Dewberry School of Music

Young Alumni Commissioning Project Announces Recipients of Fourth Round of Funding

Emily Schneider — Tue, 31 May 2022 20:27:39 +0000

Young Alumni Commissioning Project Announces Recipients of Fourth Round of Funding Emily Schneider Tue, 05/31/2022 - 16:27

In This Story

George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the fourth round of its Young Alumni Commissioning Project Awards. Three alumni were chosen based on the artistic excellence, career impact, and feasibility of their proposals and will receive financial, marketing, and production support to have their projects presented by the College at a Mason venue during the 2022-2023 season. Two additional alumni were awarded an inaugural grant of financial support, designed to assist in the completion of their proposed projects, which were selected because of their timeliness and significance to the Mason community.

“In this fourth round of the Project’s commissions, we received proposals with uniquely personal and emotional perspectives,” said Rick Davis, Dean of Mason’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

“Knowing the vital role of the arts in strengthening community in challenging times, we are elated that this program continues to support the visions of these young artists.” Davis continued, “In response to the great range of proposals, and in order to ensure that we are providing as much support as possible to our incredible alumni, we established an additional award this year, which provides a grant to help these artists take their project to the next level while removing the time frame for production or exhibition that is otherwise required. As usual, I can't wait to see what these great project ideas turn into once they’re fully developed.”

For consideration, applicants must have graduated from CVPA from the class of 2011 and after. Proposals could include original new work in any art form suitable for performance, exhibition, or screening in a Mason venue. The size, length, duration, magnitude, and content are at the artist’s discretion. Potential venues include Mason’s traditional theater spaces, galleries, and cinemas, but proposals for non-traditional venues, including digital spaces, were also considered.

2023 Recipient of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award Including $5,000 in Commissioning Support
Juan Megna

Juan Megna

Juan Megna (Doctor of Musical Arts, 2021) received the Young Alumni Commissioning Award and $5,000 in commissioning support. In 2015, Juan started a master’s degree at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. In this city, he played with Phil deGreg group, Rusty Burge, Steve Alee, among others, and got the degree in 2017.

In 2017, Juan moved to Fairfax, Virginia to pursue his doctoral degree at George Mason University. Juan played with Wade Beach, Wayne Wilentz, and Steve Kirby in the Washington DC musical scene, among others. Also, he formed The Juan Megna Quintet. The repertoire is centered on a mix of Juan’s compositions, blended jazz, Argentinian and Afro-Brazilian rhythms.

At George Mason University he leads the Latin-American Ensemble. The DownBeat Magazine has awarded this group with the 42nd (2019), 43rd (2020), and 44th (2021) students awards as an “Outstanding Performance”.

As an active researcher, Juan performed a clinic at the Jazz Education Network, New Orleans 2020, entitled "The Brazilian 16th-note phrasing through Cabula rhythm, Samba, and Bossa Nova", focusing on developing Afro-Brazilian popular genres.

Megna's new project, which this award will fund, is titled Trailblazer, an album of original compositions that will build a dialogue between jazz and Afro-Brazilian genres. The concept for the project is inspired by traditional melodies and rhythmic patterns of Candomblé (a diasporic religion syncretized from traditional religions of West Africa and Roman Catholic Christianity). “It is a real honor to receive this generous award coming from my alma mater institution,” said Megna. “It will help me crystallize a project that I dreamed of for so many years.”

2023 Young Alumni Creative Development Award Winners Including $3,000 in Commissioning Support

Carlehr Swanson

Carlehr Swanson (vocalist, pianist, speaker) is a 1st year Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia. She is a graduate of George Mason University and the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami with degrees in Jazz Vocal Performance. Before college, Carlehr accompanied and directed multiple church choirs. She credits this experience as significantly influencing her musicality. Upon entering college, she realized the absence of gospel music in higher education. Consequently, she co-founded and directed the Frost Gospel Ensemble. Her research interests include gospel music, Black studies, women's studies, and civic engagement. Giving back to her community and connecting with others has been an important theme in Carlehr's life, as she brings people together to serve a greater good. She is the founder and director of the organization, "Music is Unity," where she takes music performances to people who may not experience them otherwise. Throughout this year, she has planned and performed more than a dozen virtual events for the community.

Swanson receives the Creative Development Award for Growing Pains, an extended play record of original music, combining the styles of jazz, R&B, and gospel, exploring love, loss, faith, and hope along the transition to adulthood.

