Leader
TRA’ SLAUGHTER One of the more uplifting choruses of 2020 goes something like this: “In our darkest times, we turn to the arts.” For mixed-media artist Tra’ (pronounced “Trey”) Slaughter, that statement is doubly true. “Due to Covid-19, 62 percent of arts workers report they are fully unemployed, and 94 percent report significant income loss,” says Slaughter, who founded the nonprofit Artists for Artists with his wife, Amber, in 2017. It has since grown from a grassroots organization offering one-time emergency grants into one actively assisting hundreds of artists around the country, to the tune of more than $600,000 so far this year. The nonprofit will soon launch two community-based mental health and wellness programs. Slaughter has continued producing his found-object paintings and sculptures throughout the pandemic, and even created a silkscreen poster of Frida Kahlo a wearing face-covering, the proceeds from which benefited his org. “Art has been the one thing we can rely on to get us through this,” he says. “It has the power to save us all.”