While at Hope, Steffanie Rosalez ’05 was referred to by her professors as a “rock star.” Today she is an artist, musician, community organizer, and now an ArtPrize award winner.
ArtPrize has been recognized as the most-attended public art event on the planet and was recently highlighted in The New York Times.
This year, many of the 400,000 attendees experienced Steffanie’s venue, This Space is Not Abandoned. Selected to share the juried outstanding venue award, This Space is Not Abandoned was a Curatorial Fellowship Venue located at 912 Grandville Avenue. There, more than fifteen artists created a Cultura Collective centered on the theme of race and cultural identity in Grand Rapids. They featured paintings, murals, audio installation, fashion, photography, live music, dance, and theater performances.
Steffanie participated in the 2016 ArtPrize Fellowship for Emerging Curators program. As a curator, she received grant funding and the opportunity to work alongside established curator Paul Amenta, co-founder of SiTE:LAB. Together they brought two exceptional exhibitions to the Rumsey Street neighborhood. Fifteen unoccupied buildings provided the setting for site-specific installations.
Steffanie graduated from Hope College in 2005, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art and Communication. Since graduating, she has managed the after school program at Cesar Chavez Elementary School, taught and worked as a commissioned artist. Today, she pours her talents into the Roosevelt Park neighborhood, planning and implementing arts programming for youth and families as the Program Director at Cook Arts Center. She is a social justice advocate and works to provide equality through the arts for the communities she works in.
It is great to see others recognizing Hope graduates living out the mission of the college. Even without such an honor as this, Steffanie’s leadership, service and creativity applied to improving the lives of others is something to celebrate!