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Yance Ford '94 speaks at Hamilton.

Yance Ford ’94 has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. The Foundation offers Fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and irrespective of race, color, or creed.

Ford is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy winning director and producer based in New York City. His debut film Strong Island was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards where Ford made history as the first openly transgender director nominated for the Oscar.

Strong Island received the Gotham Award for Best Documentary, among many other and the film won a 2017 Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award. The Guardian wrote of the film: ‘There’s something different about Strong Island, however, a film characterized by raw emotion and calm anger, [Strong Island] must surely be considered one of the finest documentaries of 2017.’’

Ford screened Strong Island at Hamilton in 2018. He was featured in the Winter 2017 issues of Hamilton's magazine in a piece titled Justice for Injustice Through Art.

Ford is also a former Series Producer at the documentary series POV. His curatorial work there was recognized with 5 Emmy Awards and 16 Emmy nominations.

He began development on Untitled Blackness while Sundance Art of Non-Fiction grantee in 2017.

U.S. Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife established the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1925 as a memorial to a son who died April 26, 1922. The Foundation receives approximately 3,000 applications each year. Approximately 175 Fellowships are awarded each year.

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