In November 2009 I was one of six recipients of an Efroymson Contemporary Fellowship. The fellowship offers select contemporary artists living in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio an unrestricted grant of $20,000, the only stipulation being that it cannot be invested or used to pay off debt and must be used in one year. In my case the grant allowed me to lease a studio space with a ventilation system suited to my changing needs (the increasing use of spray media, resins and other toxic materials) it also gave me the opportunity to travel to London, Berlin and the Czech Republic to further my artistic research and career.