Idaho Commission on the Arts awards fellowships for three performing and media artists

By: Moesha Aplicano Burnham - July 20, 2023 4:20 am

Boise’s Amy Johnson creates multimedia performance works through photography, video, clay, textiles, printmaking and other media. She is one of three artists who received a fellowship from the Idaho Commission on the Arts. (Courtesy of Amy Johnson)

The Idaho Commission on the Arts has awarded three performing artists fellowships for 2024. Fellowship winners receive $5,000.

According to a press release from the commission, the purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding artists who have created art that exhibits the highest artistic merit during peer review.

Applicants were reviewed anonymously in a competitive process by panelists from out of state and were judged on the basis of existing work and professional history.

The announced winners are Jessica Harned from Nampa, as well as Amy Johnson and Tracy Sunderland from Boise.

Harned is a violinist in the Boise Philharmonic and a member of Mariachi Sol De Acapulco.

She hosts a podcast, Classical Queens, focusing on the history of people of color in classical music. Harned has served on the board of directors of Radio Boise and has worked with the Serenata Orchestra to program a concert pairing musical selections with narratives about the history of minorities in the classical context.

Harned earned a Master of Music degree in violin performance from Boise State University.

Johnson creates multimedia performance works through photography, video, clay, textiles, printmaking and other media. Her artworks focus on environmental themes.

Johnson earned her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Washington and has received grants from the Rasmuson Foundation, Vermont Studio Center and the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

Sunderland is a writer, director, actor and teacher who creates alternative forms of theater and short film. Her works are staged in unconventional locations, incorporate various media or involve audience participation.

Tracy Sunderland of Boise creates multimedia performance works through photography, video, clay, textiles, printmaking and other media. (Courtesy of Tracy Sunderland)

Her recent work “Another Agatha,” was performed at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Sunderland earned a master’s from the London Film School and a Master in Fine Arts in acting from the University of Texas at Austin.

She is the founder of the Migration Theory acting company, an associate artist of Boise Contemporary Theater, the digital stage director for the Boise Philharmonic, and a lecturer at Boise State University.

This is her second Arts Idaho Fellowship.

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Moesha Aplicano Burnham

Moesha Aplicano Burnham was interning through Voces Internship of Idaho, and previously interned with Boise Weekly. In high school, Moesha was the Editor-in-Chief of the school's Newspaper, and has loved writing since she could pick up a pencil. She was born and raised in Boise, Idaho, and deeply enjoys learning and writing about local news. In her free time, Moesha enjoys hiking, listening to podcasts, and spending time with her cat.