15 artists will be selected for our 2026 Capacity Building Grant Program Cohort. Applications are juried by a panel of creative peers who have achieved success in their field, and understand the needs of Cape artists and the challenges they face. This program promotes equal opportunity and seeks diversity in its applicants and participants. If you have never received an artist grant, we encourage you to apply – this program is intended for you!
ONLINE APPLICATION DUE: NOVEMBER 10, 2025
ONLINE APPLICATION DUE: NOVEMBER 10, 2025
A Creative Ecosystem Where Artists Thrive
The Capacity-Building Program empowers artists to embark on meaningful careers aligned with their values; enhance their creative endeavors; build purposeful networks to support their work; and access resources necessary to attain sustained success.
A 5-month program that guides artists in creating a roadmap that identifies goals for their creative business and action steps for achieving them. Artists in the cohort have access to workshops focused on strengthening and growing their business; one-on-one and group coaching in the creation of a business plan; connection to other creatives to support one another on their professional journeys; and a $1,000 stipend upon program completion.
virtual information sessions
PROGRAM TIMELINE
January — April 2026
September 8, 2025
Application opens
November 12, 2025
Application closes (deadline to apply)
November – December 2025
Applications reviewed and cohort selected
January 2026
Cohort onboarding
January – April 2026
Cohort workshops and peer meetups
End of April 2026
Program completion and release of $1,000 working capital grant
2025 Capacity-Building Grant Recipients
Alyssa Ruggieri
Watercolor Artist
-
Alyssa Ruggieri is the owner and artist at ALR Designs, a business specializing in original watercolor art. As a Cape cod native, much of her art draws inspiration from her surroundings. Her creations blend coastal serenity with whimsical charm, including serene landscapes, playful sharks, and custom shell art, like her signature "Shell Ladies." Known for her framable greeting cards and keepsakes, Alyssa paints, prints, and packages all of her products herself. She loves creating pieces that feel peaceful and just make people smile. ALR Designs now offers a wide variety of products featuring her artwork ranging from stickers, to cards, prints, ornaments, and more!
Bill Evaul
Painter & Printmaker
-
William (Bill) Evaul arrived in Provincetown in 1970 as a Visual Arts Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center. A painter and printmaker, he has also worked as a curator, museum director, art historian, writer, and educator. He served as Executive Director of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (1989–90) and has lectured nationally. His work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Library of Congress, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
In 1979, while writing for Print Review, Evaul helped revive the Provincetown Print (or white-line woodcut), a unique color woodblock technique. He continues to innovate in this medium, producing hundreds of works and teaching the method nationwide. Alongside physicist Fred Dylla, Ph.D., he is co-authoring a two-volume treatise on the subject and consults for the Boston MFA. Evaul is also Principal Appraiser at William Harper Appraisers, specializing in USPAP-certified appraisals.
Craig Florence
Comics Artist & Illustrator
-
C.R. Florence (Craig) is a self-taught illustrator and comics artist, specializing in traditional line art. His comics work has been published by Scout Comics and Band of Bards, and has been featured in many different anthology collections including the RINGO! Award Nominated ‘Cthulhu Invades Wonderland’, ‘Holiday Spirits’ (vol. 1-3), ‘Always Punch Nazis’ (vol. 3), and the not-for-profit ‘BORDERx: A Crisis in Graphic Detail’ benefitting the South Texas Human Rights Center. He is currently working on ‘Black Sam’ a limited series based on the true tale of the pirate Captain “Black Sam” Bellamy and his love for Maria Hallet the “Witch of Wellfleet”.
Filipe Miguel
Multidisciplinary Visual Artist
-
Filipe is a multidisciplinary artist based at Hatch Street Studios in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His captivating art installations blend drawings, paintings, and sculptures to explore contemporary narratives and personal experiences. His work infuses traditional art media with industrial materials such as aluminum, concrete and foam. With a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut, Filipe's work has been exhibited widely throughout New England and has had notable solo shows at local venues including the Cultural Center of Cape Cod and Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton. He’s taught drawing and painting courses at Bridgewater State University and has curated exhibitions at a variety of art venues. He currently teaches Visual Arts at Barnstable High School and resides in Onset Massachusetts.
Gabriel (Gabe) Ribeiro
Author & Illustrator
-
Gabriel Ribeiro is an author and illustrator, born in Curitiba, Brazil, and raised on the Cape. Growing up, he was always fascinated by magic and fantasy, which still inspires him today to create his whimsical illustrations of Cape Cod, New England, and for his storybook art
Grace Emmet
Eco-Visual Artist
-
Grace Emmet is an eco-artist, educator, naturalist, and the Curator of Community Education at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Grace’s place-based art practice is dependent on an intimate relationship with the land informed by her foraging and natural ink making process. By promoting ecological literacy and interdependence with nature through her work, Grace focuses on creating pathways between our human and natural worlds founded in coexistence and sustainability. She holds her BFA in Illustration from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her work has been shown in galleries, museums, and universities across the Northeast. Grace lives yearround on the beautiful nook of Outer Cape Cod where she is equally fond of being out on the beach and deep in the pine forests in search of seashells, mushrooms, and surprises.
