Announcing the 2024 Rebecca Blunk Fund Awards

(Boston, MA - July 18, 2024) The New England Foundation for the Arts is pleased to announce the 2024 awardees of the Rebecca Blunk Fund: Shey Rivera Rios of Providence, RI, and Sarah Sockbeson of Kingfield, ME. Each recipient receives $5,000 in unrestricted funding.

In 2014, NEFA established The Rebecca Blunk Fund in memory of Rebecca Blunk (1953-2014). The Fund celebrates her 29 years of service to the New England Foundation for the Arts along with her abiding passion for the arts. Honoring Rebecca’s desire to support artistic creation, connection, and curation, this dedicated Fund awards annual unrestricted grants to New England artists whose work demonstrates creative excellence and deep community engagement.

“It is an honor to be able to celebrate Shey and Sarah, who each connect deeply with their communities through their work. We look forward to seeing what is next for each of them,” said Jane Preston, deputy director, programs, at NEFA.

Acknowledging Rebecca’s long service and expertise as part of the NEFA staff, artist nominations and decisions are made by current NEFA staff who worked with Rebecca.

About the Recipients

Shey 'Rí Acu' Rivera Ríos

Shey has curly dark brown hair and they sit on a couch with a blanket over it. Next to them are plants. They wear a long, floral dress. — Shey 'Rí Acu' Rivera Ríos | photo by Cat Laine, Painted Foot Studio

Shey 'Rí Acu' Rivera Ríos (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker who uses storytelling across mediums to create immersive worlds of magic and liberation. Born and raised in Borikén (Puerto Rico), Rivera has created home and set deep roots in Providence, RI, land of Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples. Rivera is founder of Studio Loba, a storytelling lab for art and culture projects that support social change. They have 15 years of experience in the arts and culture sector, interweaving artistic practice with community development, urban planning, and racial and gender justice. Their work is rooted in partnerships with place-based, social justice and cultural organizations like SISTAFire and Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy. Rivera is committed to art as a catalyst for social change and honoring community stories and lived experience as the knowledge that can help us craft more just and generative futures. This year, Rivera was selected for Providence Commemoration Lab (2024), a one year residency of social practice art to engage residents of Providence in reimagining commemoration. Past leadership roles include: Director of Inclusive Regional Development at MIT CoLab, Dept of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT. And Artistic/Co-Director of AS220, a renowned arts organization and creative incubator in Providence, RI. Notable projects include: theatrical productions Antigonx (2022) and Fire Flowers and a Time Machine (2021); transmedia artworks: MoralDocs (2020-21) and FANTASY ISLAND (2017); lead curator for El Corazón de Holyoke public art project (2020-21); and founder of LUNA LOBA performance series (2014+).

Learn more by visiting sheyrivera.com, studioloba.com, and by following @sheyriv and @studio.loba_

Sarah Sockbeson

A woman with light skin holds a woven basket behind a table of other woven baskets. She has shoulder length brown hair and wears a maroon sweater. — courtesy of Sarah Sockbeson

Sarah Sockbeson (Penobscot) works in fine art basketry using traditional Penobscot techniques with sweetgrass and ash; she also works with acrylic paints and photography. She is based in Kingfield, Maine.

Before becoming a basketmaker, Sarah found her artistic passion in her high school art classes where she experimented with multiple media. Though she knew that her great-grandmother was a basketmaker, the practice was not passed down to her generation. An apprenticeship paved the way for her to learn the necessary skills – from material preparation through the final steps of creation – and enabled her desire to weave her more contemporary style into this traditional form. Sarah strives to preserve this traditional art while embracing the modern world.

Sarah’s work will be available in the Wabanaki tent at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, ME, in September. She has also co-guest curated an exhibit, Magwintegwak: A Legacy of Penobscot Basketry, at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME. Learn more about Sarah Sockbeson

NEFA welcomes donations to the fund on an ongoing basis; as with all donations to NEFA, donations to the Rebecca Blunk Fund are fully tax deductible.

About Rebecca Blunk

Rebecca came to NEFA from the Nebraska Arts Council in 1985 as the director of performing arts and then served as deputy director for ten years before being named executive director in 2004. Under her leadership, the organization brought important resources to New England, strengthening its capacity to connect artists and communities through regional, national, and international programs. A tireless champion of the arts – from public art, the visual arts, music, dance, theater, and puppetry – Rebecca’s unwavering presence was felt across the arts and culture landscape, through her work in performing arts creation and touring, the creative economy, Native American arts, and cultural exchange on an international scale. Throughout her career, she derived deep personal reward from the artists and administrators with whom she worked.

About NEFA

The New England Foundation for the Arts invests in artists and communities and fosters equitable access to the arts, enriching the cultural landscape in New England and the nation. NEFA accomplishes this by granting funds to artists and cultural organizations; connecting them to each other and their audiences; and analyzing their economic contributions. NEFA serves as a regional partner for the National Endowment for the Arts, New England’s state arts agencies, and private foundations. Learn more at www.nefa.org.