Denise Ward-Brown, Artist

Anita Jackson, Rochelle Walker Adrianne Felton-King and Curtis Jay Conrod sing a traditional Negro Spiritual “Every Day Will be Sunday Bye and Bye (When I Reach That Home Beyond the Sky) by Denise Ward-Brown

Denise Ward-Brown is a filmmaker and an Associate Professor of Art at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis. Her films frequently explore African and African-American themes and history. Currently, Ward-Brown is producing and directing projects with funding from the Missouri Humanities Council and a 2016 Ferguson Seed Grant Fund.  In 2015, she received three grants: 1] an Artists Fellowship from The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis (RAC) and 2] a Faculty Creative Activity Research Grant fortravel to the2015 Creative Time Summit In Venice, Italy & the 56th International Art Exhibition of la Bien-nale di Venezia. Ms. Ward-Brown designed a new course entitled ‘Tale of Two Cities: Docu-menting Our Divides’ with the funds from 3] The Divided City Initiative, a partnership with the Washington University’s Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences and the Mellon Foundation. This faculty-collaborative grant allowed students to successfully interact and film social justice organizations throughout the city.

Ms. Ward-Brown received a BFA, cum laude, from Tyler School of Art, Temple University and an MFA, summa cum laude, from Howard University. Ward-Brown began making documentary videos in West Africa as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in 1997-98. Her first video subjects include numerous traditional celebrations in Ghana for which she received the Second-Place Documen-tary Award at the Abuja International Film Festival, Nigeria (2004) and the Project Series ‘03-’04 Grant fromThe Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis (2003). Ward-Brown received production grants for her award-winning video documentary Jim Crow to Barack Obama (JC2BO), includ-ing a CALOP grant in 2011, a Kresge Arts in St. Louis Grant and a Faculty Research Grant. In 2013, she received an Artists Support Grant from RAC. http://www.jimcrowtobarackobama.com/https://vimeo.com/neverbeenatime