Fall 2022 RITM Mellon Arts & Practitioner Fellows

Vick Quezada (they/them) grew up in El Paso, Texas right where the United States and Juarez, Mexico border converge. Their career as an artist has been all but traditional, in past they’ve worked for over 15 years in advocacy and activism for GLBTQ, immigrant farmworkers, homeless youth, and nonprofit organizations. These experiences combined with their existence as Latinx-Mestizx, transgender non-binary informs and energizes their art and pedagogical practices. In 2021, Quezada was one of fifteen artists selected for the first inaugural cohort of Latinx artists in the US to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship cosponsored by the Ford Foundation. They are currently a Faculty Visiting Artist at Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, MA.

Born on December 18, 1941 in Leland, Mississippi, Wadada Leo Smith began his musical journey steeped in the musical traditions of the South. He composed his first piece of music at the age of twelve and at thirteen started performing with Delta Blues.

Smith defines his music as “Creative Music,” and his diverse discography reveals a recorded history of music centered in the idea of spiritual harmony and the unification of social and cultural issues of his world. "Ankhrasmation" has played a significant role in Wadada’s development as an artist, ensemble leader and educator.

Smith was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Ten Freedom Summers,In 2016 Smith received a Doris Duke Artist Award and an honorary doctorate from CalArts, where he was also celebrated as Faculty Emeritus.

He loves to read and watch movies.