The Call: I AM…

The Center of Latter-day Saint Arts is pleased to announce a new program of grants for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color artists and scholars. Twenty (20) grants of $500 each have been awarded to visual artists, writers, composers, dramatists, and scholars for works that will be distributed digitally via our website and/or social media platforms in the near future. This Call for Submissions was made available to anyone worldwide who: 1) self-identifies as part of the Latter-day Saint community; and 2) self-identifies as BIPOC. 

The eternal dimensions of personal identity have been articulated by the Center’s Race Diversity & Inclusion Committee: “I AM… in essence means the God who was, who is, and who will be; whose complexity is difficult to articulate and understand, who is described in infinite and eternal terms. The origin of who we are is also infinite and eternal.” 

The project is administered by the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts with counsel of the Center’s Race, Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Proposals were adjudicated by a jury composed entirely of artists and scholars who self-identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color. The goal of I AM…follows the Center’s statement of BIPOC commitment issued June 2020, which can be read here and the subsequent formation of the Center’s Race, Diversity & Inclusion Committee. 

*Selected grant recipients responded to this call in 2021 and their works can be seen by clicking the exhibition button above.