Miami arts nonprofit embroiled in controversy cancels annual awards ceremony
Miami arts nonprofit Oolite Arts has canceled The Ellies, its annual event that awards grant funding to local artists and arts educators. This comes after months of controversy surrounding the group’s removal a pro-Palestinian artwork from an exhibition.
The Ellies, which has awarded $3 million to fund projects over the last six years, was originally scheduled for this October but was pushed to next spring, according to an email sent to resident artists on Tuesday afternoon from Oolite interim director Maggy Cuesta. The roughly 300 artists who already applied to The Ellies, which awarded $500,000 last year, will have to re-apply in the fall.
Art classes held at Oolite’s Lincoln Road location, with the exception of classes scheduled through August, are also canceled until early December, when the group plans to “relaunch” its programming in time for Miami Art Week, which coincides with Art Basel Miami Beach. An Oolite art exhibition scheduled for mid-October was delayed until early December, a spokesperson said.
“Over the past two months, the board and leadership of Oolite Arts have heard from many in the arts community who have urged us to pause and reflect on the recent controversy regarding the Walgreens exhibition, and examine our processes and procedures in how we interact with and support artists,” Cuesta wrote in the email. “We also are continuing our search for a permanent CEO and that person will undoubtedly want to put their own stamp on the organization.”
“As a result, we are pausing much of our programming through the end of the year to allow time and space for evaluation and reflection,” Cuesta wrote.
An Oolite spokesperson said emails about the schedule changes have been sent to resident artists, art class students and Ellies applicants.
Cuesta’s email signaled potential changes to The Ellies, though the group plans to distribute the same amount of money as last year. “We are assessing the categories and individual award levels and how we might change The Ellies to make these grants more impactful for artists, their projects, and the Miami Arts Community,” Cuesta wrote.
Controversial phrase
This is the latest in a saga of controversy that has rattled Miami’s tightknit arts community. In May, Oolite removed a work by visual artist Vũ Hoàng Khánh Nguyên from the window of a Miami Beach Walgreens. (Oolite and Walgreens have a partnership to display artwork in windows of two Miami Beach storefronts.)
The artwork referenced “from the river to the sea,” a phrase some say is a call for Palestinian equal rights, autonomy and freedom from occupation, and others say is anti-Semitic hate speech that calls for genocide against Jews.
About five weeks after the artwork was installed, Oolite board chair Marie Elena Angulo received a call from a community member who said the artwork was offensive, especially considering Miami Beach’s large Jewish population. The artwork was taken down within hours. Oolite did not consult with Vũ before deciding to remove the work.
Vũ said they included the artwork in the exhibition to show support for the Palestinian people and call for peace.
“The arbitrary removal of my artwork sets a dangerous precedent for censorship within contemporary arts institutions and sends a chilling message to artists everywhere that we are not free to express ourselves,” Vũ wrote in the statement.
Tensions have remained high. Over 700 artists showed Vũ support by signing an open letter listing several demands, including a public town hall and Angulo’s resignation. Some have called for a boycott, which asks artists not to participate in Oolite events and exhibitions but doesn’t ask artist to leave studios or refuse grant funding.
“We acknowledge that the process could have been handled better. We are not really looking at this as censorship,” Angulo told the Herald. “We would have taken the same action even if we had taken more time to talk to the artist because we would have done the same in any other context where there was an offensive statement to the members of the community that is viewed by a large number of people in that community as offensive.”
A meeting between resident artists and the Oolite board is scheduled for next Friday, according to the email sent to artists.
‘The funding wasn’t the issue’
The news surrounding The Ellies is sure to be a shock for many in the arts community who rely on grant funding to pursue projects. Chire Regans, an Oolite resident artist who has been a vocal critic of the organization, described Oolite’s decision as “a punishment.”
“This is not a postponement. This is a cancellation,” Regans said. “If The Ellies don’t happen in 2024, that’s a cancellation. If you cancel this program that funds projects of artists and educators, that’s punishing the community.”
Regans anticipated this would happen following an in-person meeting that included herself, Vũ, Angulo and Cuesta, which Regans described as “antagonistic” and “unproductive.” She added that folks in the arts community that she has spoken to have been “absolutely shocked and disheartened” by Oolite’s decision to cancel and push back The Ellies.
Regans, also known as VantaBlack, has won Ellies awards in the past, including the inaugural Social Justice Award in 2020. She did not apply to The Ellies this year.
Ultimately, Regans said, the current controversy is indicative of larger issues at the organization.
“The funding wasn’t the issue. It’s the artists’ voices, that’s the issue,” Regans said. “We just want to be heard. We have a vested interest in this organization, because it’s supposed to serve us. It does not serve its board.”
In the meantime, as Cuesta’s email mentioned, Oolite is in the midst of a search for a permanent CEO after several leadership changes.
This story was produced with financial support from individuals and Berkowitz Contemporary Arts in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
