The Martha Richards Visionary Leadership Award

Submissions for the 2020 award are now closed. Thank you to everyone who made nominations this year. The 2020 recipient will be announced in November.

ABOUT THE AWARD:

The Martha Richards Visionary Leadership Award is given annually to a visionary woman or non-binary leader who uplifts, amplifies, and advances marginilized artists.

StateraArts is honored to highlight the extraordinary achievements of leaders providing powerful role models for mentorship and intersectional equity. The recipient is nominated by the public and chosen by committee. The award comes with international recognition and a $2000 monetary prize.

NOTE: The monetary prize is an unrestricted gift, rather than a grant. The recipient of the award may use their prize money however they see fit.

Read more about how the award was established:
Statera Establishes the Martha Richards Visionary Leadership Award

ABOUT MARTHA RICHARDS:

Martha Richards spent a 40-year career centering on the voices of women and under-represented artists. When this award was established, Martha had invested twenty-three years as Executive Director of WomenArts, a non-profit Martha founded dedicated to increasing visibility and opportunities for women artists in all genres. Prior to WomanArts, Martha served as Executive Director of Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College and as Managing Director of StageWest. She has received many honors including a 2006 nomination for the prestigious international Montblanc Due La Culture Award for outstanding service to the arts, induction into the BayPath College 21st Century Women Business Leaders Hall of Fame for her work in philanthropy, and recognition as one of three "founding mothers" of the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts. One of Martha’s greatest and most wide-reaching accomplishments was the co-founding of SWAN / Support Women Artists Now Day with Jan Lisa Huttner of WITASWAN (Women in the Audience Supporting Women Artists Now).  Martha administered this international holiday celebrating the power and diversity of women’s creativity from 2007 through 2018 and mentored many women artists in the process.  Under her leadership, SWAN Day was celebrated in 36 countries with over 2,000 events. Martha Richards has changed the landscape for women artists and this award is part of her continued legacy.

GUIDELINES

Future recipients of the MRVL Award:

• Uplift, amplify, and advance women and non-binary leaders in the arts

• Actively create pathways to success and advancement for marginalized artists

• Embody Statera’s mission of creating pathways for women and non-binary people in the arts

• Uphold the values of intersectional gender equity in their own leadership

Submission & Announcement TIMELINE:

June 1-30, 2020 - Nominations/Submissions accepted

July 1 - August 15, 2020 - Review period

Late August 2020 - Notify recipient

September 1, 2020 - Recipient announcement

October 2020 - Recipient is presented with Award

StateraArts works through an intersectional lens for gender parity and recognizes the limiting nature of gendered language. We are in solidarity with all marginalized genders. Systems of oppression and discrimination are interdependent, spanning all social categorizations such as race, class, gender, ability, religion, parental status, size, age, and sexual orientation. Addressing one spoke of systemic discrimination or disadvantage means holistically addressing them all. If you have comments or ideas, please email [email protected].