Squeaky Wheel awarded $100,000 by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Support will provide artist opportunities, exhibitions, screenings & public programs

Squeaky Wheel recently announce it was awarded a multiyear program support grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in the amount of $100,000. Funding will support exhibitions and screenings, the workspace residency program, commissions, talks and workshops that support individual artists and “demystify art practices.” The grant will also allow Squeaky Wheel to offer accessibility services such as live CART and ASL interpretation at events, and continue offering artist residents additional financial assistance for child care and/or disability support.

Squeaky Wheel Executive Director Zainab Saleh stated, “We are honored to receive this grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation in support of our programs. This funding will provide our organization and artists with the crucial space to experiment and think critically about the ways that the pandemic has shifted how we engage with each other, both in physical spaces and virtually.”

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Program Director Rachel Bers said, “Squeaky Wheel provides media artists with critical opportunities to create and present work in unconventional ways to new audiences. We are pleased to support its programs that bring experimental artists to Buffalo and give them a platform from which to participate in national media art conversations.”

Squeaky Wheel is one of 49 organizations receiving funding through the Andy Warhol Foundation’s fall 2021 grant cycle, with awards totaling $4.1 million. A press release noted, “Our year-round media arts programming supports experimentation, challenges conventional boundaries, and connects artist’s work to audiences and communities in Western New York and beyond.”

In accordance with Warhol’s will, the mission of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is the advancement of the visual arts. The foundation manages an innovative and flexible grants program while also preserving Warhol’s legacy through creative and responsible licensing policies and extensive scholarly research for ongoing catalogue raisonné projects. To date, the foundation has given nearly $260 million in cash grants to over 1,000 arts organizations in 49 states and abroad and has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide.

Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center has a mission to continue a legacy of innovation in media arts through access, education and exhibition. It envisions a community that uses electronic media and film to celebrate freedom of expression and diversity of voice. For more information, visit squeaky.org.