Office for the Arts announces spring 2002 grants

The Office for the Arts (OFA) has announced its sponsorship of more than 40 spring grants for creative projects ranging from music and the visual arts to theater and the cultural arts. The Council on the Arts, a committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was able to respond favorably to 78 percent of the grant requests. The purpose of the grants is to foster creative and innovative artistic initiatives among Harvard undergraduates. At the time of the award selection, council members included Robert J. Kiely (chair), Elizabeth Bergmann, S. Allen Counter, Deborah Foster, Jorie Graham, Christopher Killip, H. Peik Larsen, Cathleen McCormick, Jack Megan, Jeff Nichols, Robert J. Orchard, Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Marcus Stern, and John Stewart.

The Office for the Arts, which administers the grants, will also offer grants for projects to take place during Arts First (May 2-5, 2002) and fall semester 2002. The deadline for Arts First grant applications is Wednesday, Feb. 6. The deadline for OFA Grant applications for projects occurring in fall semester 2002 is Wednesday, April 24. Grant applications are available at the Office for the Arts, 74 Mt. Auburn St., or online at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ofa/. For more information call (617) 495-8676.

The 2002 spring grants for dance

• Asian American Dance Troupe, Chinese Lion Dance and Flutter Fan and Ribbon Dance; Lisa Zhang ’04: $250 Kahn Grant for two projects, one focusing on Chines Lion dancing (a festival dance where each performer is hidden under the wooden head or fabric body of a puppet lion), and the second, combining Flutter Fan and Ribbon dancing on the same stage.
• Crimson Dance Team, Dance Concert 2002; Melanie Green ’04: $400 Kahn Grant for a concert incorporating elements of jazz, hip-hop, and funk, as well as gymnastics and ballet.
• Harvard-Radcliffe Ballet Company, “Dialogue”; Jennifer Reich ’03: $500 Solomon Grant for a spring concert exploring dance as a culturally and historically significant mode of expression and communication. The performance will feature ballet, explore improvisational and call-and-response techniques, as well as lighting, mime, and choreographed movements.
• Harvard Radcliffe Dance Company, Spring Concert of Modern Dance; Beth Marino ’02: $350 Kahn Grant for a spring concert featuring professional and student-choreographed pieces in a range of styles including modern, classical Indian dance, and pieces set to spoken word.
• Expressions Dance Company, Spring Dance Concert; Gina Garvin ’03: $225 OFA Grant for a student-choreographed dance concert featuring hip-hop, African, jazz, modern, lyrical, and salsa dance styles.
• TAPS, “TAPS: The Musical”; Adam Robbins ’02: $400 OFA Grant for a performance using dance and dialogue to convey the story of the lives of four Harvard undergraduates from acceptance to commencement.
• Harvard Vietnamese Association, Vietnamese Dance Troupe; Hung Nguyen ’04: $150 Kahn Grant for appearances combining modern dance in costumes and dance styles of traditional Vietnamese culture in at least three concerts this spring.

The 2002 spring grants for literature

• Diversity & Distinction Magazine; Venu Nadella ’04: $400 OFA Grant to expand the size of the current magazine and to sponsor forums that spur dialogue on issues of identity and politics.
• The Harvard Advocate, fall reading series; Bessie Dewar ’02: $350 Solomon Grant for the fall reading series which seeks to provide undergraduate writers the opportunity to read their work publicly and to hear professional poets and their peers read.
• Spoken Word Society, “Oral tradition: The Spoken Word Anthology”; Eddie Bruce ’02: $100 OFA Grant for the production of an anthology of undergraduate poetry and a book-release performance event.
• Yisei Magazine, “Perceptions of Asian Beauty”; Jennifer Seo ’03: $200 Solomon Grant to publish a spring issue dedicated to exploring perceptions of Asian beauty from within the Asian and non-Asian communities in written form and through visual art media.
• SWIFT Magazine; Holden Karnofsky ’03: $100 OFA Grant to publish magazine issues devoted to the art of satire, or entertainment through criticism, using humor to express opinions on literature and philosophy, as well as on current events.
• The Gamut; Forbes McPherson ’03: $250 OFA Grant to publish an annual undergraduate poetry compilation and to host approximately two poetry readings during the semester.

