A national awards program, QUEER|ART|PRIZE honors the work of LGBTQ+ artists in areas of Sustained Achievement and Recent Work, with a ceremony that celebrates the entire Queer|Art community.

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QUEER|ART|PRIZE RETURNS AFTER
FOUR-YEAR HIATUS!

Winners of the Largest Cash Award for LGBTQ+ Artists in the Country to be Announced November 21 at the Queer|Art Annual Party

Queer|Art is thrilled to announce the return of the Queer|Art|Prize, a national awards program honoring LGBTQ+ artists making significant contributions to queer culture. The annual Prize awards two cash grants in the areas of Sustained Achievement and Recent Work. At $20,000 for each award, Queer|Art|Prize is the largest cash grant specifically for LGBTQ+ artists based in the United States. Three distinguished finalists in the area of Recent Work will also receive $5,000 each.

After a four-year hiatus, the Prize’s return arrives amid a political moment in which LGBTQ+ communities and freedom of expression are under intensified attack. The daily reality of queer creatives—framed by the dismantling of federal cultural infrastructure, escalating funding freezes, and mounting legislative and physical threats—makes clear that values-driven investment in queer artists has never been more critical. The return of Queer|Art|Prize is a reaffirmation of that commitment, and a declaration that queer artists are best recognized and resourced on their own terms. As QA Executive Director Río Sofia shares, “queer artists have always shaped the culture we live in. At a moment when our communities are under direct political attack, relaunching the Queer|Art|Prize is about making that impact visible, making sure the artists doing this work have real, material support behind them, and sending a signal to the queer community at large that we will keep creating, resisting and dreaming of lush and just futures for all.”

The relaunch is made possible by VISU Contemporary, a contemporary art gallery and creative platform based in South Beach, FL. Dr. Bruce M. Halpryn, owner/curator of VISU Contemporary, shares that “supporting Queer|Art in establishing these prizes is not philanthropy—it’s cultural authorship at a moment when visibility itself is contested. LGBTQIA+ artists have shaped the trajectory of contemporary art for decades, yet too often without proportional recognition or institutional backing. As a gay curator, I believe that acknowledging both lifetime achievement and new work is essential to correcting that imbalance and defining what comes next. This partnership is designed not just to honor artists, but to place their work in sustained dialogue with collectors, curators, and the public. If we care about the future of culture, we have to be deliberate about whose voices we elevate—and whose histories we refuse to let disappear.”

The winners of the 2026 Queer|Art|Prize will be announced at the 2026 Queer|Art Annual Party at Performance Space New York on November 21st. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

2026 ADJUDICATION PANEL

SUSTAINED ACHIEVEMENT ADJUDICATORS

Lisa Funderburke is widely recognized for her research and expertise in arts governance and strategy. She was selected to lead The Newark Museum of Art after a decade as President and CEO of the Artist Communities Alliance (ACA), an international organization that supports artists and artist residencies. Prior to ACA, Funderburke was the Associate Director of the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to her executive leadership, Funderburke has served on the boards of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Performing Arts Alliance, Orion Magazine, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and Grantmakers in the Arts’ Individual Artist Committee. Funderburke holds a Bachelor of Science in Botany and a Master of Science in Biology from Howard University.

Ethan Philbrick is a cellist, artist, and writer. He is currently curator-in-residence at The Poetry Project and a member of the curatorial collective for Offerings. In 2023, Philbrick published Group Works: Art, Politics, and Collective Ambivalence with Fordham University Press. He has taught at Pratt Institute, Muhlenberg College, New York University, Wesleyan College, Yale University, Sarah Lawrence College, and The New School.

madison moore is a writer, DJ and the John Atwater and Diana Nelson Assistant Professor of the Arts in the Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. His first book Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018), offers a cultural analysis of fabulousness as a practice of refusal. Currently, he is currently working on a new book titled NIGHT FEVER, which is focused on queer nightlife as a method of living.

Recent work adjudicators

Sol Cabrini (they/she) is an artist, poet, scholar, and teacher working across performance, writing, film, and sound. They are the author of Tgirl.jpg (Roof Books/Segue Foundation, 2024) and Poetics of Unbeing (Duke University Press, forthcoming 2027). Her work explores Black Studies, Trans Studies, aesthetics, and creolization. They teach and write at the intersections of these fields as a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at New York University.

Roya Amirsoleymani (she/her) is an independent curator, writer, creative producer, artist advocate, and consultant in contemporary performance and visual art. She is based on Twana lands on the Olympic Peninsula in rural Washington, where she co-stewards an informal residency for artists, writers, and musicians of color. As an emerging writer, she has published several art and personal essays in various publications, journals, and zines, both domestic and international; recently self-published and distributed her first chapbook; and is working on a long-form, experimental narrative, ephemera, and archival project about death and friendship. From 2012-2023, Roya was a director and curator with Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), where she organized exhibitions; experimental dance, theatre, and interdisciplinary performance; community and public programs; residencies; grant programs; and the annual Time-Based Art Festival. Curatorial projects include dozens of international, national, and local performances as well as the exhibitions “Remembering to Remember: Experiments in Sound”; “We Got Each Other’s Back” by Carlos Motta; “No Human Involved: The 5th Annual Sex Workers’ Art Show” with Stroll PDX; and “THROUGH AND THROUGH AND THROUGH: New Work by Gordon Hall” with an accompanying collection of writings by the artist. Her curatorial and producing practices center the ideas, labor, and livelihoods of artists historically marginalized by mainstream art worlds and economies. She is currently producing projects by artists Ahamefule J. Oluo; San Cha; and Holland Andrews & yuniya edi kwon. She received a BA in Contemporary Visual Culture & Gender Studies from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies in California and MA in Arts Management from University of Oregon.

PJ Policarpio is a cultural leader and creative collaborator —curator, educator, programmer and community organizer — with over 10 years of experience in curatorial practice, museum education, public programming and art administration. He has led innovative, rigorous, and social justice-centered initiatives alongside artists, writers, scholars, and communities of all kinds. He has organized exhibitions and programming at 500 Capp Street, Headlands Center for the Arts, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Southern Exposure and more. He is currently Curator at Root Division, a visual arts non-profit in San Francisco, CA.

Nominations for each award were made by a diverse committee of 30 esteemed arts professionals from around the country, including archivists, art historians, critics, curators, choreographers, cultural organizers, visual artists, performing artists, teaching artists, scholars, writers, directors, and filmmakers with various intersecting commitments to queer culture. The full committee can be seen below.

ABOUT VISU CONTEMPORARY

VISU Contemporary is where South Beach’s vibrant energy meets the evolving edge of contemporary art. Founded with a sharp curatorial vision, the gallery is a space for artists who challenge form, narrative, and material—from internationally recognized names to rising talents whose work resonates with today’s cultural pulse. VISU Contemporary is also passionate about giving voice to the voiceless.

VISU has exhibited bold, provocative voices such as David LaChapelle, Tyler Shields, Amber Cowan, Dustin Yellin, Barry Ball, Tamary Kudita, Rose Marie Cromwell and others whose practices blur the lines between photography, sculpture, painting, and new media. The gallery is especially drawn to artists who experiment with material—glass, metal, stone, and beyond—pushing the boundaries of contemporary surrealism, abstraction, and conceptual art. VISU Contemporary is owned and curated by Dr. Bruce M. Halpryn.

Learn more here.

QUEER|ART|PRIZE ARCHIVE