about growing Miami’s visual arts community, Creator Awards are open to any individual artist living and working in Miami-Dade County.

Applicants must be 18 years of age or older, and must be a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.

We want to help individual artists realize their ambitious ideas and advance their careers. There are no limits to the scope of the projects. Winning projects could be an exhibition at a gallery, a public art piece, a museum exhibition, or another format. Funds can go toward ongoing projects, or one not yet launched. We are looking for bold ideas that speak to our community and our times.

Projects will be evaluated based on the artist’s idea and his/her prior experience, and whether the artist has the ability to bring the project to fruition.

A project can take place in a public or private space, or online. It’s up to the applicant.

Not at all. The award is open to any working artist, whether they are a student, an emerging artist or have been working in the field for a long time. Eligibility does require that the artist is 18 years of age or older and a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.

Yes, a collective of visual artists can submit an application, as long as the lead applicant is a Miami-Dade resident.

Yes, however, we will be using a wide definition of the visual arts. In addition, the visual arts must be a main component of the project and it has to be led by a working visual artist who lives in Miami-Dade.

The awards range from $2,500 to $25,000.

A jury of local and national arts leaders will read and choose from among the submitted applications.

The Ellies are for working artists. Eligible applicants are working visual artists who live in Miami-Dade. We hope nonprofits and educational institutions in the arts field will be partners in some of the applications.

A curator can be a part of an application; however, a visual artist must be the person to submit the idea.

As many as you like, though we’d suggest no more than three.

Fall 2023.

Please contact [email protected] or attend an informational session.

Contact

Email us with any questions.
[email protected]

Terms and Conditions

Teacher Travel Grants

The Ellies Teacher Travel Grants will provide three K-12 teachers with $5,000 for travel that will ultimately enrich their classroom curriculum. By encouraging teachers to explore and then return to share art experiences with their students, these grants will help to create the audiences that our museums and arts organizations need to thrive.

Applications will be accepted through May 17, 2023 at 6 p.m.

Our Teacher Travel Grants are open to all K-12 art teachers in any Miami-Dade County public or private school.

Three per year.

$5,000 per teacher.

No, as long as the teacher states in the application how the trip will enhance his or her teaching of the visual arts and the students’ classroom experience.

Travel must be completed by November 2024. Should the Coronavirus pandemic continue to preclude travel, we will work with winners on adjusting their plans.

A jury of local arts leaders and arts teachers will read and choose from among the submitted applications.

While a worthwhile endeavor, this funding is limited to art teachers traveling without students.

You may if you like. Please be sure to fill out two separate applications.

Please contact [email protected] or attend an information session.

Contact

Email us with any questions.
[email protected]

Terms and Conditions

The Michael Richards Award

The Michael Richards Award is designed to celebrate a Miami-Dade artist who has created a recognized body of original, high-quality art over a sustained period of time and who, through his or her practice, is achieving the highest levels of professional distinction in the visual arts. The award includes a “no strings attached” stipend of $75,000 over two years, and the opportunity to be commissioned by the Oolite Arts in collaboration with The Bass, to create a work to be exhibited at the museum.

The Michael Richards Award is not open to applications. The recipient will be nominated and selected by a jury of national and local curators and arts experts.

Michael Richards was an emerging artist gaining recognition for his work when he was killed working in his studio in the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks. From 1997 to 2000 Richards was an artist in residence at Oolite Arts. Read more about Richards.

The recipient will receive $75,000 payable over two years, no strings attached. In addition, Oolite Arts will commission a piece from the artist for display at The Bass.

The recipient must be an eminent artist with a track record of distinguished artistic achievement, the desire to continue growing, and the ambition to advance his or her career. We hope the recipient will use the award to further his or her artistic practice, and have a continued impact on the visual arts and on Miami-Dade County in general. The artist must be a resident of Miami-Dade County at the time of selection and must maintain the residency during the period of the award.  Proof of residency will be required in order to receive the award.

Please contact [email protected] or attend an informational session.

The Ellies

Meet the 2022 Ellies winners

The Ellies:
2022 Creator Award Winners

Alexandra Fields O’Neale

2022 Creator Award Winner
Amanda Linares

Amanda Linares

2022 Creator Award Winner
Anastasia Samoylova

Anastasia Samoylova

2022 Creator Award Winner
Antonia Wright

Antonia Wright

2022 Creator Award Winner
2020 Creator Award Winner
Cara Dodge

Cara Dodge

2022 Creator Award Winner
Carlos Sandoval De Leon

Carlos Sandoval De Leon

2022 Creator Award Winner
Carolina Casusol

Carolina Casusol Valle

2022 Creator Award Winner
Carolina Cueva

Carolina Cueva

2022 Creator Award Winner
Clara Toro

Clara Toro

2022 Creator Award Winner
Coralina Rodriguez-Meyer

Coralina Rodriguez Meyer

2022 Creator Award Winner
2019 Creator Award Winner
Cornelius Tulloch

Cornelius Tulloch

2022 Creator Award Winner
2020 Creator Award Winner
Dainy Tapia

Dainy Tapia

2022 Creator Award Winner
Dara Friedman

Dara Friedman

2022 Creator Award Winner
2018 Creator Award Winner
Ema Ri

Ema Ri

2022 Creator Award Winner
Fola Akinde

Fola Akinde

2022 Creator Award Winner
Francisco Masó

Francisco Masó

2022 Creator Award Winner
2020 Creator Award Winner
George Sanchez-Calderon

George Sanchez-Calderon

2022 Creator Award Winner
Jacek Kolasiński

Jacek Kolasiński

2022 Creator Award Winner
Jayme Kaye Gershen

Jayme Kaye Gershen

2022 Creator Award Winner
Jee Park

Jee Park

2022 Creator Award Winner
Johann C. Muñoz

Johann C. Muñoz

2022 Creator Award Winner
Larissa Perez

Larissa Perez

2022 Creator Award Winner
Lee Pivnik

Lee Pivnik

2022 Creator Award Winner
2020 Creator Award Winner
Leslie Gomez-Gonzalez

Leslie Gomez-Gonzalez

2022 Creator Award Winner
Liz Ferrer

Liz Ferrer

2022 Creator Award Winner
2019 Creator Award Winner
Margaret Cardillo

Margaret Cardillo

2022 Creator Award Winner
Monica Uszerowicz

Monica Uszerowicz

2022 Creator Award Winner
Nadia Wolff

Nadia Wolff

2022 Creator Award Winner
Oscar Rieveling

Oscar Rieveling

2022 Creator Award Winner
Rhonda Mitrani

Rhonda Mitrani

2022 Creator Award Winner
Ricardo E. Zulueta

Ricardo E. Zulueta

2022 Creator Award Winner
Robert Thiele

Robert Thiele

2022 Creator Award Winner
Rose Marie Cromwell

Rose Marie Cromwell

2022 Creator Award Winner
2019 Creator Award Winner
Smita Sen

Smita Sen

2022 Creator Award Winner
Smith Durogene

Smith Durogene

2022 Creator Award Winner
T. Eliott Mansa

T. Eliott Mansa

2022 Creator Award Winner
2019 Creator Award Winner
Victoria Ravelo

Victoria Ravelo

2022 Creator Award Winner
William Osorio

William Osorio

2022 Creator Award Winner
Yi Chin Hsieh

Yi Chin Hsieh

2022 Creator Award Winner