January 12, 2026 | New York, NY — The Restitution Study Group (RSG) and Afrodescendant Trust Fund announce the launch of the Second Cohort of their Benin Bronze-Making Fellowship, an artist-training program cultivating a new generation of cultural artists producing Benin bonze replicas and original works for the forthcoming Benin Kingdom Museum in Harlem, New York. Classes will take place in New York City over MLK Weekend 2026.
The Fellowship is grounded in the historical truth that the original Benin bronzes were forged with metal sourced from manilla currency exchanged for African captives sold into transatlantic enslavement. In an effort to democratize access to these cultural relics, Fellows are trained to recreate and reimagine the works while advancing a vision of joint stewardship of the original bronzes, which descendants understand as objects embedded with the presence and memory of their ancestors.
The Fellowship Orientation took place on Saturday, January 10, moderated by Restitution Study Group Founder Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, who expressed her honor at the historical overview of His Excellency Prince Nosuyi Ovonramwen of the Benin Kingdom, invocation and closing prayers of Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely of the Royal Court of Harlem, and the pouring of libations by Queen Kalindah Laveaux, Fellow from New Orleans, Louisiana.
The 2026 Fellows are (in alphabetical order):
- Zainab Aliyu (Nigerian-American, Yoruba/Edo) – Artist, designer and cultural worker
- Dana-Marie Bullock (Jamaican) – Pratt Institute alumna, interdisciplinary artist, painting, sculpture, and performance
- Julian Frost (African American/Jamaican) – Creative technologist, tinkerer, and learner
- Kalindah Laveaux (African American, Louisiana) – Voodoo Queen/Priestess, multidisciplinary performing artist, historian
- Kim Poole (African American, Maryland) – Multidisciplinary performing/teaching artist, storyteller, UN Advocate
- RyLee “Ry” Erin Watkins (African American, Tennessee) – Pratt Institute student, multi-disciplinary artist, sculptor
Bronze foundry instruction will be led by Blake Hiltunen, Foundry Instructor and Associate Professor of Foundry at Pratt Institute and the Rhode Island School of Design. In addition to serving as a Fellow, Julian Frost will teach 3D printing and manufacturing.
The Benin Bronze-Making Fellowship trains artists in traditional and contemporary methods while grounding production in historical truth, cultural repair, and ethical stewardship. Originally seeded by funding from a slave-trade heir, the Fellowship is now sustained through community donations, along with proceeds from AfroKrypto merchandise sales and secondary NFT market activity, reflecting a collective, community-supported model of reparatory cultural investment.
To support the Fellowship and the Benin Kingdom Museum, the public is invited to visit AfroKrypto.com, where the purchase of select cultural merchandise—including T-shirts and lapel pins—helps fund this work and includes a complimentary NFT.
Learn more about the Fellows at: www.theBKM.org
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Restitution Study Group 