Kyle Finnegan

Born in the same place as American cinema (the great state of New Jersey), Kyle Finnegan is a filmmaker living in Alexandria, VA. He graduated in 2017 with a BA in Film and Video Studies. After shooting and editing for several years, he currently works at 522 Productions with a focus on directing branded documentaries. His work won him a DC TIVA Peer award in 2021 and he’s interviewed all four of Time Magazine’s heroes of 2021. He has created short documentaries exploring subjects ranging from car hackers in Seattle to an artsy coal mining town in Utah. Whether it’s a film, a website, or a delicious meal, he aims to create something every day.

Finnegan’s award will support his new documentary film, exploring the complicated role of MSG (monosodium glutamate) in the United States, as influenced by pervasive misinformation and the uniting love of food across cultures. "I'm excited to have received a grant from the institution that has supported so much of my development as an artist," said Finegan. "I'm looking forward to making a mouthwatering film about the complex world of MSG."

2023 Young Alumni Artistic Support Grant Winners Including $2,000 in Unrestricted Support

Mohammed Saffouri

Mohammed Saffouri is an award-winning Palestinian-American filmmaker based in Fairfax, Virginia. Saffouri distinguished himself early on in his film career by earning a Capital Emmy for his debut documentary film, The First. His next film, Touchline, was recently selected to participate in Tribeca Film Festival. Touchline will be the first Jordanian film to be screened at Tribeca, and Saffouri will be the first alumni from George Mason University to have a film screened at Tribeca in the festival’s history. Saffouri graduated from George Mason University in 2020 with a degree in Film and Video Studies and a concentration in Film Directing. Throughout his eight years in the film and media industry, he has directed three films, produced four films, written three films, and created more than ten promotional videos for companies and non-profits. His work has been screened at such festivals as the Washington DC International Film Festival, the Virginia Film Festival, the Malmo Arab Film Festival, and others. Saffouri is currently developing his first narrative feature film.

Saffouri’s award will support the development of his first narrative feature film, a deeply personal story about the experience and perseverance of a Muslim-American immigrant woman in the United States. "I'm always happy and thankful to see how George Mason University is the first to support its alumni and students," said Saffouri. "This is the first grant I get into this project, and I'll make sure to make them proud when this project is done."

Left to Right: Meagan Arnold, Hannah Looney, and Mike Rose

Meagan Arnold (Film, 2018), Mike Rose (Film, 2016), and Hannah Looney (Film, 2018) began collaborating on creative projects together as students in the Film and Video Studies program at Mason. Over the past 6 years and alongside Film at Mason alumnus Jason Cortez (BA, 2015), the group has produced numerous fashion, narrative, and music video projects. Often working under the alias ‘negativs,’ their recent project FLORENCE toured internationally at the Sarajevo and Croatia Fashion Film Festivals.

Arnold, Rose, and Looney receive the award to assist in the creation of Momentum/Memoriam, an experimental music video that explores and contextualizes the group’s grief over the loss of their late collaborator and Mason alum, Jason Cortez (Film, 2015).

"Jason Cortez was an award-winning filmmaker and a 2015 graduate of the Film and Video Studies program at Mason. He lost his life on September 10, 2021, at the age of 29. Momentum//Memoriam is an experimental, fashion music video honoring Jason’s legacy as an artist, as well as the impact he left on his closest artistic collaborators," said Arnold.

"We are at the beginning of a long process in creating art for, and posthumously with, our dear friend. Jason left behind many projects unfinished, and we bear a responsibility to complete his life’s work. We have several projects planned in the coming years to celebrate Jason and to continue his artistic vision. Momentum//Memoriam will be our first venture into creating art as a collective since he passed."

Information about the next round of applications will be announced at a later date. Details on previous year's recipients and criteria for consideration can be viewed on the Young Alumni Commissioning Project website.

Topics

Young Alumni Commissioning Project. alumni support

alumni

College of Visual and Performing Arts

College of Visual and Performing Arts Film and Video Studies

Dewberry School of Music

Student film productions

Film

Film at Mason

latin-american ensemble

Mason Jazz

Creating Art, Uplifting Communities: Nine CVPA Faculty Members Receive Purks Grants

Emily Schneider — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 15:50:44 +0000

Creating Art, Uplifting Communities: Nine CVPA Faculty Members Receive Purks Grants Emily Schneider Wed, 04/13/2022 - 11:50

In This Story

The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) is proud to encourage the continued creative development and expansion of our faculty, offering them time and resources to pursue the interests that energize them beyond their classrooms.

