Alum receives 2024 Rebecca Blunk Fund Award
The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) is pleased to announce the 2024 awardees of the Rebecca Blunk Fund: Shey 'Rí Acu' Rivera Ríos of Providence, RI, and Sarah Sockbeson of Kingfield, ME. Each recipient receives $5,000 in unrestricted funding.
Shey 'Rí Acu' Rivera Ríos (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker who uses storytelling across mediums to create immersive worlds of magic and liberation. Born and raised in Borikén (Puerto Rico), Rivera has created home and set deep roots in Providence, RI, land of Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples. Rivera is founder of Studio Loba, a storytelling lab for art and culture projects that support social change. They have 15 years of experience in the arts and culture sector, interweaving artistic practice with community development, urban planning, and racial and gender justice. Their work is rooted in partnerships with place-based, social justice and cultural organizations like SISTAFire and Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy. Rivera is committed to art as a catalyst for social change and honoring community stories and lived experience as the knowledge that can help us craft more just and generative futures. This year, Rivera was selected for Providence Commemoration Lab (2024), a one year residency of social practice art to engage residents of Providence in reimagining commemoration. Past leadership roles include: Director of Inclusive Regional Development at MIT CoLab, Dept of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT. And Artistic/Co-Director of AS220, a renowned arts organization and creative incubator in Providence, RI. Notable projects include: theatrical productions Antigonx (2022) and Fire Flowers and a Time Machine (2021); transmedia artworks: MoralDocs (2020-21) and FANTASY ISLAND (2017); lead curator for El Corazón de Holyoke public art project (2020-21); and founder of LUNA LOBA performance series (2014+).
Learn more by visiting sheyrivera.com, studioloba.com, and by following @sheyriv and @studio.loba_
Shey 'Rí Acu' Rivera Ríos | photo by Cat Laine, Painted Foot Studio
