The American Australian Association is pleased to announce Jessica Lynne has been selected to receive The 2022 Beverley Art Writers Travel Grant.
Jessica Lynne is a writer and art critic. She is a founding editor of ARTS.BLACK, an online journal of art criticism from Black perspectives. Her writing has been featured in publications such as Artforum, The Believer, Frieze, The Nation, Oxford American, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a 2020 Research and Development award from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and a 2020 Arts Writer Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation. Currently, Jessica is a student in the MFA Writing program at Sarah Lawrence College. She is slowly at work on an essay collection about love, faith, and the U.S. South.
While in Australia, she plans to engage in study focused on the work of Carole Y.Johnson, Founder of the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) Dance College and Bangarra Dance Theatre. Johnson is also a key figure in the history of Black Dance in the United States, studying at Juilliard and later, becoming a member of the Eleo Pomare Dance Company. This study will be conducted in partnership with Samira Farah — cultural organizer, journalist, and co-founder of Still Nomads, a creative research platform focused on African black art — utilizing archival material in the United States as well as Australia.
The Beverley is a result of the partnership between the American Australian Association and John Melick, founder of Blue Medium, a New York-based art and design public relations firm. Beverley Joan Melick (née van Eerde), John’s mother, is the inspiration for this grant. As a NSW-based artist and designer, Beverley Joan Melick has had a long association with the USA and a lifelong passion for cultural exchange.
For more information regarding the grant, please click here.
