Darius Clark Monroe, a Jenkintown-based filmmaker, will receive a $75,000 award and become a Pew Fellow, according to The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

The Center announced on Thursday, September 14 that it has awarded 40 grants and fellowships totaling $9 million in support of Philadelphia-area cultural organizations and artists. The grants will fund public events and programs that celebrate the diverse and creative contributions of local artists and tell personal stories of prominent Philadelphians.

Several projects highlight the role of the arts in grappling with illness, healing, and caretaking—especially since the pandemic—while others focus on contemporary expressions of cultural identity.

From the announcement:

“Human behavior continues to motivate my artistic practice…The mystery that hides behind the pupils of the eyes is what continues to inspire me.”

Monroe’s documentary and fictional films surface intimate, interior lives and under-acknowledged histories. His works include Racquet, a four-part meditation on tennis players; Black 14, a short documentary about college athletes who protested against racial injustice in 1969 Wyoming; and the autobiographical documentary feature Evolution of a Criminal, which examines the aftereffects of a bank robbery.

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