OfA, OCS name 2009 Artist Development Fellowships

The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OfA) and Office of Career Services (OCS) are pleased to announce the 2009 recipients of the Artist Development Fellowship (ADF). This program supports the artistic development of students demonstrating unusual accomplishment and/or evidence of significant artistic promise. The ADF program represents Harvard’s deep commitment to arts practice on campus and provides financial support for the creative and professional growth of student artists.

Now in its third year, ADF has awarded 40 fellowships and provided over $120,000 in funding support. The Council on the Arts, a standing committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, oversees fellowship award decisions.

Council on the Arts members at the time of selection were: Jack Megan (chair), director, OfA; Elizabeth Bergmann, director, OfA dance program; S. Allen Counter, director, Harvard Foundation; Deborah Foster, senior lecturer in Folklore and Mythology; Jorie Graham, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory; Cathleen McCormick, director of programs, OfA; Nancy Mitchnick, Rudolf Arnheim Lecturer on Studio Arts, visual and environmental studies (VES); Robert J. Orchard, executive director of the American Repertory Theatre and the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training (A.R.T./MXAT), and director of the Loeb Drama Center at Harvard; Alex Rehding, professor of music theory, graduate adviser in theory; and Marcus Stern, associate director, American Repertory Theatre and the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training.

The program, jointly administered by the OfA and OCS, is open to all undergraduates currently enrolled in Harvard College. For further application information, visit the OfA or OCS Web sites: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/ofa and http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/.

2009 Artist Development Fellowship recipients

Victoria S.D. Aschheim ’10, of Dunster House, has been awarded a fellowship to attend the New England Conservatory (NEC) Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice. She will follow this with instruction and mentorship by Professor Anthony Cirone (chairman of the percussion department at Indiana University, and former member of the San Francisco Symphony) in percussion performance and ensemble conducting. A music and history of art and architecture joint concentrator, Aschheim has also studied with percussionists from, among others, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She plans to receive a masters in music for percussion performance from NEC in 2011. Her future goals include becoming a member of a major orchestra, teaching at the university level, and continuing to be involved in musical outreach in community settings.

A resident of Eliot House, Lauren Chin ’08-’09 has been awarded a fellowship for her participation in two summer dance class intensives: Springboard Danse Montréal, which immerses participants in technical training as well as challenging professional company repertory, and DanzFest in Cattolica, Italy, where she will study diverse techniques including Japanese butoh, Martha Graham modern, and classical ballet from the Paris National Opéra. Chin is a biomedical engineering concentrator, and will graduate with a secondary concentration in dramatic arts. She is an active member of the Harvard dance scene and is the teaching assistant for Dramatic Arts 127 “Rite of Spring at the Nexus of Art and Ritual,” taught by Christine Dakin. Chin plans to work as a professional dancer and ultimately pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering.

Lillian L. Erlinger ’10, a Winthrop House resident and visual and environmental studies-film production concentrator, has been awarded a fellowship to create a 30-minute film. The script deals with morality and responsibility in relationships. She has more than 10 film credits, many of which she wrote, directed, produced, and edited. Erlinger has been a finalist in such film festivals as the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival (2006) and International Festival of Cinema and Technology (2007). She intends to pursue filmmaking after graduation.

English concentrator and resident of Mather House Liza Flum ’10 has been awarded a fellowship to take part in a writing workshop and create a poetry manuscript in Vilinius, Lithuania, inspired by that city’s Jewish legacy. Flum is involved in the literary scene at Harvard as editor of The Gamut, Harvard’s all-poetry magazine, executive editor of The Harvard Book Review, as well as a workshop leader for the Harvard Spoken Word Society. She intends to pursue an M.F.A. in poetry, and would like to teach creative writing in colleges and high schools and eventually work in literary nonprofits for arts education.

