The Arts Council of Rockland (ACOR) established the Artists’ Support Fund (ASF) to support individual Rockland County artists in sustaining their creative practice and/or developing new works of art. This initiative reflects our commitment to fostering a thriving artistic community by supporting local talent. Check out our 2026 ASF recipients below!
2026 Artists’ Support Fund Recipients
The 2026 Artists’ Support Fund Committee selected 11 Rockland County artists from an exceptionally competitive pool of applicants. Below, the recipients share how this support will make a meaningful impact on their artistic practice.
Mark Attebery
“I’m grateful for ACOR’s support! The Arts Council of Rockland’s Artists’ Support Fund Grant will help to develop a new, local quintet project: composing, performing and recording an album of music for five flutes. This grant helps with the purchase of a bass flute, essential to the project.”
Peter Cheney
“The Artists’ Support Fund Grant from the Arts Council of Rockland (ACOR) will greatly help defray the cost of materials, which is always a welcome relief. Fresh supplies of paint, canvas, brushes, are such a great way to keep the process going, and I am grateful for that, as well as the vote of confidence from the community. This will help me continue creating new work. Thank you.”
Margaret Dowling-Murphy
“I am deeply grateful for ACOR's continued support. Since joining ACOR, I have had the special opportunity to both exhibit my work and network with other local artists. As the recipient of ACOR’s Artists’ Support Fund Grant, I will have the means to procure necessary supplies and continue instruction that will allow me to refine my practice and dedicate time to creating art within a community of artists.”
Mary Ellen Polentz
“I so appreciate the support of ACOR as I move closer to bringing my musical theatre piece RAISING CAIN into the world. This grant will help defray the cost of creating a written musical score for use in stage productions. Further, the award is a validation of my efforts. While artists absolutely need financial assistance, we also need encouragement from champions within our families, friends, and communities. ACOR is such a champion.”
Alice Mizrachi
"This grant reminds me that the community I paint for is also painting me forward. ACOR's support keeps my studio practice rooted in Rockland — and growing."
Alison Stone
“I am grateful for this grant which will allow me to submit my completed manuscripts to numerous contests, hopefully finding them homes and easing the "bottleneck" that has been interfering with my ability to create new work. Thank you, ACOR!”
Yoko Iwanaga
“ACOR’s support is helping me begin framing a larger body of work that would otherwise be difficult to present. While the grant covers part of the cost, it makes it possible for me to move forward with presenting and sharing my practice.”
SoYeon Yang
“I am honored and grateful to receive the ACOR Artists' Support Fund Grant this year. Since becoming a member, I have found ACOR to be an incredibly supportive platform, providing valuable opportunities to participate in exhibitions and lectures, and to connect with fellow artists. This grant will support my professional development as a visual artist, allowing me to explore a wider variety of materials and expand my portfolio for future exhibitions. Thank you for your support."
Zaneta Sykes
“Thank you Arts Council of Rockland for making the Artists’ Support Fund possible and bringing much needed support to artists in our community. With this funding I will be able to purchase passive acoustic recording equipment that helps me create non-invasive and long-format nature recordings of Hook Mountain. To my awareness, this has never been done. Through these long-format immersive recordings, I hope to build deeper relationships with local lands and waters and create art that brings local community in closer connection with our more-than-human kin.”
Cedric St. Louis
“I am truly honored to have been selected as a recipient of the Artists’ Support Fund Grant from ACOR. Opportunities like this don’t just help financially, they affirm the work, vision, and the persistence it takes to keep creating. Recently I’ve been planning my next music era and my releases. I’m incredibly grateful for the belief ACOR has placed in me and my music vision. I plan to use this grant intentionally toward studio time, and visual content as I bring my BRAT ERA to life. This era represents growth, confidence, sexiness, sadness, evolution and of course, being a spoiled BRAT. Not having to think of finances will be a big weight off my shoulders and allow me to fully invest in creativity and step into my Brattiness. My Brat era consists of high quality drops consistently over time in hopes of sharing, showcasing and performing my new music to new audiences. The goal is to blow up and this helps spark the fuse to what will hopefully last a lifetime. Thank you ACOR!”
Margaret Inga Urias
“ACOR’s support will be catalytic. It will enable me to expand the material and structural capacity of my work. My practice is research-driven and interdisciplinary, spanning large-scale wall drawings, works on paper, photography, and engraved glass. Across these mediums, I’m interested in constructing sweeping visual systems—works that unfold through accumulation, where many small, precisely made elements build toward something immersive and spatially expansive.
The glass work is an increasingly important part of this trajectory. Built from mostly salvaged and found fragments, each piece must be smoothed, shaped, and reworked into a new form before it can take its place within a larger structure. Through this grant, I will be able to acquire the essential tools needed to produce these pieces with far greater consistency, allowing dozens to grow into hundreds—enough to begin forming continuous installations that extend across full walls or occupy entire rooms.
I’m very grateful—this support will have a direct and lasting impact on the scale and complexity of what I’m able to realize."