WAUSAU, WISCONSIN: The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Challenge America Award of $10,000. This grant, one of 272 awards nationwide, will support photographer Pao Houa Her’s residency at the Museum as part of the project “Belonging,” coinciding with an exhibition of her work entitled Double Exposure: Community Portraits, on view at the Museum from June 7 – August 24, 2025.
“The NEA is proud to continue our nearly 60 years of supporting the efforts of organizations and artists that help to shape our country’s vibrant arts sector and communities of all types across our nation,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “It is inspiring to see the wide range of creative projects taking place, including “Belonging.”
Woodson Art Museum Director Matt Foss added: “the Woodson Art Museum remains committed to providing exceptional and diverse visual arts experiences that foster a sense of community among our audiences. Pao Houa Her’s artwork and her concurrent artist residency reenforces that commitment. We’re honored the National Endowment for the Arts recognized that as well.”
The Challenge America grant program offers support to organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to populations that have limited access due to geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. Each grant is for a fixed amount of $10,000 and requires a minimum $10,000 cost share/match.
Pao Houa Her, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, is a recognizable and accomplished contemporary Hmong American artist. Pao’s personal experience as a refugee and her interest in connecting and engaging with Hmong communities through portrait photography was the inspiration for the project “Belonging.”
During her two-week residency in July, Pao will transform the Museum’s gallery space into an interactive environment and working artist space by sourcing local materials like flowers, fabrics, and artisan-made items to use as photographic backdrops for her portraits. While at the Museum, Pao will photograph residents in the created environment. The interactive exhibition, Double Exposure: Community Portraits, will encourage visitors to engage with photography through instructional didactics and video prompts. Alongside these elements, which will transform over the course of the exhibition period, Pao will display previously completed portrait photographs as part of the exhibition.
Grants from the B.A. & Esther Greenheck Foundation and the Green Bay Packers Foundation also support the Pao Houa Her artist residency.
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
