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COMMISSION BACKGROUND
SAY THEIR NAMES: Remembering Black Americans Killed by Police Violence is an online memorial and interactive map that tells the stories of the lives of Black Americans killed by police. This participatory national project gives a glimpse of who they were and what their lives were like. SAY THEIR NAMES (STN) documents incidents that likely would not have resulted in the death of white Americans given the same set of circumstances. Proposed by Ronald Browne (deceased) and Saba Ayman-Nolley in the summer of 2020, STN seeks to provide solace to those who have lost family, friends, and colleagues and provide educational opportunities to communities who are less aware of this crisis and to those who wish to contribute through research and project development.
As part of SAY THEIR NAMES and with the generous support from The Saints, NON:op Arts and Humanities and Guild Literary Complex are commissioning up to three individual artists/teams to create a new work in response to SAY THEIR NAMES—whether in response to individual cases, groups of cases, the map, the entire project, or its impact on you, your family, or your community. Commissions will be publicly announced in the fall and will be presented in a concert with other works in March 2027. Selected commissions will receive a total of $1,000 for an original work. Additional funding and production assistance will be available for the performance.
APPLICATION OVERVIEW
Project proposals must be for an original performance-based work that may include any of the following: music/sound, poetry/text, visual art/video, and/or movement/performance. Selected projects must be performative and time-based in nature, and respond to the SAY THEIR NAMES memorial project. Collaborative teams are encouraged to apply together. Commissioned works will be publicly presented—along with additional works by commissioned artists or others—in March 2027.
Our 2025 SAY THEIR NAMES
Commissioned Artists