Established in 2018 by Robert Purks, a long time Arts at Mason Board member and supporter, The Robert K. Purks Faculty Enrichment Endowment provides perpetual support to further the research and creative activity of faculty in the College. Faculty across CVPA can apply annually for funds in support of projects that fuel or are fueled by their own creative ideas and artistic expression.

For 2022, nine faculty members from the School of Art, the Film and Video Studies Program, and the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music will use their grants to explore projects and work that ranges across mediums and styles, connecting communities and sharing new ideas.

Read on to learn more about each faculty member and their projects, in their own words.

Juana Medina, Assistant Professor in the School of Art, will integrate the stories, livelihoods, and cultural practices of Zapotec women of Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico into a children’s book centered on the community’s attainment of financial independence through mastering the art of Oaxaca rug weaving.

“As a children’s book author and illustrator, I'm committed to sharing stories that elicit understanding and increase our sense of empathy. I believe it is possible to do so by increasing fair and accurate representation of marginalized communities in books,” Medina said. “Featuring Vida Nueva’s weavers holds unique value: these individuals, once marginalized and isolated, came together and reclaimed their traditions, finding strength and sense of purpose, while becoming some of the top weavers in Oaxaca.”

Justin P. Sutters, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Art, is attending the highly competitive leadership training program “School for Art Leaders,” hosted by the National Art Education Association (NAEA) in Bentonville, Arkansas. During the year-long training program, Sutters and his cohort will engage in workshops, interactive activities, and reflection exercises with trained mentors to advance his skills as an arts educator.

“Personally, [the NAEA training] is a natural progression in my own development as I continue to take on more leadership within the University,” Sutters said. “Likewise, [the training] increases the visibility of our burgeoning Art Education program on the national level and adds credibility as a graduate program at a Research I Institution. This truly is an enriching opportunity for my development as an artist, educator, researcher, and leader."

Peter Kimball, an adjunct faculty member within Film and Video Studies, is bringing his award-winning American Sign Language play “Millstone,” to the big screen, with the funds awarded from Purks financing on-set ASL interpreters and ASL coaches during the film’s pre-production.

“I am shooting the film version of [Millstone’s] script with an entirely deaf cast and entirely in American Sign Language,” Kimball said. “The story does not deal with deafness nor does it directly address the characters’ deafness at all. Instead, the characters simply happen to be deaf. I believe it is important to create art that does not only include people living with disabilities, but that also allows them to be whole, complicated individuals not defined by their disability.”

Robert W. Gillam, Director of Music Technology in the Dewberry School of Music, is using his expertise and abilities as an electro-acoustic composer to research, write, and share music amplifying the benefits of National Parks.

“As a composer-in-residence I [will be] living at the National Park location for several weeks to a month, working with the park rangers to learn about the special features of the location while composing music based on my experiences there," Gillam said. “The residency [will] culminate in one or more public concerts at the park with the possibility of live-streaming the concert to an even wider audience. The [Purks] funds will be used to purchase a variety of sensors, connectors, contact microphones and cables to be used in the composition, performance and recording of electro-acoustic music.”

James Justin Plakas, an Assistant Professor in Film and Video Studies and the School of Art, is merging historic photographic processes with motion picture film to create his multimedia project "Camaro Lucinda." With a vision to make the film "colorful, comedic, and visually dynamic," Plakas’s converging of several image-capturing methods is in the pursuit of creating a new, unique, and surreal visual experience for viewers.

“The imagery [of ‘Camaro Lucinda’] will have a graphic quality and involve characters that exist in our world but in surreal scenarios,” Plakas said. “For example, a group of nuns playing tennis or a single clown on an overpass sandwiched by a wall of concrete and an endless blue sky. This work comments on the complicated aspects of representation in modern life. It is increasingly necessary for artists to engage in critical dialog that asks the viewer to scrutinize the media they consume and to question what they are seeing.”

Victoria Ellison, an adjunct faculty member within the School of Art, is attending a workshop in the art of Nihonga—a traditional Japanese mineral painting technique. The workshop, taught in Washington State by authority Judith Kruger, will allow Ellison to expand her artistry and share one of Japan’s oldest art practices with Mason students.

“I’ve experimented with creating Nihonga paints, but find now advanced training, such as Kruger teaches, essential,” Ellison said. “I teach color and contemporary art to students from broad disciplines in the sciences and humanities, and diverse cultural practice is a critical component of my teaching. Studying Nihonga also addresses color science, mineralogy, contemporary paint manufacture, and its environmental impact. Studying Nihonga will enable my future research in the country where it’s been taught for 1,000 years, as well as opportunities for research back at Mason.”

