YWCA Minneapolis Inaugural Camille J Gage Fellowship Awardee: Amoké Kubat
For Immediate Release
April 29, 2024
YWCA Minneapolis Celebrates Inaugural Camille J. Gage Artist Fellowship Award
Retired teacher and self-taught artist Amoké Kubat honored for her creativity and activism
Minneapolis: YWCA Minneapolis announced that Amoké Kubat is the inaugural winner of the Camille J. Gage Artist Fellowship Award, which honors Minnesota-based artists who demonstrate service with their creative gifts at the intersections of art and activism. The fellowship extends the legacy of Camille Joy Gage, who was a multi-faceted, multi-talented artist and activist for climate change, women’s reproductive rights, racial justice and homelessness whose artwork hangs in Minneapolis Institute of Art and Weisman Art Museum.
As the 2024 Camille J. Gage Artist Fellowship Awardee, Kubat will receive a $45,000 award and a yearlong opportunity to promote her work in partnership with YWCA Minneapolis, which receives $5,000 per year to administer the fellowship. YWCA Minneapolis recognized Kubat at its annual Empower Possible gala, which took place on Saturday, April 27.
“Camille Gage lived by our values to eliminate racism and empower women and girls with her community activism and bold spirit,” said YWCA Minneapolis President and CEO Shelley Carthen Watson. “It has been an honor to partner with Camille’s family and friends to create this fellowship in her name. We congratulate Amoké for receiving the award and look forward to partnering with her throughout the coming year.”
When Kubat moved from Los Angeles to Minneapolis in 1987, she specifically asked, “Where do Black folk live?” North Minneapolis community members welcomed her, and she resides there today directing YO MAMMA House, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit that offers workshops to empower mothers and build community around artmaking. As a self-taught artist Kubat centers her artmaking on weaving, doll-making and clay. She is also a published author of short stories, a memoir, a play and the Playbook for the play. Kubat also appeared in a billboard Gage co-created with the headline, When the call is “Justice!”...all mothers are summoned, based on a young girl’s viral protest sign after George Floyd’s murder.
“Camille was a social justice warrior with a beautiful heart and spirit,” said Kubat. “I am honored to receive this first fellowship in her name and to work with YWCA Minneapolis on creating and sharing my art with the community so we can lift up women and grow mothers as artists, activists, and healers.”
After Gage died of cancer in December 2022, her long-time friend Minnesota State Senator Scott Dibble sponsored a bill to create the eponymous fellowship and secured $55,000 in appropriations from the state’s arts and cultural heritage fund each year for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. To learn more about Gage’s art, go to her website.
CONTACT:
Kristen Spargo | 612-816-7916
kspargo@ywcampls.org
About YWCA Minneapolis
YWCA Minneapolis is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women and girls. For more than 130 years, we have worked to create opportunities to overcome social injustice, particularly in matters of race and gender. Annually, YWCA Minneapolis serves more than 15,000 people in our community through high-quality programs and advocacy focused on racial justice, early learning, youth development and wellness.