Competitions > Juried Arts Festival
The Artists Forum was proud to present its annual Juried Arts Festival Awards Ceremony! This live event was held in conjunction with our Festival of the Moving Image (October 12 – 14) on October 15, 2023 from 3PM to 7PM at the exclusive Dolby Screening Room NYC — a state-of-the-art, ADA compliant screening facility at 1350 Avenue of the Americas at West 55th Street (Lobby Level) in Mid-town Manhattan.
The event featured works by our 2023 Finalists in Music, Photography, Spoken Word, and Choreography, highlighting our 2023 Competition Theme: THE BODY POLITICAL. The event will include artist screenings, artists Q&A, and an award ceremony with after-party.
This years festival was a very special one as we combined our film works with our Juried Arts Festival submissions, showcasing international works in music, photography, spoken word, and choreography. The combined festival features 67 works from 20 countries! Armenia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Scotland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.
THIS YEAR’S THEME:
Our 2023 Competition Theme: THE BODY POLITICAL.
Artists were challenged to interpret our theme: The Body Political. The term “body politics” refers to the operations of power in topics ranging from issues about abortion, anatomy, anorexia, and opinions on tattoos, toxicology, and transsexuals, to facts about diseases, death, disciplines, and convictions about race, rationality and research.
Question: Are our voices heard as ways to transform the system or rather as entertainment for the political status quo?
SCREENINGS & AWARDS:
Our live screenings and awards were held October 12 – October 15, 2023 from 3PM to 7PM at the exclusive Dolby Screening Room NYC — a state-of-the-art, ADA compliant screening facility at 1350 Avenue of the Americas at West 55th Street (Lobby Level) in Mid-town Manhattan.
Information on our finalists and winners works are available to hear or view on their respective pages. See links below.
Our online film festival screenings begin October 25 through December 3, 2023. For tickets, see link below.
MANY THANKS:
Our 2023 Festival Ambassador is The Artists Forum Television host Michael Inge.
2023 Film Jury: C.J. Arellano, Ashley Gerst, Martha Gorzycki, Stephen Hilyard, Henry Kanegsberg, Lee Milby, Djordje Radovanovich, David Ranghelli, Jonathan Taub, Amos White V, Jonathan Ullman, and Viktor Witkowski
2023 Music Competition Jury: Giuliano Ciabatta, Jonathan Solars, Katie Thomas, Joi Veer, and Amos White V
2023 Photography Competition Jury: Todd Ford, Amos White V
2023 Spoken Word Competition Jury: Ron Bremner, Patricia Carragon, Megha Sood, Amos White V, and Baron Wright
2023 Choreography Competition Jury: Todd Ford, Matthew Westerby, Amos White V
2023 Festival Beverage Sponsor: Martingale Cognac
2023 Festival Media Sponsor: LinkNYC
THE ARTISTS FORUM, now in its 25th year, is a New York City based non-profit arts service organization specializing in events, juried competitions, and media for artists.
Its JURIED ARTS FESTIVAL provides an accessible platform for artists of multiple genres to share their latest, most innovative, and influential works with diverse audiences through juried competition. Participant and Winner benefits include public acknowledgement of exceptional projects and career advancement opportunities for both the artists and their collaborators.
Current opportunities include competitions in music, photography, spoken word, choreography, with other genres forthcoming. We encourage art community members to participate by submitting their best materials for consideration.
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AWARDS LISTINGS
MUSIC AWARDS
2023 MUSIC WINNERS
BEST AMERICANA: Sleep is My Only Relief (Karen Braysher (UK) & Peter Zasuly (US)
BEST CHILDREN’S/HOLIDAY/NOVELTY: Fits Just Right (Randy Sauer, US)
BEST CLASSICAL/OPERATIC COMPOSITION: Intrecci (Andrea Montalbano, Italy)
BEST HIP-HOP/RAP: Farsh (n0trixx, Russian Federation)
BEST JAZZ/BLUES COMPOSITION: Gravity (Vahagn Stepanyan, Armenia)
BEST POP: Machine (Meg Pfeiffer (US) & Luca Stricagnoli (Italy)
PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
2023 PHOTOGRAPHY WINNERS
FIRST PLACE: Embodied (Andrea Anderson Gluckman, US)
SPOKEN WORD AWARDS
2023 SPOKEN WORD WINNERS
BEST ENHANCED PERFORMANCE: Mush / Poltiglia (Paper-Men) (Luca Giuliani, Italy)
BEST EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE: Blood Howls (S R Montevirgen, US)
BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE: I Choose Hope (Bertrand Momo, Cameroon)
CHOREOGRAPHY AWARDS
2023 CHOREOGRAPHY WINNERS
BEST MODERN DANCE (ENHANCED): She Dreamt Alone (Nina McNeely, US)
BEST MODERN DANCE (ENHANCED) – STUDENT: La Solitude (Ben Sellick (Canada) & Jordyn Hubbs (US)
BEST INTERPRETIVE DANCE (ENHANCED): Untwined (Bennyroyce Royon & Joshua Kong, US)
FILM AWARDS
View our full List of Nominees & Award Winners
2023 WINNERS
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT: Pregnant (Golnaz Jamsheed, Iran)
BEST DARK THEMED SHORT: The Veil (Anna Winslow, Germany)
BEST SCI-FI SHORT: Mercury (Clara Dubai, France/Italy)
BEST COMEDY SHORT: How To Hack Birth Control (Sassy Mohen, US)
BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT: Dawn of Death (Armin Rajaei, Iran)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: It’s Not Perverse, It’s Mothers (Anouska Samms, UK)
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Bear Hugs (Maggie May Brummer, US)
BEST MUSIC VIDEO: Us In Octaves (Alex Mastoon, US)
BEST STUDENT SHORT: A Study in Bodies (Elia Lara, US)
BEST LGBTQ+ SHORT: Common As Red Hair (Robbie Robertson, US)
BEST WEB SERIES: How To Hack Birth Control (Sassy Mohen, US)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Gabriel’s Daughter (Lori Brown Mirabal & Sharon Shepard-Levine, US)
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: Artist Unknown (Cinder Chou, US)
BEST SOUND DESIGN: Stephen Musumeci – Prep (Raymond Knudsen, US)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Robert Bevis – Prep (Raymond Knudsen, US)
BEST EDITING: Thor Wixom – Seductive Devotion (Destin Gerek, US)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Arthur Rey & Elirone Rosa – The Silence of Kore (André Magalhães, Paulo Mendel, Brazil)
BEST MUSICAL SCORE: Tobari “Coach T” Fingal, RaMon Shelton, Braxton Cook – Last Call (R. L. Hargrove & K. Spencer, US)
BEST SCREENPLAY: Cinder Chou – Artist Unknown (Cinder Chou, US)
BEST DIRECTOR: Cinder Chou – Artist Unknown (Cinder Chou, US)
BEST ACTOR: Chibueze Anyasor – Prep (Raymond Knudsen, US)
BEST ACTRESS: Rebecca L. Hargrove – Last Call (R. L. Hargrove & K. Spencer, US)
AUDIENCE AWARD 1ST PLACE: Last Call (Rebecca L. Hargrove & Kedren Spencer, US)
AUDIENCE AWARD 2ND PLACE: A Year to Live (Nikki Hevesy & Jahmal J. Holland, US)
AUDIENCE AWARD 3RD PLACE (tie): Us in Octaves (Alex Mastoon, US)
AUDIENCE AWARD 3RD PLACE (tie): Osarerogue (Oluwafunmilayo Jupiter-Rose Ogunbodede, US)
2023 JURORS AWARD: Cinder Chou – Artist Unknown (Cinder Chou, US)