Kristine Schomaker Receives CALI Catalyst Grant Recognizing Her Changemaking Role in the Arts

Schomaker’s work dissolves walls between art and life, transforming creativity into community and giving voice to those too often left unheard.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 26, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Shoebox Arts is proud to announce that our Founder, artist Kristine Schomaker, has been awarded a $7,500 CALI Catalyst grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI). This grant program provides financial support and validation to individuals whose frontline work to upend the status quo in the arts and culture sector is creating tangible change and moving the needle towards greater equity and inclusion. The CALI Catalyst program is administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation, a longstanding 501(c)(3) public charity and trusted intermediary providing funding, advocacy, and research support on behalf of individuals in the arts.

Kristine Schomaker’s artistic practice encompasses every aspect of her life, extending from painting, sculpture, and performance to community building, mentorship, and social justice projects. Through large-scale abstract paintings reimagined into new sculptures and installations, she explores transformation and resilience, while projects like Imaginary Wall use thousands of community-placed dots to visualize and dismantle invisible social barriers. Her performance work Perceive Me confronts societal perceptions of body image and visibility, creating collaborative spaces for artists and audiences to challenge bias and affirm representation.

These artistic inquiries directly complement her work as founder of Shoebox Arts and January Arts, where mentorship, artist support networks, and publications amplify underrepresented voices and democratize access to the arts. As an artist, curator, publisher, and cultural producer, Schomaker blurs the line between artmaking and life itself, transforming her creative exploration into platforms that build equity, give voice to the unheard, and model new forms of artistic exchange—principles at the heart of the CALI Catalyst program.

Since 2010, artist, cultural producer, and Shoebox Arts founder Kristine Schomaker has led efforts to connect more than 500 artists through collaborative art-making. One key changemaking initiative that Schomaker has continued to oversee since 2020 is Call and Response, an initiative that pairs artists together over 20 rounds of exchange and across six continents. By pairing artists at random and asking them to create work together through a back-and-forth exchange, the project has built unexpected connections and fostered a vibrant creative community across geographic and cultural boundaries.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered galleries and isolated artists worldwide, Schomaker responded by creating Call and Response. Modeled after jazz traditions and the surrealist exquisite corpse, the project removed barriers of fees, applications, and gatekeeping. Anyone willing to create could participate. Through rapid-fire 24–48 hour exchanges, artists collaborated online, responding to one another’s work in real time. Over the course of 20+ rounds, participants produced more than a thousand original artworks. The project became a lifeline for many artists—fostering creativity, breaking isolation, and proving that community and collaboration can thrive without traditional structures. Schomaker noted that Call and Response has always centered connection, community, and creativity, and that the current transition into book arts represents an expansion of this vision—two artists, one book, and limitless possibilities. Online applications for free participation are open through September 30.

About Kristine Schomaker
Kristine Schomaker is an artist, curator, art historian, and cultural producer based in Los Angeles. As founder of Shoebox Arts and publisher of Art and Cake magazine, she has long been an advocate for emerging and underrepresented artists. With projects such as Call and Response, Perceive Me, and her Imaginary Wall installations she has continually pushed the boundaries of what artist-led collaboration can look like, creating spaces where creativity flourishes without gatekeeping. The CALI Catalyst grant recognizes Schomaker’s role as a change-maker in the arts, always finding new avenues to connect artists and communities.

About the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI)
The Center for Cultural Innovation supports California artists through programs designed to strengthen their capacity for creative and professional success. Among its opportunities is the Professional Development grant of up to $600 available to individual artists for training, workshops, and skill development—expanding resources alongside initiatives like the Catalyst program.
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Kristine Schomaker
Shoebox Arts
shoeboxartsla@gmail.com
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