The Velocity Fund

The Command Center to Bring Women Home

Wren Rene and Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich
$5,000

Our film re-imagines what re-entry could look like if it were designed by formerly incarcerated women. “The Command Center to Bring Women Home” is an imagined space run by and for formerly incarcerated women, created collaboratively with three Philly women who survived juvenile life sentences. Upon its release, the filmmakers will partner with local artists and women in re-entry to design an impact and engagement strategy that models new ways to break cycles of harm and find new kinds of justice.

Talking Walls

Marcellus Armstrong and Raishad M. Hardnett
$5,000

Talking Walls is an audio-visual oral history project centering the narratives of queer and Black elders. With recorded interviews and documentation of subjects who have resided in one location for 15 years or longer, the project will culminate into an experimental documentary film where queer elders discuss perspectives on home and personal sanctuaries. The project will include people located in the cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Detroit, with hopes of expanding with ongoing support. 

LOVE8

Arien Wilkerson
$5,000

Love8 is a time based installation performance, with a series of small convening’s held at Vox Populi/Icebox Project Space. Derived conceptually from the 8 Greek types of love, Love8 takes its audience through the specific emotional/mental labor black HIV positive people utilize when building/strengthening personal, family and romantic relationships. Through performance exploration we uncover how black/brown LGBTQIA people evolve through partnerships we choose, and what roles we live in and dismantle.  

Them That Do: Citizens All (working title)

 Lori Waselchuk
$5,000

Them That Do: Citizens All is an idea-sharing publication and pop-up exhibition that will prioritize local knowledge and share resources for reclaiming our right to shared space and loving co-existence. Introducing new voices into the public conversation about community and communality, Citizens All will be illustrated, co-written, and produced in collaboration with Philadelphia community stewards and activists. The exhibition will be shown at a Philadelphia Free Library neighborhood branch, block parties and community events.

Smile4Kime 

Elena Guzman
$5,000

Smile4Kime is an experimental film that uses animation and live action footage to tell a story of how two friends transcend time, space, and even death to find hope and resilience through their struggles with mental illness. Rather than insisting that Black women should depend on failing systems rooted in white supremacy and patriarchy, the film uplifts Black women’s resilience through the radical care of friendship and ancestral spirituality.  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter

Wheelz of Life (C)

Sanchel Brown
$5,000

“Wheelz of Life” is a musical on rollerskates highlighting the esoteric parallel realities beyond the usual narrative of black death. This unique story offers new possibilities for theater to take place in roller rinks across America.

Mas Masarap Magkasama (more delicious together)

Maria Dumlao
$5,000

Maria Dumlao, in collaboration with FilipinX group, Bahay215, will create interactive, site-specific installations in the Schuylkill Center’s gallery and on its trails. It will include prints and engraved sculptures which frame spaces for in-person events and point to invasive and native plants that can be adapted in ancestral Filipino recipes. Exploring diasporic desire for belonging, food and familial recipe exchanges become vehicles for storytelling while balancing sustainability for our environment, and the preservation of culture.

El Terreno: A Community Driven Garden to Table Initiative

Cesar Viveros
$5,000

I would like to lead a 3-part cultural workshop series around heritage foodways in collaboration with the Cesar Andreu Iglesias Community Garden. Workshops will focus on how to harvest, prepare, cook, & consume the culturally meaningful foods of indigenous Mexican communities. Key to these workshops is the idea that food, culture, and medicine are interdependent: when we consume nutritious foods steeped in the traditions of our ancestors, we better connect with our history and health.

Virtues Vol. 1—Remixed and Reinterpreted

Rami George
$5,000

This project is a remix of a ten track EP, “Virtues Vol. 1”, created in collaboration with Joel Midden. The original EP consists of a series of sonic interpretations of esoteric line drawings produced by the Samaritan Foundation—a New Age religious cult my mother was involved with in the early 1990s. For the remix project, we will invite 10 experimental musicians to remix/re-interpret the tracks of this EP.

The Museum of Black Joy (Phase 2)

Andrea Walls
$5,000

The Museum of Black joy is a multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and multi-platform experience reflecting/promoting non-traumatic Black Life in Philadelphia and beyond.

Penntrification

M. Asli Dukan
$5,000

Penntrification tells the story of the University of Pennsylvania’s gentrification of West Philadelphia and how its aggressive property expansion and wealth hoarding has burdened its historic Black community. We follow Wanda, a fictional, third generation Black Philadelphian as she shares how her entire life has been affected by the powerful tax-exempt institution. We learn how her dreams for Philadelphia’s future could be realized if UPenn paid its taxes.

Black Women Are Scary

Wi-Moto Nyoka
$5,000

Black Women Are Scary (BWAS) is a radio-dramatic podcast that celebrates and produces short horror stories by BIPOC authors. Spear-headed by Dusky Projects, it is a hub for new horror writers and for the listeners that want to know them. The project includes monthly audio productions and interactive virtual showcases that feature BIPOC creators in genre work. Their second season will be directed by Kennedy Allen of Black Tribbles, with sound design by Gabe Castro of The Ghouls Next Door.Follow @duskyprojects and @blackwomenarescary for updates on episodes and events.

The Velocity Fund awards grants to 12 Philadelphia-based art projects in its fourth year of re-granting

For 2021, The Velocity Fund is proud to announce the results of its third year of re-granting. The following twelve new art projects –conceived by Philadelphia artists– will be awarded $5,000 each.