SPRINGDALE, AR – CACHE is proud to announce the third cohort of the Artists Creative Fund (ACF). Through this grant program, 20 Tulsa-based artists are awarded $10,000 each to develop or further a creative project.
In 2022, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which founded the successful Tulsa Artist Fellowship, tapped CACHE to design and lead the program, having seen the organization’s success in executing similar programs, such as the Creative Exchange Fund (CXF) and the Year of Learning and Outreach (YOLO). CACHE convened the program’s first cohort in August 2023.
In its first two years, ACF has awarded $400,000 in direct funding to artists. Notable projects include:
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In 2024, Amairani Perez Chamu was named the Tulsa Human Rights Commission’s Humanitarian of the Year
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Colleen Thurston was a recipient of a 2024 Creative Capital Grant for her documentary Drowned Land, a project she furthered using ACF grant funds
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Tiger, a documentary film by artist Loren Waters. In January, Tiger premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Waters was awarded the Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing
CACHE believes that the health of Northwest Arkansas's arts ecosystem depends on its ability to create exchanges with adjacent communities and generate exposure for local talent. Tulsa’s adjacency to Northwest Arkansas provides an ideal opportunity for strategic partnerships.
Since 2023, several ACF artists have performed or exhibited in Northwest Arkansas or collaborated with Northwest Arkansas artists and organizations, including:
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Antonio Andrews, interdisciplinary artist
Plains Exchange -
Branjae, musician
October 25, 2024, the Momentary Courtyard Sessions with Music Moves -
Greg Fallis (King Cabbage Brass Brand), musician
July 24, 2025, Gulley Park Summer Concert Series -
Amy Sanders de Melo, interdisciplinary artist
Ledger Bentonville -
Casii Stephan, musician
May 31, 2025, BBQ Festival at the Momentary -
Colleen Thurston, Documentary filmmaker
February 27, 2025, Drowned Land screening as part of the University of Arkansas’ Resounding Sovereign Expressions: Resurgent Indigenuity in Ozark Arts Practice and Scholarship -
Jerica Wortham (J’Parlé Artists Group), interdisciplinary artist
March 22, 2025, Queendom, in partnership with Her Set Her Sound
ACF joins the Creative Exchange Fund (CXF) as one of CACHE’s two major granting programs aimed at the continued development of creatives and their work.
CACHE remains dedicated to the program's success and its goal of supporting cross-regional creative collaboration. In January, Lisa Marie Evans, who has led the program since its inception, was named Director of Artists Creative Fund.
“Lisa Marie’s leadership brings more than 20 years of experience in professional development programming for artists, including CACHE programs,” said Kelsey Howard, Executive Director, CACHE. “I look forward to seeing the powerful creative projects these artists will bring to life, and to how the learning opportunities will help sustain and amplify their success.”
The 20 artists selected for the 2025-26 cohort are:
Visual Artists
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Regina Dao
Mẹ/Me (mom/me) is a ceramic memoir exploring the emotional complexity of a mother-daughter relationship. -
Sally C. Garner
Symbiosis uses weaving and materiality to explore the hidden impacts of humanity on our ecosystem and environment. -
Zach Litwack
I’m Good. How Are You? is a mixed-media series that examines toxic positivity and emotional masking, exploring the social pressure to appear “fine”. -
Anitra Lavanhar
Envisioning Tomorrow is a portrait-based project that invites Tulsa residents to reflect on the future they want to see. -
Sydney McLeod
Flesh and Flame is a drawing-based installation deeply rooted in coming to terms with a body haunted by chronic pain and fatigue. -
Caty Smith
Fragmented Landscapes is a mixed-media series exploring memory, place, and sustainability
Performing Artists
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David Blakely
Pip and Fidget reimagines "The Grasshopper and the Ant" with a focus on celebrating neurodiversity. -
Sirena Riley
The Tulsa International Songwriting Exchange (TISE) is a pilot initiative that fosters creative trust through co-writing. -
Steph Simon - All Roads Lead to Dreamland funnels Tulsa’s Northside spirit into a concept album that celebrates the 10-year legacy of Dreamland Festival.
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Todd Woodlan
Movements Under the Limelight is an immersive musical composition activating Tulsa’s historic Spotlight Theater.
Writers
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Corinne Gaston
Flaneuring About Tulsa is a place-based writing workshop during which participants will explore Tulsa neighborhoods through guided walks and prompts, creating poetry and micro-memoirs. -
Bowie Rowan
Born to Run is an intimate essay collection exploring what it means to make a home after loss.
Filmmakers
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Evan Clayburg
This House Just Ain’t No Home celebrates Selby Minner’s life and the Down Home Blues Club, a hub for Oklahoma blues. -
Keith “Sneak” Daniels
Fighting More Than Fire honors Black firefighters in Tulsa and traces the legacy of the “Original Six” who integrated the Tulsa Fire Department in 1956
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Carlos Garcia, Jr.
The Settlement is a horror short film about a Mexican-American family’s unsettling move to an affluent white suburb. -
Taylor Hensel
What She Carries is a genre-bending documentary exploring Indigenous birth practices, reproductive justice, and body sovereignty
Multidisciplinary
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Marx Cassity (Marca Cassity)
A music video for the Native American Music Award-nominated song “Somewhere,” blending queer, Indigenous, and ancestral themes. -
Annie Ellicott
Rubyland is a Tulsa-based art rock collective blending jazz, classical, indie, and experimental pop, set to produce and film a debut album. -
Avery J Klein
The Dead Detective is a visual-literary project that blends nineteenth-century photography and research to recover forgotten lives.
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KYD (Keenan Jones)
PRE-SEASON 001 is an immersive live show blending original music, projection mapping, and hologauze technology. It follows KYD, a character reconstructing memory through sound, with visuals and lighting synced to his emotional journey.
For more information about ACF, visit https://www.