Since November 2018, the YoungArts Microgrants program distributes thousands of dollars monthly to support YoungArts winners with expenses related to professional or artistic development, including travel expenses to a residency, registration fees for a conference or class, the purchase of equipment, studio rental fees, and more. Since 2020, we have also offered emergency Microgrants to any artist experiencing loss of income.
Whether you were a YoungArts winner in 1981 or 2025, both creative and emergency microgrants are open to award winners who have registered and completed a profile on YoungArts Post. Learn more about Microgrants here.
Read on to meet several Microgrant recipients and learn about their projects.
Jack Flame Sorokin (2011 Photography)
Jack Flame Sorokin is based in New York, NY. The microgrant he received helped him finish a documentary on ballad-singing culture and the impact of Hurricane Helene on Marshall, NC. Check out the video below to learn more about Jack’s project.
“I feel very grateful that the microgrant both helped me finish the project in a way that I feel proud of by bringing on collaborators but also really helped me push forward what I wanted the film to be able to do, which is reach the world.”
Emma Hendrick (2017, 2018 Voice)
Emma Hendrick is based in Rochester, NY. Receiving a microgrant allowed her to produce her debut album, Newcomer, released in August 2025 without compromising on orchestrations, including collaborating with a string quartet for the first time.
“It really excites me that the microgrant has allowed me to make the album that I want to make and not make a lot of compromises…I’m also able to have video from the actual recording day to make more content and have an audio-visual way of experiencing the music as well, which I think will be really helpful for promoting the album and just getting it out there for more people to see.”
Kathryn McCarthy (2015 Film)
Kathryn McCarthy is based in Seattle, WA. The microgrant made her film, With Her Own Hands, possible. Watch the short film below.
“I actually have a screenshot in my phone of that morning. I got two emails, and one was from my bank saying that I had less than $100 in my account and the one was from YoungArts saying that I received the grant! Being an artist, one of the biggest challenges that you have is trying to sustain yourself and having that financial support, it makes the biggest difference. It means so much to have an organization that believe in the project that you’re making and believe in you as an artist.”
Kevin Hopkins (2018 Visual Arts)
Kevin Hopkins is based in Richmond, VA. The microgrant helped made a collaborative exhibition at Vulpes Bastille in Kansas City, MO possible. That exhibition, titled Earned? Trust? You?? Aight., became a foundational building block for Kevin’s current practice and graduate research.
From the Exhibition Statement:
“In Kevin’s work, he reflects on a childhood concept he and his brothers called Dreaming—a shared moment when they would choose characters from their favorite shows, particularly Shonen anime, blend those personas with their own, and play-fight within the imagined worlds they collectively built and negotiated in a shared daydream. Through this recollection of childhood imagination, Hopkins also examines the eventual demise of the Dreaming practice as he and his siblings grappled with the expectations of masculinity and responsibility imposed on them within the context of a Lowcountry Black experience.”
“I think the experience [YoungArts] shifted how I felt about my work and how I felt about my potential to move forward as an artist, and live my life that way. It was really transformative, and I almost missed out on it just because I didn’t feel like I was ready.”