Chances Dances Presents: The Mark Aguhar Memorial Fund, A New Component of The Critical Fierceness Grant

Chances Dances is proud to present The Mark Aguhar Memorial Fund, an additional component of the Critical Fierceness Grant. The Mark Aguhar Memorial Fund is a grant specifically for women-identified or transfeminine artists of color.

“We are honored and humbled to be able to provide a grant in memory of our late sister, Mark Aguhar,” said Aay Preston-Myint, co-organizer of Chances Dances. “She was an inspiration to Chicago and the world, and we hope this fund becomes a small step toward continuing her legacy of vital artistic and political practices, even in the wake of her absence.”

The Critical Fierceness Grant is a biannual grant for Chicago-based artists who identify themselves or their work as queer. The first grants were awarded in 2008, providing up to $500 to fine art and social justice art projects; past recipients include Edie Fake, DoubleDJ, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Nikki Patin, Fawzia Mirza, Riva Lehrer and Rebecca Kling. Chances Dances uses proceeds from its three monthly DJ residencies to fund the Critical Fierceness Grant, and June 2012′s cycle is the first to include the Mark Aguhar Memorial Fund. The grant has two cycles with deadlines at the end of June and December, you can download the application by clicking here:

Mark Aguhar (1987-2012) was a fine art student at University of Illinois Chicago, and maintained a well-regarded blog at calloutqueen.tumblr.com. She moved to Chicago in 2010 and was known as a performer, visual artist, go-go dancer, internet sensation and fashion maven. She incorporated her disparate identities – Filipino-American, queer, genderqueer, trans, fat, femme, artist, dancer, designer, intellectual, party queen, call-out queen – into her work and her everyday life. Mark was a constant presence at Chances and a fierce and affirming ally to its organizers and attendees. She committed suicide in March 2012.

Chicago-based DJ collective Chances Dances builds community with three monthly parties that are distinctly queer, safe spaces for all gender expressions and adamantly inclusive. Chances Dances is an evolving space that can be, at any moment, what Chicago’s community needs it to be, where every event contributes to the Critical Fierceness Grant — a new model for funding fine art and creative social justice projects.

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Tags: aay preston-myint, anne elizabeth moore, chances dances, Chicago, critical fierceness grant, doubledj, edie fake, fawzia mirza, mark aguhar, nikki patin, people of color, queer, queer artists, Rebecca Kling, riva lehrer, The mark aguhar memorial fund

Category: Art, Community, Culture, The Qu