20 Artists In Inaugural Class Of Disability Futures Fellows Receive $50,000 Grants

Riva Lehrer is a painter who reimagines "socially challenged" bodies with often fantastical imagery. John Lee Clark, a DeafBlind poet, is a leader in the Protactile movement, a language that communicates through touch. Tourmaline is a filmmaker whose work explores "the capacity" of Black queer/trans social life "to impact the world."

These are some of the artists in the inaugural class of Disability Futures Fellows, a new initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon and Ford Foundations (both donors to NPR). All 20 artists will each receive unrestricted grants of $50,000. The fellows work in a range of disciplines including architecture, dance, multimedia and journalism.