Wyoming Arts Council announces artists selected for Vaccine Confidence Project

The Wyoming Arts Council is pleased to announce that it has selected four Wyoming-based artists to create original work focused on encouraging COVID-19 and influenza vaccine uptake. The four selected 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 Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) received a $75,000 grant from the CDC Foundation to create innovative work that will harness 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, in January, the WAC announced a call for Wyoming-based artists and artist collectives for this project.

The four selected artists or artist collectives are receiving $10,000 each to create their proposed work. WAC is working with a local marketing firm to create a statewide marketing campaign featuring the work that will be promoted throughout the state this summer.

“We were very pleased by the number of competitive responses we received for this project, and are thoroughly impressed by the level of thoughtfulness and creativity in the proposed projects of the selected artists,” said Michael Lange, WAC Executive Director. “We look forward to working with the artists to share their created work with the public.”

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

Photo Caption: Jasmine Pickner Bell performing a hoop dance with her daughter at the 2019 Northern Arapaho Powwow. Photo courtesy of Josh Chrysler/Wyoming Folklife Collection.