As part of the culminating year of the Disability Futures Fellowship program, administered by United States Artists (USA) and supported by Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation, artists who had received a Disability Futures Fellowship (2020-2024) were invited to nominate organizations to receive awards in honor and support of their work. In total, 43 organizational nominees were awarded unrestricted awards of $10,000 each, representing a meaningful acknowledgement of their important work in and for disability communities across the country.

“Disability justice is a core of what we try to bring to the music ecosystem, and it's deeply affirming to feel like we're in movement with others,” says Tiara Amar, Director of Advocacy & Fellows at Whippoorwill Arts, an organizational recipient of a 2025 Fellow Nominated Award. Julio Salgado, Senior Program Manager at The Center for Cultural Power, another recipient, adds: “It is so beautiful to hear that the work we do is acknowledged by our community. Know that this award will go towards continuing to do the work — which is needed now more than ever.

The 2025 Fellow Nominated Awardees are:

• Abilitee Adaptive Wear

• AC3 (Access Acting Academy)

• AIM 4 The Heart, A California Non Profit Corporation

• balm in gilead

• Bodies of Work - University of Illinois Chicago - College of Applied Health Sciences

• Brown Girls Doc Mafia

• Calling Up Justice

• Circle O

• Collective Loss Adaptation Project (CLAP)

• ConTextos Chicago

• cripple

• Crushing Colonialism

• Culture Push

• Deaf Spotlight

• Deep Space Mind 215

• Disability Culture Lab

• Disability Media Alliance

• Disabled Journalists Association 

• Disabled Students' Program - University of California, Berkeley

• Docs In Progress

• Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

• Front Porch Communities Foundation - Ruth's Table Gallery

• Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD)

• Living Altars/The Stacey Park Milbern Liberation Arts Residency

• Market Box - Ecosystems of Care

• Moments Cooperative & Community Space

• National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance

• National Dance Institute DREAM Project

• Nine Mile Arts Corp. - Propel Poetry Series

• Pay Rate for Access Workers Now (PRAWN)

• Rebirth Garments LLC

• San Diego Deaf Dance Festival

• San Francisco Disability Cultural Center - L.C. and Lillie Cox Haven of Hope

• SICK magazine

• Split This Rock

• Squeaky Wheel Media

• Surdists United, Inc.

• The Apothetae

• The Black Deaf Project

• The Center for Cultural Power - The Disruptors Fellowship

• Tucson Disability Pride Day - Ward 2 City of Tucson

• Visionaries of the Creative Arts (VOCA)

• Whippoorwill Arts Inc.

We extend our warm congratulations to the recipients! Disability Futures aims to increase the visibility of disabled creative practitioners across disciplines and geography, and amplify their voices individually and collectively. We are thrilled to be able to offer this final award in support of the community. Learn more about Disability Futures.