July 18, 2023

Idaho – Three Idaho artists have been awarded Fellowships in Performing and Media Arts:  Jessica Harned, Amy Johnson, and Tracy Sunderland. Fellowship winners will each receive $5,000. The awards, given every two years by the Idaho Commission on the Arts, recognize outstanding artists, honoring work deemed to exhibit the highest artistic merit during peer review. Applicants were reviewed anonymously in a highly competitive process by panelists from out of state and were judged on the basis of existing work and professional history. 

JESSICA HARNED Nampa

Jessica Harned is a violinist in the Boise Philharmonic and a member of Mariachi Sol De Acapulco. She hosts a podcast, Classical Queens, focusing on the histories of black, indigenous, and people of color in classical music. Harned teaches on the subject of inclusivity, has served on the board of directors of Radio Boise, and has worked with the Serenata Orchestra to program a concert pairing musical selections with narratives about the history of minorities in the classical context. Harned earned a Master of Music in violin performance from BSU. This is her first Arts Idaho Fellowship.

AMY JOHNSON Boise

Amy Johnson creates multimedia performance works utilizing photography, video, clay, textiles, printmaking, and other visual media. Her artworks focus on environmental themes, creating a vision of the present which is simultaneously beautiful and tragic. Johnson earned her MFA from the University of Washington and has received grants from the Rasmuson Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, and the Alaska State Council on the Arts. This is her first Arts Idaho Fellowship.

TRACY SUNDERLAND Boise

Tracy Sunderland is a writer, director, actor, and teacher who creates alternative forms of theater and short film. Her works are often staged in unconventional locations, incorporate various media, or involve audience participation. Her recent work “Another Agatha,” was performed at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Sunderland earned an MA from the London Film School and an MFA in acting from UT Austin. She is the founder of the Migration Theory acting company, an associate artist of Boise Contemporary Theater, the Digital Stage Director for the Boise Philharmonic, and a Lecturer at BSU. This is her second Arts Idaho Fellowship.