Impressively in this economy, Artist Trust has increased the money it is giving to artists. Yesterday (I’m sorry I’m late—it’s flu time), AT announced it is giving $157,500 in Fellowship Awards to 21 artists in 4 categories, bringing its total for grants awarded this year to over $300,000 to 100-plus artists. These 21 artists were selected from a pool of 450 applicants from all over Washington state.

In the emerging and cross-disciplinary arts, recipients are Stranger Genius Wynne Greenwood, UW mastermind James Coupe, and beefy-robot-maker and half-of-Fire Retard Ants artist Michael Simi.

In visual art, recipients are Grant Barnhart, Debra Baxter, Diem Chau, Jack Daws, Scott Foldesi, Justin Gibbens, Philippe Mazuad, Nicholas Nyland, Ariana Page Russell, Jim Woodring, Robert Yoder, and Jennifer Zwick.

In traditional and folk, winners are Lisa Telford and Kazuko Yamazaki. In the performing arts, it’s Chad Goller-Sojourner, Lucia Neare, Zoe Scofield, and Olivier Wevers.

Each artist receives an unrestricted cash award of $7,500 (up from last year’s $6,500). For more information on all of these artists, please visit this thorough page devoted to them.