The Bitsie Fund Names 2022 Recepients

Isaac Bloodworth in June 2020, at the installation of his work Black Kid Joy at City Hill in New Haven. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

Alexandra Diaz dreamed of a photo project that would let her document the lives and stories of fellow Puerto Ricans living in New Haven. Isaac Bloodworth wanted to take Joy the Black Boy into homes, classrooms, and public spaces across the city. Now, both have the support of a longtime citywide arts champion to do it. 

That's the story from The Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists, which this month awarded $5,000 to each artist for projects rooted in New Haven. Named in in honor of Frances "Bitsie" Clark, who for years helmed the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, the fund lifted off in 2018 and has awarded grants to printmaker Barbara Harder, spoken word artist and playwright Aaron Jafferis, musician and composer Adam Matlock, photographer Harold Shapiro, playwright and poet Steve Driffin, and musician Jake Gagne. 

This is the first year that the grant has gone to two artists of color. Both are under 30, making it the youngest class of awardees yet. 

Bitsie Clark during her years at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. Contributed Photo.

"I'm very anxious to meet both of them," said Clark, who sits on an advisory committee and will be meeting them in person at a reception for the fund next week. "I think both are very interesting projects that I was enormously excited about. These two winners are very interesting because they're two very different kinds of projects."

Over the next year, both Diaz and Bloodworth will embark on community-oriented, multimedia projects with the funding. Diaz, who grew up in New Haven and now lives in the city's Dwight neighborhood, plans to publish “Mapping Puerto Rican Identity in
New Haven,” a photography collection exploring what it means to be Boricua in the Elm City. Bloodworth, also a lifelong New Havener, will be casting his character "Joy the Black Boy" in resin, turning him into a limited-edition three-dimensional toy. 

For Diaz, it's a chance to ask a question she doesn't yet have the answer to. Half a decade ago, she graduated from Achievement First Amistad High School knowing she wanted to give back to the community that had raised her. Initially, "my objective wasn't to become an artist," she said. She didn't think of herself as especially creative. 

But when she started taking photography classes as a student at Lafayette College, that changed. She realized that the medium could help her tell the stories of the people and places around her. In the years since, she has honed her skills as a photographer, with a particular love of and talent for portraiture. 

"I wanted to get a degree so I could gain more knowledge to give back and make an impact on my community," she said. "And the thing that was most impactful for my hands and my brain and my heart was art." 

For the next six months, she plans to do research across the city, talking to fellow Puerto Ricans about how they see themselves and how they want to be seen. Then she plans to start photographing. She said she's not yet sure how many images she'll produce or what format they will take, but that she's excited for the project. 

"I feel really like, I was a little shocked [when I got it]," she said. "You know how some people of color be like talking about imposter syndrome—like 'Dang, why did they give this to me?' But then I looked back at my art." 

It will become part of the city's rich and burgeoning celebration of Puerto Rican culture, from bomba collectives Movimiento Cultural Afro-Continental (MCAC) and Proyecto Cimmarón to Bregamos Community Theatre, new arts initiatives at Junta for Progressive Action, and a resurgence of cultural events from Puerto Ricans United, Inc. 

Joy on a mural at the Five Star Laundromat Center in New Haven's Hill neighborhood. Lucy Gellman File Photo,

Bloodworth, meanwhile, will build on an existing, literally joyful footprint that he has been growing since his time as a puppetry student at the University of Connecticut. 

Since first giving birth to Joy the Black Boy as an undergraduate at UConn, Bloodworth has depicted Joy in multiple iterations—first dying at the hands of police, then jubilantly reborn, surfing on a soda stream in front of City Hall, floating in space on the side of a laundromat. Illustrations of Joy often appear on his Instagram, giving people a peek at how he has evolved in real time.  

Now, Bloodworth plans to use the grant funding to cast 30 editions of Joy in resin—or as he said with a laugh, "yes, Joy the Black Boy as a toy." Each toy that he casts will go to a young Black New Havener for free. For Bloodworth, who turned 27 this month, its a full-circle sort of moment. When he first presented Joy as part of his senior thesis, he didn't know that the character would stay with him for years. 

"I'm excited about this endeavor," he said. "I didn't imagine that Joy would be such a part of me. I had no clue that I would be transforming Joy and bringing him back to life in this way."

It's rare to have time set aside for his own work, he added in a phone call Tuesday. When he isn't dreaming up scenarios for Joy, Bloodworth is a museum technician at the Yale Center for British Art and member of the NuSpiral Collective. This project gives him space to grow Joy's story—and his own. 

Learn more about the Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists here.