MONTGOMERY, Ala., (June 17, 2025) — At its quarterly meeting in Guntersville, the Alabama State Council on the Arts awarded nineteen (19) grants to artists totaling $95,000.

Fellowship grants were awarded to individuals working in arts education, craft, design, media/photography, music, literature, theatre, and visual arts. These grants recognize artistic achievement and professional commitment and contribute to the advancement of the artist. Fellows use funding to support the growth and development of their artistic careers through time creating, practicing, and improving their skills; pursuit of professional development and training; or other opportunities that lead to success.

“Alabama benefits from the incredible creativity of our artists, makers, and arts educators. The Council on the Arts is pleased to support these individuals so they can enhance their skills, refine their artistic practice, and stay engaged with their communities in meaningful ways,” said executive director Elliot Knight.

The grants below are in response to applications submitted between January 1 and March 3 and are awarded for the 2026 fiscal year (October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026). The application portal will re-open on July 1, 2025, for project grants for organizations and folk arts apprenticeship program requests.

Katie Baldwin of Huntsville was awarded a Craft Fellowship. Her work explores the handmade through quilts and mokuhanga – a traditional technique of woodblock printmaking. She is a Fulbright Scholar (2021) and has exhibited nationally and internationally. Baldwin is a professor of book arts and printmaking at the University of Alabama Huntsville.

Karen Brummund of Tuscaloosa was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. She is a process-based artist who works with communities to create environmental, video installations. Brummund has received previous fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Experimental Television Center, and the Verdant Fund.

Rachel Burttram of Birmingham was awarded a Theatre Fellowship. She is a professional union actor whose work has been seen on stages and screens around the world. She and her husband are co-creators of Tiny_Theatre, which has produced over 300 play readings from playwrights around the globe.

Jonathan Cumberland of Northport was awarded a Design Fellowship. His work is known for its witty conceptual takes on complex stories and narratives. He has produced illustrations for The New York Times, Scholastic, Sallie Mae, Oxford University Press, Johns Hopkins Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, and Yankee Magazine. Cumberland is an associate professor of graphic design at the University of Alabama.

Leigh Ann Edmonds of Mount Olive was awarded the Gay Burke Memorial Photography Fellowship. She is a documentary photographer and received a BA in studio art from the University of Alabama. Working with traditional black and white 35mm film, Edmonds documents the locals in and around her community.

Ashley M. Jones of Mountain Brook was awarded a Poetry Fellowship. She is the Poet Laureate of Alabama (2022-2026) and the author of four poetry collections. Jones is the associate director of the university honors program at the University of Alabama Birmingham and the executive director of the Magic City Poetry Festival.

Grey Wolfe LaJoie of Birmingham was awarded a Prose Fellowship. They are a fiction writer and educator whose work explores class, marginalization, and the intersections of history and myth in contemporary storytelling. LaJoie is the community education coordinator for Auburn University's Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project.

Sarah Marshall of Tuscaloosa was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. Using printmaking, photography, and drawing, she blends observable reality with belief, imaginary stories, and memory. Marshall earned a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, then an MA and MFA from the University of Iowa. She coordinates the printmaking program at the University of Alabama.

Helga Mendoza of Birmingham was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. She is a printmaker and mixed media installation artist. She holds a BA in textiles from Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia, and an MFA from Florida State University. Mendoza is a visual arts teacher at the Highlands School.

Tanisia “Tee” Moore of Gardendale was awarded a Prose Fellowship. She is the author of multiple books for young people, including the best-selling picture book I Am My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams (Scholastic Press). Moore is an alumna of Clark Atlanta University and Florida A&M University College of Law. A former attorney, she now writes and parents full-time.

Jane Morton of Birmingham was awarded a Poetry Fellowship. Their poetry collections include Shedding Season and Snake Lore, both published by Black Lawrence Press. Morton holds an MFA from the University of Alabama, where they teach creative writing to undergraduates, including poetry workshops and courses themed around Eco-poetics and environmental literature.

Ash Parsons of Auburn was awarded a Prose Fellowship. Her books for young adults, including You’re So Dead and Girls Save the World in This One, are published by Philomel at Penguin-Random House. She is a previous recipient of PEN America’s Phyllis Naylor Fellowship. Parsons is an English department lecturer at Auburn University.

Pete Schulte of Birmingham was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. He received an MFA in painting and drawing from the University of Iowa and, in 2017, was awarded South Arts’ inaugural Southern Art Prize Fellowship in Visual Arts for the state of Alabama. Schulte is a professor of art at the University of Alabama. 

Lauren Goodwin Slaughter of Birmingham was awarded a Poetry Fellowship. The author of two poetry collections, she has received a fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, and a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She is a professor of English at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she serves as editor-in-chief of a literary journal focused on women and their experiences.

David Tayloe of Hoover was awarded a Music Fellowship. A praised tenor, he has performed with the Aldeburgh Festival, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Virginia Symphony, and others. He holds degrees from the University of Miami, Louisiana State University, and Eastman School of Music. Tayloe is an associate professor of voice at the University of Alabama.

Seth Terrell of Albertville was awarded a Theatre Fellowship. His play script, “Them Heartbroke,” is based on an adaptation of his short story, “Them Captives, Them Heartbroke,” published in the Kenyon Review under the name T.S. Dillon. Terrell has a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University, and an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University. He is a literature and religious studies instructor at Snead State Community College.

Kristen Tordella-Williams of Opelika was awarded a Visual Arts Fellowship. Her practice utilizes processes such as iron casting and hand papermaking to create works that represent layers of memory, materiality, and process. She has a BFA in sculpture from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an MFA in sculpture and dimensional studies from Alfred University. Tordella-Williams is an associate professor of sculpture at Auburn University.

Rachel Wright of Mobile was awarded a Craft Fellowship. Although she has worked with various materials, including wax, cast iron, and textiles, her current artistic practice is centered on glass. Wright received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She is a professor of art at the  University of South Alabama.