| New York, NY – December 1, 2025 – Trellis Art Fund, a private foundation committed to supporting the work of individual artists via grants and professional development, announces the 2025 Stepping Stone cohort and an expansion of its Stepping Stone grant program. Henceforth, the Stepping Stone grants will provide funding over two years, awarding each artist $20,000 per year, with funds retroactively provided to include the 2024 cohort.
Founded in 2024 with an inaugural group of twenty-one artists, the Stepping-Stone grant cycle was established by Trellis to advance already-promising artistic practices through $20,000 grants. Due to its ongoing commitment to providing meaningful, multi-year support to artists, Trellis made the decision to expand the program from one year to two, surprising the 2024 cohort with another round of unrestricted funding.
Guadalupe Rosales, a 2024 Stepping Stone Grantee, stated: “I’m honored to receive this Stepping Stone grant extension. The support comes at a meaningful and pivotal moment in these times, allowing me to continue creating work rooted in memory, community, and the visual language of East Los Angeles. This grant helps me move forward with projects that hold deep personal and collective significance.”
In each cycle, Trellis reserves a portion of grants for artists who are caregivers to children, seniors (such as parents), and other family members in need. The number of artist-caregivers in the 2025 cohort has grown from three to five, including Julia Phillips, Ernesto Pujol, Aki Sasamoto, Charisse Pearlina Weston, and Didier William. The twenty Stepping Stone grantees range in age from 31 to 78. The 2025 grantees are based in nine cities across seven states and territories, including Santa Fe, NM, and San Antón, PR, reflecting a diverse geographic and generational range.
Aki Sasamoto, who works in performance and sculpture, is a mother and caregiver for her aging parents. She reflected on receiving the grant and said, “As a middle-aged artist of the sandwich generation, staying creative is a balancing act. This year I almost saw myself fall flat with one more person to take care of outside my art practice. The Trellis funds granted me grace to keep it going, right when I needed a push to stay tuned.”
The 2025 Stepping Stone Grantees are:
Kamrooz Aram, lives in Brooklyn, NY
Vaginal Davis, lives in Berlin, Germany
Josh Faught, lives in Sacramento, CA
Arnold J. Kemp, lives in Chicago, IL
Las Nietas de Nonó, lives in San Tantón, Borinquen, PR
Kang Seung Lee, lives in Los Angeles, CA
Brittany Nelson, lives in New York, NY
Sidony O’Neal, lives in Portland, OR
Julia Phillips, lives in Chicago, IL
Ernesto Pujol, lives in Philadelphia, PA
Daisy Quezada Ureña, lives in Santa Fe, NM
Sara Greenberger Rafferty, b. 1978, lives in Brooklyn, NY
Eric-Paul Riege, lives in Na’nízhoozhí, Gallup, NM
Rose Salane, lives in New York, NY
Aki Sasamoto, lives in Brooklyn, NY and New Haven, CT
Awilda Sterling-Duprey, lives in San Juan, PR
Vincent Valdez, lives in Los Angeles, CA
Charisse Pearlina Weston, lives in New York, NY
Didier William, lives in Philadelphia, PA
Millie Wilson, lives in Austin, TXStepping Stone Grantees were selected from a nomination pool of more than 150 artists eligible to work in the United States, recommended by more than 75 curators, historians, artists, and other nationwide art world professionals. The twenty artists were selected by an anonymous jury. Guiding Trellis’ overall process are the five members of the Advisory Board: writer/curator David Evans Frantz, curator Marcela Guerrero, artist Arlene Shechet, curator/educator Akili Tommasino, and writer/curator Eugenie Tsai.
The Stepping Stone Grantees will join Trellis’ two cohorts of Milestone Grantees, forming a diverse and growing network of mutually supportive creatives.
About Trellis Art Fund
Trellis Art Fund is a private organization based in New York City, dedicated to providing support to individual artists so they may pursue their creative endeavors. The foundation envisions a world where the work of individual artists is recognized for its intrinsic value. Trellis believes that visual art offers essential benefits to humanity, both as the quintessential expression of our times and as an unparalleled means to understand ourselves and connect with other human beings, and that its practitioners deserve recognition and sustained support to cultivate their work. To achieve this, Trellis creates a community wherein artists are supported as they deepen and expand their practices. Learn more at www.trellisartfund.org
Image Credit: (from top left to bottom right:) Kamrooz Aram, James Welling; Vaginal Davis, Hector Martinez, 2011; Josh Faught, John Wilson White; Arnold J. Kemp by Robert Chase Heishman; Las nietas de nonó photo by David Moses, courtesy of OUT OF ORDER Magazine, New York.; Kang Seung Lee by Dustin Aksland; Brittany Nelson; Sidony O’Neal by Sam Gehrke; “Headshot”, 2018, Julia Phillips & Keisha Scarville; Ernesto Pujol, image by E. Pujol; Daisy Quesada Ureña by Vigil (Jicarilla Apache); Sara Greenberger Raffety by Argenis Apolinario; Eric-Paul Riege, Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Nate Lemuel; Rose Salane, Alice Plati; Aki Sasamoto, Ben Hagari; Awilda Sterling-Duprey, Thiele Elissa; Vincent Valdez, Brian Goldman for TX Monthly; Charisee Pearlina Weston, Joseph Krauss; Didier William, Miana Jun; Millie Wilson, Katja Perrey.
Media Contacts:
For interviews, background and images, please contact:
Katrina Stewart
Blue Medium, Inc.
katrina@bluemedium.com |
