Exciting News: WIP Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission!

I’m thrilled to share that I have received a 2025 Work In Progress Micro-Support Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission! This grant will support my latest long-form fiction project: a speculative novel for adults set in the Indiana Dunes, exploring the lives of several generations of Hoosier women and their relationship to the land that holds them. At 80,000 words, my WIP (work in progress) is currently in rough draft form, and this support will allow me to refine it into a polished, submission-ready manuscript.

(ID: Red brick, exterior of the Chesterton Arts Center.)

I became eligible for this opportunity after participating in a Work In Progress: Exchange Labs session last September, hosted locally by the Chesterton Arts Center. These labs are designed to help Indiana artists connect, share ideas, and advance their projects through peer discussion and professional feedback. I attended the Northern Region Lab which had artists and creatives attend from Serves Adams, Allen, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart, Fulton, Huntington, Jasper, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Miami, Newton, Noble, Porter, Pulaski, Starke, Steuben, St. Joseph, Wabash, Wells, White, and Whitley counties. I’m so grateful to the Chesterton Arts Center for bringing this resource to our region and to the Indiana Arts Commission for supporting artists statewide through initiatives like this.

(ID: Green infographic on a blue background announcing the micro grant.)

Through the grant, I will attend the Indiana Writing Workshop in Indianapolis on March 7^th, where I’ll receive editorial mentorship, feedback from agents and publishers, and guidance on refining my manuscript. I will also use key publishing tools, like Query Tracker and Publisher’s Marketplace, to prepare work for submission, with the ultimate goal of securing representation and publication.

(ID: Room full of writers attending a conference.)

This project is deeply personal and aligned with my lifelong creative practice. As a writer, filmmaker, and teaching artist, I’m committed to storytelling that connects communities, explores identity, and celebrates shared humanity. Over the past four years, I’ve conducted extensive research into Indiana’s environmental and cultural history, crafting a story that interweaves memory, inheritance, and the living landscape. My hope is that public readings of the completed novel will foster conversations about history, ecology, and women’s legacies in Indiana.

(ID: Indiana Arts Commission logo, State of Indiana in blue with a stick figure in yellow, red and green dancing over it.)

Receiving this grant is not only an incredible boost to my work, but also a reminder of the power of community, mentorship, and sustained creative effort. I’m excited to use this support to bring this story fully to life and share it with readers across Indiana and beyond.

(ID: Jessica Renslow in a gray suit jacket and colorful scarf with a white button up.)