FIRE ISLAND ARTIST RESIDENCY APPOINTS APRIL FREELY AS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS
New York, NY (October 20, 2020) – After an extensive national search, Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) announces the appointment of April Freely (she/her/hers) as its next Executive Director. Freely most recently served as Program Coordinator at the Vermont Studio Center, the largest arts residency in the country, and is a professor at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson. She will start immediately at FIAR, kicking off FIAR’s 10th anniversary year alongside the addition of seven new members to the board of directors. She succeeds Chris Bogia, FIAR co-founder and executive director for the residency’s first ten years, who initiated a search for a new executive director in spring of 2020 and is transitioning to FIAR’s board of directors this fall.
“I am thrilled and honored to lead FIAR into its next decade,” said Freely. “In this time of transformation, I am excited to learn and grow with this organization, building upon the impressive legacy FIAR has established as a home for LGBTQ+ artists and poets. It is my honor to serve this vibrant and dedicated community of artists and allies, and I look forward to our work together.”
"April's vision, exemplified by her own creative practice and professional and lived experiences, is the future face of FIAR,” stated Board President Jeremy E. Steinke. “We are excited to welcome April and all of our new board members to embark on our next decade of creating space for and amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ artists and poets."
Freely joins FIAR with a track record as an accomplished leader, administrator and fundraiser. At Vermont Studio Center, Freely strengthened the network of community partnerships to further the reach of residency programming, while promoting inclusion among creatives from communities that have been historically underserved. Freely is an alumna and active committee member for the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She has also served on the Board of Directors for New Faculty Majority, a national adjunct faculty advocacy organization. At Old Stone Foundation, Freely built new collaborations with local stakeholders, and spearheaded new funding research, resulting in an increase in support from grant-making foundations. A critic as well, April has contributed art writing to The Kenyon Review, and several artist monographs.
"April has a unique combination of professional experiences as a grant writer, arts writer, community organizer, professor and as a creative individual. Her hands-on experience as an operations manager of an arts residency, and knowledge of the emerging art and poetry worlds were really exciting assets to the Search Committee. She exhibited a thoughtful approach to problem-solving and demonstrated an extra sensitivity to nurturing artists’ and writers' creative practices, all of which make her a standout leader for Fire Island Artist Residency," said Sarah Workneh, Co-Director of Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and member of the Search Committee.
Freely is an accomplished poet and writer and was recently awarded a Queer Arts Mentorship (QAM) Fellowship for 2020–2021 for literature. She holds a BA degree from Brown University, and MFA degrees in nonfiction and poetry from the University of Iowa and New York University, respectively. Freely also served as Nonfiction Editor at Washington Square Review and DIAGRAM magazine. She has received fellowships and awards from Cave Canem, the Ohio Arts Council, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, and the CUE Art Foundation, among others. She has five years of experience in nonprofit administration, and has served as a community organizer since 2004. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she now resides in Harlem, NY.
FIAR is excited to welcome Paolo Arao (Artist, Brooklyn, NY), Dr. Marc Dalton (Doctor of Psychiatry, Washington, D.C.), Damien Davis (Artist, Brooklyn, NY), Cristhian Escobar (Lawyer, New York, NY), Derrick Woods-Morrow (Artist, Chicago, IL), Chris E. Vargas (Artist, Bellingham, WA & Los Angeles, CA) and Brian Vines (Broadcast journalist, New York, NY) as new members of the board of directors.
FIAR’s Executive Director Search Committee included: Paolo Arao (Artist & FIAR Alum), Kiersten Fellrath (Curator & Board Member), Karen Heagle (Artist & Board Member), Julia Kunin (Artist & Board Member), Dominic Nurre (Artist & FIAR Alum), Jeremy E. Steinke (Director of Development & Advancement, Desert X & Board Member), Chris E. Vargas (Artist & FIAR Alum), Derrick Woods-Morrow (Artist & FIAR Alum) and Sarah Workneh (Co-Director of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture).
ABOUT FIRE ISLAND ARTIST RESIDENCY
Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) is an organization founded in 2011 which brings lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer identifying emerging visual artists and poets to Fire Island, a place long-steeped in LGBTQ history, to create, commune, and contribute to the location's rich artistic history.
Each summer FIAR provides free live/work space to five visual artists and three poets who work, socialize, and immerse themselves in the Fire Island community for four weeks, during which time they are visited by a handful of renowned figures from the visual art and writing communities who interact with residents through intimate visits, dinners, and discussions, providing support and feedback. The greater Fire Island community, as well as visitors from New York City and Long Island, are invited to attend free public lectures by these esteemed guests. This has been made possible through a partnership with Arts Project Cherry Grove, who invites FIAR to hold our programming in the historic Cherry Grove Community House, a landmarked LGBTQ historic site.
In this way, FIAR hopes to bring both new creative perspectives and prestigious art professionals together in this extraordinary location to foster the creation—and preservation—of queer art-making in contemporary art.
THE FIRST PROGRAM IN THE UNITED STATES FOR EMERGING LGBTQ VISUAL ARTISTS
Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) is an organization founded in 2011 which brings lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer identifying emerging visual artists and poets to Fire Island, a place long-steeped in LGBTQ history, to create, commune, and contribute to the location's rich artistic history.
Each summer FIAR provides free live/work space to five visual artists and three poets who work, socialize, and immerse themselves in the Fire Island community for four weeks, during which time they are visited by a handful of renowned figures from the visual art and writing communities who interact with residents through intimate visits, dinners, and discussions, providing support and feedback. The greater Fire Island community as well as visitors from New York and Long Island are invited to attend free public lectures by these esteemed guests. This has been made possible through a partnership with Arts Project Cherry Grove, who invite FIAR to hold our programming in the historic Cherry Grove Community House, a landmarked LGBTQ historic site.
In this way, FIAR hopes to bring both new creative perspectives and prestigious art professionals together in this extraordinary location to foster the creation—and preservation—of queer art-making in contemporary art.
