South Charlotte Today

Five College of Arts + Architecture faculty members and one retired professor are among the recent recipients of grants from the local Arts & Science Council.

Associate Professor of Dance Tamara Williams has received a 2023 Cultural Vision Grant; Professor of Art Maja Godlewska, Associate Professor of Dance Kim Jones, Professor of Art Lydia Thompson, Professor of Theatre Robin Witt, and retired ceramics professor Keith Bryant received 2023 Artist Support Grants.

Cultural Vision Grants support artistic and cultural projects that build community by connecting individuals across points of difference; build community by nurturing, celebrating, and supporting authentic cultures and creative expression; increase relevance by using arts, science and history to address complex community issues; or increase innovation by supporting the creation of new and groundbreaking work. 

Williams received $20,000 to support the second annual LAVAGEM! African Brazilian arts festival, which will take place in April.

Artist Support Grants support professional and artistic development for emerging and established artists to enhance their skills and abilities to create work or to improve their business operations and capacity to bring their work to new audiences.

Godlewska is a finalist for the Arte Laguna Prize, an international contemporary art competition in Italy. She received $3,000 from the ASC to cover the costs of travel, shipping and the installation of her work at the Arsenale of Venice from March 11 to April 16.”

Jones was awarded $3,000 in support of her ongoing research of the life and work of Korean modern dancer and choreographer Choi Seung-Hee (1911-69). Widely regarded as Korea’s first modern dancer, Choi lived an eventful life through the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean war. Jones began her study of Choi in 2019 and in June 2022 presented a work inspired by Choi at the DAP Festival in Italy. The ASC grant help fund ongoing rehearsals and investigations to further the choreographic work, a version of which will be performed this month in the Faculty Dance Concert, featuring So Young An, a current Martha Graham Dance Company member. Learn more in this video.

Thompson received $3,000 to support the creation and preparations for exhibition of “Mumblings: After Hour Conversations.” This installation will consist of several sculpture components, video and sound. She is interviewing a select group of African Americans whose biographies include their living memories from the 1930s until present. The interviews will provide a soundtrack, with video projections of the interviewees that accompany the structural elements of the exhibit, which will represent dwellings in neighborhoods that contain multiple stories about communities that have evolved and changed over time.

Witt received $1,000 to design a website that presents her directing work. At the new site, theatres and producers will be able to read about Witt and her artistic vision and access her resume, see production and research photos and watch video samplings. Witt has a long career in Chicago, where she has won multiple awards for directing, and her productions have been cited as “Best of the Year” by The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, TimeOut Chicago, and Chicago Reader.

Bryant was awarded $2,494 to fund a small CNC plasma cutting table to integrate new technology into studio practice, and alumnus Zachary Tarlton ‘13 received $2,800 to support the production of “Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2.”

Original source can be found here.