Samirah Alkassim, Assistant Professor in Film Theory, Film and Video Studies, is traveling to Jordan in pursuit of research for her upcoming book “A Journey of Screens in 21^st Century Arab Film and Media,” (Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2023). Exploring Jordan’s visual media over the last two decades, Alkassim will be visiting Jordan’s Department of the National Library, the Cinema Section of the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation, and the library of Darat Funun to access their archives of film, film makers, and film history.

“One of the eight chapters [of ‘A Journey of Screens’] focuses on Jordanian cinema, its cinematic and televisual past and present,” Alkassim said. “Aiming to fill in the lack of scholarship on Jordanian cinema, this chapter advances the book’s general study of an array of media –auteur cinema, television series, documentaries and short films –in the context of the changing media-scapes of the last twenty years, as evidence of a “new” modernity that is simultaneously old, commonplace, and provocative.”

Mark Cooley, an Associate Professor within the School of Art, is using the Purks Faculty Enrichment Fund to support the distribution of his documentary "Fighting Indians," which premiered in November at the American Indian Film Institute. The film chronicles the last school in Maine - the homogenously white Skowhegan High School, known as "the home of the Indians" - as they fight to keep their mascot prior to the historic legislation banning Native American mascots in the State's public schools. 

“This landmark legislation marks the fulfillment of a decades-long struggle on the part of the Tribal Nations of Maine to educate the public on the harms of Native American mascotry,” Cooley said. “This is the story of a small New England community forced to reckon with its identity, its colonial history, and future relationship with its indigenous neighbors. It is a story of a small town divided against the backdrop of a nation divided where the 'mascot debate' exposes centuries-old abuses while asking if reconciliation is possible.” 

Edward Knoeckel, adjunct Professor within the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, is utilizing the Purks Faculty Enrichment Fund to implement problem-based learning (PBL) methodologies in a Music for Non-Majors course. With the objective to enhance students' learning experiences beyond traditional teacher-based approaches, Knoeckel will be spearheading a pilot study to analyze the effect of implementing the PBL learning style in a music appreciation course at Mason.

“PBL is an approach that maximizes student engagement with course content through group-based problems which motivate formative learning experiences,” Knoeckel said. “This approach is broadly used in the STEM fields, however, there is still a gap in understanding the effectiveness of PBL across disciplines in the arts. Through the course of this funded research, I will see how PBL affects critical and creative thinking as well as self-regulated learning and collaboration skills by transforming the traditional music learning conditions into a PBL treatment for a music appreciation course.”

Topics

grants

faculty research

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Arts

Dewberry School of Music

Recipients announced for third round of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Awards

96ab7f9b-ab13-4dd3-9135-4ecdce10b5cf (Pam Muirheid) — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 18:25:25 +0000

Recipients announced for third round of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Awards 96ab7f9b-ab13-… Wed, 04/21/2021 - 14:25

George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the third round of its Young Alumni Commissioning Project Awards. Five alumni were chosen based on the artistic excellence, career impact, and feasibility of their proposals and will receive financial, marketing, and production support to have their projects presented by the College at a Mason venue during the 2021-2022 season.

“In this third round of the Project’s commissions, we received a record number of proposals, which tells us several things,” said Rick Davis, Dean of Mason’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. “First, that the good word is out about this initiative; second, that Mason arts alumni are some of the most imaginative and fertile creatives anywhere; and third, that the program is necessary, because young artists need support to bring their visions to life, especially in these challenging times.”

For consideration, applicants must have graduated from CVPA from the class of 2010 and after. Proposals could include original new work in any art form suitable for performance, exhibition, or screening in a Mason venue.

The Young Alumni Commissioning Project is made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of Linda E. Gramlich for the support of young artists and by donors to Mason’s Giving Day, including Shugoll Research. Award recipients may receive up to $5,000 in commissioning funds, as well as venue, production, and marketing support for a public showing of their work.

2022 Recipient of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award Including $5,000 in Commissioning Support

Jada Salter

Jada Salter (Film and Video Studies ’20) received the Young Alumni Commissioning Award and $5,000 in commissioning support for Just the Two of Us a documentary about multi-Grammy award winning musician William “Bill” Salter. Bill is the songwriter behind timeless songs such as, “Just the Two of Us”, “Where Is the Love,” and “Mister Magic.” He is also Jada’s Grandfather, and she is determined to tell his story as a hidden figure who has created music millions of people relate to everyday.

