2015 Grants and Commissions Program Winners

Ten Latin American artists were recognized this year. The Emerging Artist Award went to Adrian Balseca (Ecuador), Domingo Castillo (El Salvador-Miami), Javier Castro (Cuba), Alice Miceli (Brazil), Nascimento/Lovera (Venezuela) and Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa (Guatemala). The Established Artist Award was granted to artists Iván Argote (Colombia), Silvia Gruner (Mexico) and Pablo Vargas-Lugo (Mexico); while Leandro Katz (Argentina) obtained the Achievement Award. The CIFO Grants and Commissions Program offers emerging, mid-career, and established contemporary artists from Latin America the opportunity to develop and showcase new proposals to local and international audiences in the city of Miami. Each year artists are nominated by CIFO's Honorary Advisory Committee of leading art professionals, curators, and artists from around the world. The program awards works never before exhibited by Latin American artists. Winners of the award will benefit from international exposure and will be given the opportunity of working under ideal conditions. The awards recognize outstanding projects by emerging artists and pay tribute to the trajectory so far of mid-career artists. The Achievement Award, on the other hand, recognizes the contributions of an artist already established. For the third year in a row CIFO partners with Cannonball, an Artist Residency in Miami. A two-month residency is granted to two of the winners of the Grants and Commissions Program. The Board of Directors at CIFO selected Javier Castro (Cuba) and Alice Miceli (Brazil) for this residency. They will focus on the development of their projects, exchange of ideas and experiences with the local art community. More information about CIFO and the Grants and Commissions Program, is available at www.cifo.org