Vigilant Love’s Artist Activist Fellowship

The Vigilant Love Artist Activist Fellowship is a six-month program for young, emerging artists ages 18-24 from Muslim, Black, Indigenous, and/or POC (BIPOC) communities who have a desire to create political art that connects to abolitionist movements, community care, and healing justice. We believe that artist activists play a critical role in disrupting systems of violence and dehumanization and building pathways to liberation and healing – the Artist Activist Fellowship honors and resources this important work by ensuring young artists have the resources and deep, intergenerational, and cross-communal relationships needed to sustain this work for the long haul.

All Vigilant Love Artist Activist Fellows will receive one-on-one mentorship and coaching from values-aligned Muslim and BIPOC artists in community, peer support from their 10-person fellowship cohort and the broader Vigilant Love community, and resources to hone their identities and voices as artists activists. Fellows will also receive a $1000 participation stipend and an additional $500 to support the creation of artwork to showcase at a community exhibit at the end of the program. 

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who identify as Muslim, Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Color/racialized person are invited to apply to the Artist Activist Fellowship. Ideal candidates include artist activists who:

• Are engaged with an artistic medium they would like to further develop in community with the support of a seasoned artist activist mentor 

• Have a desire to learn and create art that connects to abolition, community safety, surveillance, healing justice, gender justice, racial justice, disability justice, transformative justice, anti-Zionism, indigenous & land sovereignty, the War on Terror and intersecting themes

• Live in Southern California, with a preference for folks who are Los Angeles-based

The Application & Pairing Process

The application should take roughly 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete. Applicants will indicate preference for their top 3 mentors. The VL team will assess the best match through applications and interviews in order to pair final candidates with one of the 10 artist activist mentors. Both the Artist Activist Fellow and Artist Activist Mentor will have a chance to connect for a brief consultation to confirm their match. You can access the application at this link, or using the button below: bit.ly/aafapplication.

Please send any questions about the application process or program to team@vigilantlove.org.

Program Timeline

Program Timeline

Pre-program

• Applications open (April 3, 2024)

• Application review and interviews begin (mid April 2024) 

• Applications Close (May 1, 2024)

• Finalists paired with Artist Activist Mentors (May 2024)

• Selected applicants receive notice (end of May 2024)

Program

• June 2024:

• Artist Activist Fellows paired with Artist Activist Mentors (June 3-7, 2024)

• First coaching session between Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor (date and location determined by Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor)

• Opening retreat (June 29-June 30, Los Angeles location details provided upon acceptance)

• July 2024 

• Monthly cohort check-in & creative co-working (Date TBD, Los Angeles location details provided upon acceptance)

• Second coaching session between Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor (date and location determined by Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor)

• September 2024

• Monthly cohort check-in & creative co-working (Date TBD, Los Angeles location details provided upon acceptance)

• Third coaching session between Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor (date and location determined by Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor)

• October 2024

• Monthly cohort check-in & creative co-working (Date TBD, Los Angeles location details provided upon acceptance)

• Fourth coaching session between Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor (date and location determined by Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor)

• November 

• Community exhibit (November 15, 2024, Los Angeles location details provided upon acceptance)

• Final coaching session (date and location determined by Artist Activist and Artist Activist Mentor)

• Closing retreat and celebration (November 17, 2024, Los Angeles location details provided upon acceptance)

Post-program

• Closing interviews

Meet The Artist Activist Mentors

All Artist Activist Mentors identify as BIPOC/racialized people and/or Muslim and BIPOC. Artist Activist Mentors have a strong artistic practice or career that reflects, honors, and uplifts the importance of political art, and have a desire to mentor and support emerging artists through a relational and strengths-based approach. Click through the photos to learn more about each artist!