Next Generation Award

The Next Generation Award celebrates emerging leaders in community arts education, including students and professionals in entry-level to mid-level positions. Individuals will be recognized for their innovative contributions and potential to shape the future of community arts education.

2024 Awardees

Qiaira Riley, Interdisciplinary Artist & Cultural Worker, was raised on Chicago’s south-side and is based in Philadelphia. She holds a dual B.A. in Black Studies and Studio Art from Lake Forest College, as well as an M.F.A in Socially Engaged Studio Art from Moore College of Art & Design. She is a co-founder and and curator of 2.0, a collective collaborating with artists and organizations to curate free, experimental offerings for Black women and femmes. Her 2021 MFA thesis-turned-zine “How Tiffany Pollard Built the Internet: Representations of Simulacra, Virtuality, and Black women and femmes on the Internet and Its Art” is a part of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection. She hosts "Something You Can Feel," a contemporary Black art history podcast, that can be found on Apple and Spotify. She was the January 2024 Resident at Our House Culture Center, showcasing her debut solo show Beauty of the Week, a series of works created during her time as the 2023 Leeway Foundation X Fleisher Art Memorial Artist in Residence. She is currently the community artist partner collaborating with The Friends of the Tanner House to curate a series of multi-generational arts programming uplifting the family and home of artist Henry O. Tanner and its urgent stabilization efforts. 

Kerry Warren, Teaching Artist, Movement Instructor, Actor, brings an artistic and holistic approach to well-being in her classes. Currently Kerry assists her mentor Annie Piper through Pandemonium Studios and leads workshops on bringing mindfulness to arts educators in spaces like the Arts for All Consortium, ArtsConnection, the Teaching Artists Guild, and Teaching Artists Project and teachwithGIVE.org.  Kerry focuses on trauma-sensitive practices, actor movement training and stage combat with non profits like New York Theater Workshop, Girl Be Heard, 52nd Street Project and Harlem School of the Arts. Her journey includes a 200-hour yoga teacher training at Shambhala Yoga and Dance Center, shaping her teaching philosophy in mindfulness. Committed to inclusive education, Kerry completed the Teaching Artist Training Institute (TATI) by Marquis Studios, specializing in arts learning for neurodiverse and physically disabled students. Furthering her dedication to trauma-informed teaching, she completed Bartol's Trauma-Informed Teaching Artist training, creating safe spaces for healing in her workshops. Kerry extends her impact beyond studios, contributing to the NYC public school system with over a decade of experience as a professional actor and teaching artist. Trained in Mental Health First Aid, Intimacy direction from IDC, Theatrical Intimacy Education and graduate of the Juilliard School, Kerry Warren embodies holistic healing through theatrical arts, inspiring self-discovery, and radical rest. She was awarded the Artists as Citizen at graduation from President Polisi, and Kerry was the former Co Executive of TAG, member of NYC AIE Roundtable since 2018, Alumni of Art Equity's BIPOC Leadership, AEA and SAG AFTRA union member.