Posted September 15, 2014 in Member News
Matthew Conboy is the 2014 Crusade Engagement Grant Winner
Crusade for Art is thrilled to announce the winner of the first $10,000 Crusade Engagement Grant, awarded annually to the applicant with the best idea for building an audience for fine art photography.
The 2014 Crusade Engagement Grant winner is Matthew Conboy, SPE member and Pittsburgh photographer who proposes to make art collectors out of newborn babies. "This project was born from the fact that a local hospital sends every baby home with a Terrible Towel, the towel that is waved at Pittsburgh Steelers football games. While I am a proud Steelers fan, I believe that babies could be sent home with something else that could change their lives and the lives of those around them art." Conboy's project will send every baby born at West Penn Hospital over the next 12 months (3,000+) home with an original, signed photograph from a local photographer.
Out of hundreds of initial applications for the grant, a group of ten finalists were selected. These finalists all proposed promising and innovative projects. The entire list of finalists can be seen here. These finalists' proposals were reviewed by an esteemed jury of photographic professionals, including Whitney Johnson (Director of Photography at The New Yorker), Karen Irvine (Curator and Associate Director at Museum of Contemporary Photography), and Rupert Jenkins (Executive Director at Colorado Photographic Arts Center). Conboy's project was selected for its off-the-charts creativity.
Juror Karen Irvine says, "Matthew Conboy's proposal for new audience engagement displayed dazzling creativity. We are excited to award this grant to someone whose idea feels completely original and unique. We also like the way his project will engage an extremely diverse audience, one that is for the most-part probably not already circulating in the fine art realm."
The Crusade Engagement Grant was created to foster the exploration of innovative programs to connect new audiences to photography. The grant will underwrite the full execution of Conboy's idea. Conboy says, "The thing that excites me the most about this project is that I am sharing my love of art with an entire generation of kids in Pittsburgh. From the moment they're born, they will be collectors of art and photography and that is something that no one can take away from them."
Click here to read more about Matthew Conboy's winning program idea!