2022 Young Alumni Creative Development Award Winners
Including $2,500 in Commissioning Support

Katherine Thompson

Katherine Thompson is a photographer and Graphic Designer living and working in the Northern Virginia, D.C. and Maryland area. She is an alumnus of the George Mason University School of Art, BFA Photography 2015. In the beginning of 2020, Thompson had the opportunity to obtain a solo exhibition, Katherine Thompson: Raw Material, at George Mason University. This exhibition featured the artist’s studio-based photographs that embrace the pop visual language of product and fashion advertisements while posing questions about the troublesome connections between consumerism, visual culture, and race in America. In Fall of 2021, Thompson will continue her photography practices at Virginia Commonwealth University in their MFA Photography & Film program.

Thompson’s award will support her photography project Reflections: The Black Male; which takes a hard look at the narrative surrounding different representations of the Black body, both historical and contemporary, that circulate through American popular culture in print and audio-visual media.

Nicholas Horner

Nicholas Horner is a professional singer, voice-over artist, theater actor, and director based in Washington D.C. He has directed, taught, and performed in numerous professional and educational venues in D.C., New York, and around the country. Horner has received Voice and Theater training from renowned institutions such as Stella Adler Conservatory, The Juilliard School, Studio A.C.T. (San Fransisco), The Roy Hart Institute (Paris, France), Shakespeare and Company (Lenox), Catholic University and University of Cambridge (England). Horner earned a BA in Theater from George Mason University where he is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Visual and Performing Arts and teaching as a Graduate Lecturer. He also serves as Co-director of 1,001 Plays, an international play exchange connecting theater students from around the world through staged readings of their own original plays. At Mason, Horner also serves on the Arts in Context Advisory Committee. Horner owns and operates Awaken the Voice: Studio–offering classical and musical theater voice and speech.

Horner’s award will support his laboratory theater piece Free, a new play that “re-visions” Norman Rockwell’s Americana series, Four Freedoms.

Nicole Daniell

Nicole Daniell is a dancer currently based in New York City. She graduated summa cum laude from George Mason University with a BFA in Dance, where she was a member of the Honors College and conducted research on Autism Spectrum Disorder and Embodied Cognition. Through her Honors College experience, Nicole fostered an appreciation for interdisciplinary studies, which inspires her approach to choreography and performance today. While at Mason, Nicole performed in works by Mark Morris, Karen Reedy, Susan Shields, and Jim Lepore, and performed on the John F. Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. She choreographed two works, both of which premiered at Mason's Harris Theater. In 2019, she toured to South Africa with D.C.-based Dakshina Dance Company for performance and community outreach. She also performed as a member of the Merce Cunningham Centennial Celebration in DC and served as an Administrative Assistant to Diane Coburn Bruning, Artistic Director of Chamber Dance Project. Nicole currently performs with Ballaro Dance and is a 200-hour, internationally certified yoga instructor.

Daniell receives the Creative Development Award for Isolation Stories, a dance film with a deliberate focus on exploring the synergy between dance and filmmaking technology, inspired by the pandemic.

Cristian Perez

Cristian Perez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and graduated from Mason in 2012 with a Masters in Music. He studied Classical Guitar and Jazz Studies at Mason. He is a leader/composer and was a former Artist-in-Residence at The Strathmore (MD). His debut album Anima Mundi, reached #13 in the CMJ World Music charts. He was featured in Vintage Guitar Magazine and has performed at the Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, Bohemian Caverns, Strathmore music hall, Strathmore mansion, among others. Perez continues to study music privately with some of his favorite living musicians.

Perez receives the award to assist in developing a new chamber music album focused on the symbolism of water as a way to unite through music and create cultural awareness, as the foundational essence of humanity.

Topics

College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Dance

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Dewberry School of Music

Dewberry School of Music

Young Alumni Commissioning Project Announces Recipients of Fourth Round of Funding

In This Story

2023 Recipient of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award Including $5,000 in Commissioning Support Juan Megna

2023 Young Alumni Creative Development Award Winners Including $3,000 in Commissioning Support

2023 Young Alumni Artistic Support Grant Winners Including $2,000 in Unrestricted Support

Topics

Creating Art, Uplifting Communities: Nine CVPA Faculty Members Receive Purks Grants

In This Story

Topics

Recipients announced for third round of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Awards

2022 Recipient of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award Including $5,000 in Commissioning Support

Jada Salter

2022 Young Alumni Creative Development Award Winners Including $2,500 in Commissioning Support

Katherine Thompson

Nicholas Horner

Nicole Daniell

Cristian Perez

Topics

2023 Recipient of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award Including $5,000 in Commissioning Support
Juan Megna

2022 Young Alumni Creative Development Award Winners
Including $2,500 in Commissioning Support