The spring 2002 multidisciplinary grants

• Kuumba Singers of Harvard College, 2002 Harvard University Black Arts Festival; Nancy Redd ’03: $1,000 Solomon Grant to produce the fifth-annual Black Arts Festival, organizing and promoting events to foster and facilitate discussion, collaboration, and art exhibition through a variety of activities, such as workshops, lecture demonstrations, film screenings, showcases, and panel series.
• Association of Black Harvard Women, Association of Black Harvard Women’s Photo-journal; Allana Jackson ’03: $250 Kahn Grant to produce a photo-journal with accompanying poetry and prose focusing on women’s bodies submitted by students.
• Harvard Piano Society, “Dialogue: Artistic Renderings after Sept. 11”; Stephanie Wang ’03 and Paul Kwak ’03: $250 OFA Grant for a performance presenting collaborative insights and reactions to the events of Sept. 11.
• Flare Magazine, expanded arts section; Komal Bhasin ’03: $200 Solomon Grant to expand arts section to three to five pages that will include two-page photo essays and more extensive coverage of arts events in the local area.
• “Information for Foreigners”; Jesse Green ’02: $400 Lear Grant to produce a multimedia production of South American playwright Griselda Gambaro’s play.
• Harvard-Radcliffe Contemporary Music Ensemble, “VI: 3 A Night of Student Opera Performances”; Lembit Beecher ’02: $400 OFA Grant to produce a night of short student-written operas featuring a variety of moods, plots, and dramatic styles. All production aspects are to be handled entirely by students.

The spring 2002 grants for music

• Radcliffe Choral Society, “A Festival of Women’s Choral Music”; Sara Mixter ’04: $250 OFA Grant to host a festival of women’s choirs (including women’s choirs from Wellesley College and Cornell University), and women’s choral music.
• Brass Rebellion, “Classics in Brass”; Molly Thomasy ’02: $100 Kahn Grant for a spring concert that plans to involve beginning and advanced student composers and arrangers.
• Harvard University Flute Ensemble, Flue Ensemble Spring Concert; Gina Garvin ’03: $100 Kahn Grant for the ensemble’s third annual spring concert in the Winthrop Junior Common Room featuring music in a variety of styles.
• The Fallen Angels, “Initiative for Female A Capella on Campus”; Molly Perkins ’04: $100 OFA Grant for a number of performances planned for the upcoming year by a new all-female a capella group on campus.
• Harvard Pops Orchestra, “Pops Does Pops”; Keith Goodman ’02: $400 OFA Grant for an upcoming spring concert featuring Gershwin’s “Concert in F,” the “Four Dance Epiodes” from “Rodeo” by Aaron Copland, an orchestral piece arranged by student composer Hugh Daigle, and a new composition by trombonist Will Aronson. Student conductors will also take part in the performance.
• THUD (the Harvard University Drummers), spring 2002 concert; Jessica Zdeb ’03: $100 OFA Grant for a spring concert featuring percussion music (both traditional and original written and/or arranged pieces by students) performed by a small ensemble.

