Fourteen Central Coast artists and culture bearers, including two from San Luis Obispo County, have been selected to receive California Arts Council Individual Artists Fellowships.
As an Emerging Artist Fellow, sculptural artist Renée Pepion will receive a $5,000 award.
As an Established Artist Fellow, Harold Brown (better known as Lorde Sanctus) will receive a $10,000 award. Brown is a musician, songwriter, producer, and futurist.
The fellowships provide unrestricted funding to support the continued development of the artists’ creative work.
Pepion’s work strikes a balance between the beautiful and the grotesque, tackling themes relating to animality, disability, and the Latin American diaspora. Her first solo exhibition took place in 2025 and she is scheduled to exhibit work at the Torrance Art Museum in late 2026.
Brown’s professional credits span blockbuster film and television, including Despicable Me 2, Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Magnificent Seven, On My Block, and MTV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race. He also has collaborated with industry heavyweights such as Snoop Dogg, Dev, and The Cataracs.
In 2018, Brown founded Connect the Coast, a platform dedicated to empowering Black and Brown artists across California’s Central Coast.
During the next year, Pepion, Brown, and the other 12 Central Coast Fellows will come together for professional development opportunities to connect, share, and celebrate.
Organized by the California Arts Council, the Central Coast Individual Artists Fellowships program is administered by Arts Council Santa Cruz County in partnership with regional arts agencies from Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.