Jessie Nickerson
Visual Artist / Illustrator
-
Jessie Nickerson’s love of art began at age 4, when she decided to embellish her family’s walls with crayon “murals” and has been a life-long pursuit ever since. She received her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and went on to Parsons School of Design to earn her MFA. She has studied at the Museum School in Boston and at the Reitweld Academy in Amsterdam. Her illustrations and surreal images are inspired by fairy tales, elements of nature, and daydreams. She exhibits her work throughout the Cape, the South Coast and the Greater Boston area. She resides on Cape Cod where the sea continues to provide her with inspiration.
Joe Diggs
Painter
-
Joseph Diggs was born to a military family in Croix Chapeau, France, and raised on Cape Cod, where he now lives and paints. His work is held in private collections locally, nationally, and internationally. He earned his BFA from Southeastern Massachusetts University and later his MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s program at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He is represented by Berta Walker Galleries in Provincetown, MA.
Diggs draws inspiration from his backyard view of Micha’s Pond in Osterville, MA, where generations of his family have lived and worked. After studying art and traveling widely, he returned home to run family businesses and paint his familiar landscape through new eyes—shifting from representation to layered abstraction. His work reflects the complex experience of being a land-owning Black man in America, embodying the many layers of identity and meaning that define both his life and art.
Kai Bee
Illustrator & Comic Artist
-
Kai Bee (they/them) is an illustrator, comic artist, and arts educator based on Cape Cod. With a passion for storytelling and a mission to amplify underrepresented voices—particularly within QTBIPOC communities—their work examines themes of identity, community, and imagination. These ideas are essential as both tools for survival as well as ways to carve out spaces of belonging in a world that often lacks them. Currently, they are focused on expanding their creative practice into digital spaces while fostering inclusive, accessible learning opportunities for the next generation of artists.
Kenard Smith Jr.
Fashion Designer & Tailor
-
Kenard Smith Jr., the creative mind behind Ken Tailor, is a self-taught tailor and designer with a passion for sustainability and craftsmanship. Starting as an abstract painter, I transitioned to fashion in 2023, blending my artistic roots with modern tailoring techniques to create custom, one-of-a-kind garments. My work focuses on individuality, bold designs, and reimagining materials to minimize waste. Dedicated to preserving sewing as an art form, I also teaches children the craft, striving to inspire the next generation while building his legacy as a visionary in the fashion industry.
Mara Araujo
Multimedia Artist
-
Mara Araujo is a multimedia artist with a passion for storytelling. She was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil, guided by the most extraordinary assortment of dreamers, artists, and poets. Her artistic exploration, spanning traditional and digital media, originates in these early years steeped in curiosity and wonder. Her work often examines the journey of navigating two cultures and asks, how can disparate parts come together to create something new and beautiful?
Mike Sullivan
Sculptor, Musician & Photographer
-
Mike Sullivan is an artist and musician. His work includes sculptural headwear made with materials ranging from natural objects to jewelry and broken mirror. Mike immersed himself in the queer communities in Provincetown and New York City, where he found a passion for portrait and documentary photography. With roots in the theatre, Mike has produced several concerts and collaborations with other singers and musicians as fundraisers for different causes.
Ocean Eversley
Photographer & Painter
-
As I wander along the shores of Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, with camera in hand, I am constantly captivated by the ever-changing landscape, the way the light dances on the water, and the diverse people who enjoy this coastal lifestyle. It is this beauty that I strive to capture in my photographs and paintings. Hence, I am drawn to paint persons of various ethnic backgrounds who resonate with the ocean's essence, capturing their love for the sea and coastal lifestyle. It is also my love for this precious environment, that I highlight in my poetry the ordinary, the whimsical, and the extraordinary moments of life, and give voice to the environmental and social conditions that need to be protected and transformed.
Susan Moffat
Photographer
-
Susan Moffat is a fine art documentary photographer, curator, and educator based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Her social documentary images explore culture and humanity. She’s drawn to humanity and the struggles within and searches to capture those moments in a striking light. Working in both analogue and digital photography, she has an extensive background in teaching photography and photo history in schools in the USA and overseas. Susan Moffat has studied under Maggie Steber, Amber Bracken, Danny Wilcox Frazer, Emmet Gowin, Olivia Parker, and others. She has exhibited in galleries in the USA; Quebec, Canada; Lisbon, Portugal; and the Canary Islands, Spain.
Vanessa Vartebedian
Storyteller & Story Coach
-
Vanessa Vartabedian is creator and producer of the Mosquito Story Slam and podcast, now in its 10th season. Having presented hundreds of stories to thousands of audience members, she knows the intimate truth of what makes a compelling story and how to tell it. Vanessa studied acting at NYU, and tells her own stories through live performance and as a filmmaker. She is a skilled story-coach and educator who thrives on helping people tell their own stories.