Airic Hughes, an entrepreneur, artist, philanthropist and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History, is among several U of A community members to be awarded a grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance for the 2021 Artists 360 Awards.

Artists 360, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, made possible through the support of the Walton Family Foundation, is a three-year pilot program that provides grant funding and professional development opportunities to individual artists of all disciplines in the greater Northwest Arkansas area.

Hughes received a $15,000 Community Activator Grant to support the Micheaux Award and Film Labs, which he said was "started to build a supportive community for filmmakers and creators of color in Arkansas."

"The Artists 360 Community Activator Grant will help scale our education initiatives to better serve creatives of color throughout the state," he added.

In addition to this project, Hughes' research examines modern environmental segregation in Little Rock, Arkansas. He also founded Visionairi Enterprises in 2016, which produces media and events with a mission to promote and preserve Black culture.

"My colleagues and I in the Department of History have long admired Airic's work as a scholar, but he is also an outstanding emerging filmmaker and social entrepreneur who combines his creative talents and research skills to make a difference in communities here in Arkansas," said Laurence Hare, associate professor and chair of the department.

Hare said that through Visionairi Enterprises' charge to engage communities in the areas of education, creativity and social justice, "Airic has brought his historical training to the service of the people of our state in unique ways, by promoting Black cultural preservation in film and media and now through his latest project to cultivate the talents of aspiring artists and filmmakers of color."

"We are delighted that his efforts are being recognized with an Artists 360 Award and that he can enhance his efforts through the Community Activator Grant," Hare said.