Office for the Arts announces fall grant recipients

The Council on the Arts at Harvard University has awarded 25 fall grants for 2001. Totaling nearly $10,000, the grants will support innovative and creative projects ranging from music and the visual arts to theater and the cultural arts. The grants will fund 93 percent of the undergraduate applications received.

At the time of the award selection, council members included: Robert J. Kiely (chair), Elizabeth Bergmann, S. Allen Counter, Deborah Foster, Christopher Killip, Arthur L. Loeb, Cathleen McCormick, Jeff W. Nichols, Robert J. Orchard, Marcus Stern, John Stewart, and Brad Watson. Funding for these grants is provided by endowment funds from the Office for the Arts (OFA).

The OFA will also offer grants for projects to take place during the 2002 spring semester. The deadline for spring proposals is Wednesday, Oct. 10. The deadline for ARTS FIRST 2002 grant proposals is Wednesday, Feb. 6. Grant applications are available at OFA, 74 Mt. Auburn St., or online at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ofa. For more information, call the OFA at (617) 495-8676.

The 2001 fall grants for dance

Expressions Dance Company, fall concert 2001; Margarita Quiogue ’02: $500 Kahn Grant for a concert promoting diversity and creativity through student-choreographed work. A wide range of dance styles such as hip-hop, modern, jazz, and reggae will be represented.

Mainly Jazz Dance Company, fall show 2001; Jessica Harder ’02: $200 Kahn Grant for the company’s annual fall show, featuring Mainly Jazz in collaboration with the Harvard-Radcliffe Ballet Company, the Crimson Dance team, and TAPS. Student-choreographed pieces as well as a new piece, created by a Boston-area professional choreographer, will be featured.

The 2001 fall grants for music

The Kuumba Singers, artistic premiere; Bowen Hsu ’03: $400 Lipson Grant for the 31st annual Christmas concert celebrating black culture through choral works, spirituals, jubilees, and contemporary gospel songs. Student directors and original student compositions will be featured.

Harvard-Radcliffe Contemporary Music Ensemble, fall concert; Lembit Beecher ’02: $400 Kahn Grant for the establishment of a standing ensemble focused and dedicated to performing contemporary “classical-art” music. A November concert is planned.

Quad Sound Studio, Harvard Battle of the Bands, Harvard Music Scene, and Quadapalooza Fall 2001; Matt Weinshall ’02: $600 Kahn Grant for three projects, including the Harvard Battle of the Bands, a series of competition concerts held in campus Houses; Harvard Music Scene, a freshmen-oriented event designed to introduce Harvard bands and increase awareness of musicians and alternative music at Harvard; and Quadapalooza Fall 2001, a showcase for Harvard’s alternative music scene featuring Harvard musicians and bands performing rock ‘n’ roll, funk, hip-hop, and jazz.

Baroque Chamber Orchestra, medieval instrument music; Justin Haynes ’03: $515 Kahn Grant for a project that will provide undergraduates the opportunity to experience medieval music firsthand. The initial stage will be the building of a medieval fiddle from an instrument kit. Medieval music will then be performed on the fiddle as well as other period instruments under the guidance of medieval fiddler Robert Mealy. The fiddle will be donated to the Music Department at the end of the project.

Harvard-Radcliffe Mozart Society Orchestra, freshman concerto competition 2001; Brad Ellis ’03: $264 Kahn Grant for showcasing a first-year competition winner with the accompaniment of the Mozart Society Orchestra in late fall.

Harvard Pops Orchestra, Pops in the Underworld; Keith Goodman ’02: $400 Kahn Grant for the Pops’ latest theme program featuring Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” and Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre,” and the Pops accompanying a short silent film with original student compositions.

Bach Society Orchestra, Stravinsky concert; Emily Buck ’02: $500 Kahn Grant for a program including performances of Stravinsky’s “First and Second Suites for Orchestra,” the “Pulcinella Suite,” and “Movements for Piano and Orchestra.”

Harvard Percussion Ensemble, winter concert; Jessica Zdeb ’04: $250 Kahn Grant for a program featuring varied selections of percussion ensemble literature. Ensemble members will write arrangements for a number of the pieces.

