Fargo Nissim Tbakhi
Interdisciplinary Arts
Cash Prize
Fargo Nissim Tbakhi is a queer Palestinian performance artist, a Taurus, and a cool breeze. His performance work has been programmed at the Poetry Foundation, OUTSider Fest, the Arab-American National Museum, VisArts, Mosaic Theater, the CapitalFringe Fest, and elsewhere, and has been supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts. His poetry and prose have appeared inMizna, Peach Mag, Strange Horizons, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Howlround, Apex Magazine, and have been nominated for thePuschart and Best of the Net prizes. He is the recipient of fellowships from Halcyon Arts Lab, VisArts, Rhizome DC, Radius of ArabAmerican Writers, the Arab-American National Museum, and theDesert Nights Rising Stars Conference. Find more at fargotbakhi.com
Robert Woofter
Dance
Cash Prize
Robert “Bambi” Woofter is a gogo dancer, drag dramaturgist, and director of DC-based production company haus of bambi (hausofbambi.com). His genderless and gendermore work is dedicated to making space for the complexity of queer perspectives through dance and has been commissioned by Vogue, The Kennedy Center, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and The City of Alexandria. Woofter organizes queer-centric events across DC and is a 2022-2024 Dance Place artist-in-residence.
Tarik “Konshens The MC” Davis
Music
Cash Prize
Tarik ‘Konshens The MC’ Davis is an International hip-hop artist, songwriter, Global Arts educator, Youth advocate & Inspirational Speaker from Washington D.C. He is Founder & CEO of Edutainment Unlimited LLC (Arts Education/Entertainment Company), former Governor on the Grammy Chapter Board, current Voting Member of the Grammy Recording Academy, Grammy Museum Artist Educator, UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) Land Ambassador and U.S Cultural Ambassador (State Department). He is also the MC and founder of ‘Classically Dope’, a groundbreaking and innovative classical, hip-hop group which merges original hip-hop lyrics with original classical arrangements. Being featured at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and has been highlighted performer on Fox, ABC and CBS networks, the Washingtonian Magazine, The Washington Post and more. As an artist and innovator, Konshens The MC stands at the forefront of the evolution of hip-hop. www.konshens.com
Ọmọlará Williams McCallister
Visual Arts
Cash Prize
Ọmọlará Williams McCallister’s (pronouns: o, love, beloved) artistic journey began in church at 7 years old as a classically trained vocalist and bassist. O has actively organized around social justice issues on the local, regional and national levels since age 13. Ọmọlará’s upbringing in the Black south is the foundation for O’s work. Love maintains an active studio practice that explores social hierarchies–race, gender, ability, etc.– in the US South and the conditions that create or subvert them. O’s work is a call and response blend of sculpture, performance, installation, ritual, space holding, community building, surface design, adornment, word, sound, song, movement, moving images and photography. The roles that Ọmọlará steps into include artist, educator, organizer, cultural strategist, conjurer. In all forms O’s work is immersive and interactive, it is co-authored by the people who inspire and encounter it. Ọ has garnered numerous awards and accolades to support love’s work. Fellowships that Ọ has won in 2021 include: Post Graduate Residency fellowship at MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA); Nellie MaeRowe Distinguished Fellowship at Hambidge Center for the CreativeArts (Rapbun, GA), to name a few. Ọmọlará has been invited to lead workshops at institutions including the National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington D.C.); Creative Capital (NYC); Brooklyn Museum (NYC) and others.
Zsudayka Nzinga
Visual Arts
Fillmore Studio Prize
Zsudayka Nzinga is a fine artist, curator and educator from Denver, CO living in Washington, DC. Her work is largely focused on mixed media portraiture of American life including themes of motherhood and culture. Her pieces explore patterns and textures using acrylic, oil, decorative and hand dyed paper, fabric, thread and ink on canvas. She also makes jewelry using silver, wood, resin and precious stones. She is a proud mother of 3 children and wife to artist, James Terrell.