Wyoming Arts Council

Wyoming Arts Council launches webpage for Arts and Vaccine Confidence Project

Featured News | August 22, 2022

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The Wyoming Arts Council announces a new webpage featuring four Wyoming-based artists who created original work focused on their own lived-experiences through the COVID-19 pandemic, including illness, family member illness, loss of family members or community members, receiving the vaccine, and more, with the goal of encouraging COVID-19 and influenza vaccine confidence.

The featured artists are: Jared Rogerson, a country musician in Pinedale; Jasmine Pickner Bell and the North Bear Singers, a hoop dancer and traditional Arapaho drum group from Riverton; Rose Pecos-SunRhodes and Jared SunRhodes, a mother-and-son creative writing and ledger artist team from Fort Washakie; and Janissa Marie Analissia Martinez, a literary artist from Laramie. The webpage can be viewed here. 

The Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) received a $75,000 grant from the CDC Foundation to create innovative work that harnesses the power of the arts to engage audiences and participants of all ages to build confidence in COVID-19 and influenza vaccines. Through this support from the CDC Foundation, the WAC announced a call for Wyoming-based artists and artist collectives for this project. A review committee selected the four artists, who each received $10,000 each to create their original work.

“We are thoroughly impressed by the level of thoughtfulness and creativity in the finished projects of the artists. The work is all very personal, exploring each artist’s personal experiences through the pandemic,” said Michael Lange, WAC Executive Director. “We are thrilled to share the artists’ work with the public, and encourage everybody to visit the webpage.”

Funding for this effort is made possible through a sub-award from the CDC Foundation and is part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) financial assistance award totaling $75,000 with 100 percent funding from CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government. 

For more information, please contact Josh Chrysler at the Wyoming Arts Council at joshua.chrysler@wyo.gov or 307-256-2010.

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