The 2001 fall grants for theater

Harvard Early Music Society, “Calisto”; Neil Davidson ’03: $300 Lipson Grant for the society’s fifth annual opera production. In light of the society’s commitment to expose undergraduates to professional coaching and direction, Drew Minter, baroque opera expert, will direct. Performances of Franco Cavalli’s opera are scheduled for November at the Fogg Art Museum.

Double Edge Drama, “Camino Real” and “3M1W,” or “Very, Very Small Things”; Frederick Hood ’01: $1,000 Timothy S. Mayer Grant for productions of Tennessee Williams’ “Camino Real” and a new work by Jesse Kellerman ’01, both of which were staged at this summer’s Edinburgh Festival. Double Edge Drama was founded for the purpose of reviving neglected classics and staging new writing. Both shows were conceived and cast exclusively at Harvard.

Currier House Drama Society, “Fiddler on the Roof”; Kit Lo ’02: $500 Cobey Grant for a production of a musical theater classic to be performed at the Currier House “Fishbowl.” This production marks the revival of the Currier House Drama Society after a long dormancy. More than 50 undergraduates will be involved with the production as well as the majority of the Currier House tutorial staff, including Masters Bill and Barbara Graham.

South Asian Association, “Grave Affairs”; Tonushree Jaggi ’02: $400 Timothy S. Mayer Grant to produce a stage adaptation of John Mathew’s radio play originally produced for the British Broadcasting Corp. The play offers a light-hearted look at a religious imbroglio set in a fictitious village in the Indian state of Kerala. Members of the South Asian Association will be involved in all aspects of the production.

Hillel Drama Society, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”; Matthew Hudson ’03: $750 Cobey Grant for this production in memory of Shira Palmer-Sherman, a Harvard student who was actively involved in the Jewish and theater community at Harvard. Shira’s love of “classic song and dance” led to the selection of this Frank Loesser musical. The society hopes that the production will provide a way for the Harvard Community to come together to celebrate Shira’s passions.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Jeff Dubner ’03: $300 Cobey Grant for a production of Dale Wasserman’s adaptation of a Ken Kesey play that examines the relationships between patients and staff at a psychiatric institution. The play allows a large cast to experiment with a range of personal and group approaches to discovering who their characters are and how they interact.

The Athena Theater, “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds”; Julia Reischel ’04: $300 Timothy S. Mayer Grant for the flagship project of the Athena Theater, a women-oriented theater company whose goal is to build a standing women’s theater group at Harvard. The Obie-Award winning play by Paul Zindel, which explores the relationships between women, mental illness, and female coming of age, will have an all-female cast.

“The Maids,” Matthew Hudson ’03: $500 Timothy S. Mayer Grant for a staging of Jean Genet’s play in the Adams House. Unlike traditional productions in which audience members are separated from the performers, an arena shared by actors and spectators will be created. Working with the play’s major themes, including role-playing and fear of attracting attention, the audience will become an integral part of the play.

Asian American Association Players and Black C.A.S.T., “Women of Color United in Performing”; Annie Wong ’01: $500 Timothy S. Mayer Grant for an original project written, directed, and choreographed by a coalition of women interested in communicating women’s issues across racial, ethnic, cultural, and class boundaries through performance. The project combines elements of drama, comedy, and dance to raise awareness of issues that are not frequently addressed.

The recipients of the 2001 fall grants for traditional cultural arts

Apollo Night; Natalya Davis ’04: $215 Kahn Grant for the annual event held by the Black Student Association to promote artistic creativity in the Harvard community, as well as neighboring colleges and high schools. Performers will put together short performances to share with the Harvard community and freshmen’s parents in a collaborative show.

Dance of the Hellenes; Eraklis Stamelos ’04: $300 Kahn Grant for a performance of several traditional Greek folk dances from various regions. Each dance tells a story that reflects the vernacular values, livelihoods, superstitions, and customs of the particular area. Traditional costumes and instruments will be used.

The 2001 fall grant recipient for visual arts

Harvard Advocate, fall 2001 group show, “Breathe”; Carla Ceruzi ’02: $400 Solomon Grant to showcase multimedia works in sculpture, video, and site-specific pieces. Artists will hang, install, and present their own work. The show will be installed to create dialogue among the various pieces.