2016 Inga Maren Otto Fellowships Announced

[caption id="attachment_44868" align="alignnone" width="800"] Zeinab Shahidi Marnani.[/caption]

Earlier this month, The Watermill Center announced that Iranian filmmaker Zeinab Shahidi Marnani, Mexican-born visual artist G.T. Pellizzi, and Chilean painter Basco Vazko have been selected as the inaugural recipients of The Center’s Inga Maren Otto Fellowship. Created with a $960,000 gift from philanthropist Inga Maren Otto, the fellowship provides support for emerging and mid-career artists who have demonstrated exceptional creative ability in the arts.

[caption id="attachment_44867" align="alignleft" width="300"] Blasco Vazko[/caption]

“Maren Otto has been a devoted supporter of The Watermill Center and our mission to support extraordinary emerging artists from across the globe over the last ten years," said Watermill’s Founder and Artistic Director, Robert Wilson. "She is a true humanitarian—passionate about the arts, architecture and humanities. Her support in establishing the Inga Maren Otto Fellowship helps to ensure that some of the most brilliant young artists are afforded the time and space to collaborate and create new works.”

The program represents the depth and breadth of Watermill’s commitment to supporting projects that integrate genres and art forms from diverse viewpoints and that break from traditional forms of representation. Through a four to six week residency at The Watermill Center, each fellow is provided with blocks of time in which they can exercise as much creative freedom as possible to develop new works.

Recipients of the Inga Maren Otto Fellowship have access to Watermill’s unparalleled collection of art and artifacts, as well as housing, work space and other resources. Each fellow also receives a stipend, travel expenses, and financial support to present a public exhibition or performance of the work created during the residency.

[caption id="attachment_44866" align="alignright" width="300"] G.T. Pellizzi[/caption]

Basco Vazko will be the first fellow to take up residency at Watermill in February 2016, followed by G.T. Pellizzi in June 2016, and Zeinab Shahidi Marnani in September 2016.

The Watermill Center itself is a 20,000 square foot flexible working space that includes a 6,000 volume research library, galleries, rehearsal and staging spaces, workshops, offices, and residences situated on eight-and-a-half acres of artist-designed and landscaped grounds. The Watermill Center Collection of almost 8,000 art and artifact pieces spanning the history of humankind is integrated into all aspects of the building and grounds as a reminder that the history of each civilization is told by its artists. For more information about The Watermill Center, visit watermillcenter.org.