Great Meadows Foundation

10/10/2026

With thanks to photographer Jeff Ivory for these images of the Mary and Al Shands Art Preserve.

10/07/2026

Next Saturday!

Please join us for “Altered States of America” on Saturday, October 17th from 1-5pm. This is the third installment of our new annual symposium series, hosted by KMAC Contemporary Art Museum in Louisville.

The talks are free and open to the public. More information below and at https://www.kmacmuseum.org/altered-states-symposium

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During a time of precarity, art-makers and viewers may become inundated with information and images whose sources remain hard to name or confirm. Certainty about who, where, and how we are, seems increasingly elusive. What role can artists and art play in navigating these tectonic shifts? How can art serve as a space for transformation, for transcendence onto more steady ground?

The program consists of two panels and a keynote address. At 7pm, there will be a special performance by Arewà Basit at B-side, located at 1076 E Washington St, 2nd floor, Louisville, KY 40206 (above Decade restaurant).

Speakers include:
David Antonio Cruz
Tom Holmes
Arewà Basit
Dana Potter
Letitia Quesenberry
Shohei Katayama
Monique Long
José Carlos Diaz
Nora N. Khan

10/06/2026

09/21/2026

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Altered States symposium in Lexington last Friday!

We heard amazing presentations from Mel Chin, Matt Garcia of desertArtLAB, Daniel Feinberg, and Emmanuel Pratt of Sweet Water Foundation. Kentucky artists Crystal Gregory, Jessamine Michler, and Hannah Smith also gave presentations last weekend and participated in the symposium Q&A.

For those who weren’t able to make it, videos of the presentations will be on our YouTube channel soon.

Mark your calendars! The next event in our symposium series will be on Saturday, October 17th at KMAC Contemporary Art Museum in Louisville. More details soon!

09/11/2026

09/01/2026

Save the Date!

Please join us in Lexington on Friday, September 18th from 1-5:30pm for the second installment of our new annual symposium series. The talks are free and open to the public.

More information below and at https://design.uky.edu/events/altered-states

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The University of Kentucky College of Design, in partnership with Great Meadows Foundation, will host “Altered States: Art, Ecology, and Collective
Practices,” a symposium on collaborative environmental and community-based art.

The artist talks portion of the symposium will run from 1-5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, in the Biagi Forum at the Gray Design Building and is free and open to the public. The speaker schedule is as follows:
• 1:15-2 p.m. — Mel Chin
A MacArthur Fellow, Hiroshima Art Prize winner and internationally recognized conceptual artist, Chin’s wide-ranging practice explores politics, ecology, mapping, surrealism and other themes. Many of his projects bring together art, science and community action to address environmental and social concerns.
• 2-2:45 p.m. — April Bojorquez and Matt Garcia
Co-founders of DesertArtLAB, a Colorado-based environmental arts collaborative whose work spans topics such as Indigenous and Chicano ecological practices, food sovereignty, desert ecology and community-based land restoration.
• 3-3:45 p.m. — Daniel Feinberg
An artist, educator and associate professor at Berea College who uses plants and design to explore how paved surfaces affect water, heat and land.
• 3:45-4:30 p.m. — Emmanuel Pratt
A MacArthur Fellow and co-founder of the Sweet Water Foundation, a nonprofit that uses design, urban ecology, education and community building to turn vacant spaces into places that support people and neighborhoods.
• 4:45-5:30 p.m. — Panel with all artists

08/13/2026

Round 32 of Great Meadows Foundation’s Artist Professional Development Grants is now open!

To date, we’ve given more than $1.3 million to support Kentucky artists in travel that enriches their artist practice and helps them engage with the global contemporary art discourse.

Complete details, including artist eligibility, types of projects funded, and important dates, can be found at greatmeadowsfoundation.org/artist-professional-development-grants/

Remember, ALL applicants are required to have a meeting with the director before applying. The deadline to schedule a meeting is Sunday, September 27, 2026. To schedule a meeting, email [email protected].

08/11/2026

Earlier this year, we held the first symposium in our new annual series at The Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky. A stellar roster of arts professionals from the state and around the country gathered to share their insights on this year’s theme.

Now you can watch the day’s presentations on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/
🎥 Audrey Cecil Films & Photography

Save the date for our next symposium!
Friday, September 18, 2026
University of Kentucky | Gray Design Building

08/06/2026

We’re pleased to announce the latest recipients of our Artist Professional Development Grant program.

Follow along as we post one of our awardees for this grant cycle each day, and to learn more about the grantees’ artistic practices and their travel activities, visit the News section at greatmeadowsfoundation.org.