BYPASSED project director Sarah Alderman has been selected for a 2015 Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant. From the Leeway Foundation website:

What makes a Leeway Artist?

The following does not describe one kind of artist; rather, it paints a larger picture of the many aspects of different Leeway artists.

Visionary
An artist who helps us see art in its broadest manifestation.

Accomplished
An artist who owns their practice and knows what and how they want to engage; art that is expressed as clean, clear and confident.

Investigative
Wherever they are in their practice, there is passion and a sense of digging deeply into the work as an exploration.

Thoughtful or Insightful
The work comes out of some kind of analysis and provides some articulation (verbal or visual) of that analysis.

Purposeful
There is a clear intention and the artist has the ability to translate that intention through the work.

Provocative
The work can challenge audiences or create a sense of tension; the impact is rooted in challenging norms, perceptions, and the status quo (e.g., issues of race, class, gender).

Connected
They are part of a community or in the broader sense they are connected to something other (larger) than themselves.

Underserved, Under-acknowledged, and/or Under-engaged
These are the practitioners who have not traditionally received support (e.g., folks of color, immigrants, poor folks), or they have made/are making a significant contribution to a field that has not been fully recognized, or they do not fit the traditional definitions of artist and/or activist but are clearly using an “art form” and working in a creative way to have significant impact, or they are identified or perceived as “outsiders” (e.g., not engaged in the formal or mainstream societal structures).

Bridge Builders
Artists who may not be originally of the community they are working in but share a genuine connection to the culture and the work, and/or artists who serve as ambassadors in other communities as a way to build alliances within larger movements.

We are so grateful to Leeway Foundation for this grant, which will enable us to reacher a broader, more diverse group of community participants, and to dig deeper with each and every one of them.

Raider Starz competitive cheerleading team: One of Coatesville's star youth organizations which rarely get the press they deserve. #pushthepositive

“Art for social change is art with a vision and impacts people in many ways. It can: raise consciousness; alter how we think about ourselves, our society, or our culture; create a vision of a more just world; be a tool or strategy for organizing and movement-building; reclaim traditional cultural practices as a form of resistance or community building; challenge racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, ableism or other forms of oppression; and question mainstream culture and beliefs.

With the ideals of social change in mind, we created these programs to challenge the norms of traditional grantmaking. We seek to recognize women and trans artists whose work is often ignored, silenced, and marginalized because of what they create or who they are - such as people of color; immigrants; gay, lesbian, and bisexual people; poor and working-class people; and people who take risks with art form and content to share their social change vision.”

— -LEEWAY FOUNDATION website