The 2002 grants in theater

• Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, “Baal”; Jeremy Reff ’02: $350 Timothy S. Mayer Grant for a January performance of Brecht’s play in the Loeb Experimental Theatre involving minimalistic set design and a space for projection during the production.
• “Can You Spell Me, Darryl Loomis?”; Andre Moura ’03: $350 Kahn Grant for a production of a two-act student-written comedy about a spelling bee prodigy who stows away on a submarine to prepare for the national championships.
• Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, “Joey the Genius”; Jeremy Funke ’04: $200 Timothy S. Mayer Grant for a new student-written play in which desired perception becomes unwanted reality and the traditional conventions of dialogue are skewed.
• Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, “Little by Little”; Coutenay Kessler ’03: $200 Kahn Grant for a musical reflecting on friendship and a classic love triangle, which was staged in the Loeb Experimental Theatre in early October 2001.
• Hyperion Theatre Company, “Macbeth”; Deena Chalabi ’03: $650 Timothy S. Mayer Grant for a staging of Shakespeare’s tragedy to take place in the courtyard of Hilles Library.
• Adams House Drama Organization, “Merrily We Roll Along”; Carrie Bierman ’04: $500 Cobey Grant for a production to be staged in the Adams House Pool Theatre. The musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by George Furth, follows the lives of three friends from idealistic youths to cynical adults by running backwards in time.
• “The Freshman Musical”; Rebecca Rubins ’05: $400 Kahn Grant for the annual production, which will involve freshmen in all creative aspects, including set design, writing, and musical composition.
• Dunster House Opera Society, “The Marriage of Figaro”; Heather Langdon ’03: $300 Eckstein Lipson Grant for a production of Mozart’s opera to take place in the Dunster House Dining Hall. The production will involve several lead singers, a chorus, and a full orchestra, and will require all participants to be Harvard undergraduates.

The 2002 spring grant for traditional cultural arts

• Chunsa Dance Troupe, “Chunsa Descending: A Performance of Traditional Korean Dance”; Jennifer Seo ’03: $200 Kahn Grant for a performance of Korean court and folk dances accompanied by traditional Korean folk music and a display of the traditional Korean dress, the hanbok.
• Harvard-Radcliffe South Asian Association, “Ghungroo”; Deipanjan Nandi ’04: $300 OFA Grant for the annual cultural production involving over 200 South Asian undergraduates at Harvard and featuring classical and modern dance, singing, music, skits, and other original performances from different genres.
• Han Ma-Eum, Intercollegiate Korean Drum Performance; Robert Soo Lim ’02: $100 OFA Grant for a concert featuring the Harvard Korean Drum Troupe and other drum and fan dance troupes from various colleges. The concert will end with a joint performance of “Young Nam” — an exciting naval battle piece.

The 2002 spring grants for visual arts

• Harvard Photography Club, exhibition of student work: Brian Goldstein ’04: $300 OFA Grant for an end-of-semester exhibition of undergraduate black-and-white photography.
• Adams House and Leverett House Arts Societies, life drawing and linotyping; Patricia Palmer (Adams House resident arts tutor) and Yonatan Grad (Leverett House resident arts tutor): $100 Segal Grant for a class designed to introduce undergraduates to figure drawing and linotype printing (through the Adams House Bow and Arrow Press), and an end-of-the-semester showcase of student work.
• The Harvard Advocate, “Outer Spaces”; Luke Marion ’02: $300 Segal Grant for spring exhibition of student work, featuring more than 2,000 original prints and 500 reproductions involving more than 50 contributing artists, showcased in and around Harvard Yard.
• Adams House, portrait painting; Patricia Palmer (resident arts tutor): $100 Segal Grant for a five-session drawing and painting course for undergraduates in the Adams House Art Studio. The program will culminate in a showing of students’ work in the Adams’ Arts Space.
• The Harvard Photography Journal, 2002; Michael Wang ’03: $1,000 OFA Grant for the publication of a student-produced photography journal that will showcase Harvard talent, while seeking to expand its content addressing contemporary theoretical issues within the photographic community, and contextualizing work with a social or political bent.
• UniverCity; Nancy Selvage (ceramics program, OFA): $500 Segal Grant for a collaborative installation of multimedia models of imaginary buildings and open spaces constructed by undergraduates and other members of the University community. Some works were created in response to the events of Sept. 11. Pieces will be installed on top of the low concrete walls flanking the handicapped access ramp to Holyoke Center’s Mt. Auburn Plaza.