James Fuller ’10 has been awarded a fellowship to study dance at the American Dance Festival’s six-week school in summer 2009. Fuller, of Mather House, is a philosophy concentrator pursuing a secondary field in dramatic arts. He has performed with the Harvard Ballet Company, OfA dance program, Harvard-Radcliffe Modern Dance Company, Harvard Contemporary Dance Ensemble, and serves as co-director of the Harvard Ballet Company. Fuller has studied at the School of American Ballet and Boston Ballet and was an operations intern at Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival. His goals are to join a professional modern dance or contemporary ballet company after graduation.

A joint concentrator in music and mathematics and a Lowell House resident, Kirby Haugland ’11 has been awarded a fellowship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School in trumpet performance, where he will hear orchestral and chamber music performances and study privately. Haugland participates in a number of musical ensembles at Harvard, including Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (first trumpeter), Bach Society Orchestra, and Lowell House Opera Orchestra. He plans to pursue a graduate degree in trumpet performance, with the ultimate hope of a position in a symphony orchestra or opera company.

Samuel L. Linden ’10, a music concentrator and Eliot House resident, has been awarded a fellowship to take summer courses at New York University’s Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, where he will study music writing, lyric writing, and/or creative collaboration. At Harvard, he has served as director or music director for eight theater productions, co-president of the Hyperion Shakespeare Company, composer for projects including Hasty Pudding Theatricals 160: “Fable Attraction,” and an original score for the student film “The Seraph.” Linden plans to pursue a career as a professional musical theater composer and lyricist.

Julia Lindpainter ’09, of Cabot House, has been awarded a fellowship to participate in a six-month intensive study of modern dance techniques in New York City. Lindpainter, a history and science concentrator, is a member of the Harvard Ballet Company as well as the artistic director and producer for the Harvard-Radcliffe Modern Dance Company. She has also performed in the OfA dance program concerts and has produced the Arts First Dance Festival at Harvard since 2007. Lindpainter intends to pursue modern dance professionally, and hopes that this project will be a beginning to her career in dance.

A resident of Pforzheimer House, Lara C. Markstein ’10 has been awarded a fellowship to research, develop, and write a novel exploring the lives of three Harvard students as well as the rich immigrant community of Boston. An English and American languages and literature concentrator, Markstein was the 2008 recipient of both the Boylston Elocution Prize and the Edward Eager Memorial Prize. At Harvard, she has served as secretary for the Harvard College in Asia Project, been named “Best Delegate” in McGill Model United Nations (MUN) for the Harvard Intercollegiate MUN team, and performed with the On Thin Ice improvisation company. Markstein plans to pursue a M.F.A. in creative writing, and hopes to teach at a university and become an author.

A Pforzheimer House resident, Clint W. Miller ’11 has been awarded a fellowship for a recording that combines poetry, drama, and music in a story about a modern displaced Appalachian coal miner who is forced to train-hop and hitchhike through America. A philosophy concentrator, Miller is a published poet, philosopher, and playwright, as well as a touring and recording artist. He plans to continue these pursuits after graduation.

Ilinca Radulian ’10, an English concentrator and resident of Adams House, and Calla Videt ’09, of Dudley House, have been awarded fellowships for their work on the production of a theater project that will be performed on campus, in Boston, and ultimately travel to several European summer theater festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Radulian has participated in nearly 20 theatrical productions at Harvard since 2006 and is an actress, director, puppeteer, playwright, and dancer, all of which she hopes to continue after graduation. Videt has been involved in more than 15 productions at Harvard since 2005 and hopes to continue in a career as director, dancer, and choreographer as part of a theatrical company after graduation.

A VES concentrator and Mather House resident, Julia A. Rooney ’11 has been awarded a fellowship to travel to Italy to work on a series of urban and rural landscape paintings while working as a teaching assistant at Studio Art Centers International. Rooney has studied drawing and painting at Parsons the New School for Design, and is a member of the Tuesday Magazine Art Board. Her future plans include working as a professional artist and teaching art.

Kristina R. Yee ’10, of Quincy House, has been awarded a fellowship to intern at the studio of Michael Dudok de Wit, an Academy Award-winning animator. A concentrator in folklore and mythology, Yee has produced three animated films, including Alice (2008), which will be part of the upcoming Massachusetts Hall exhibit, and was also part of the Harvard Square Lumen Eclipse public art show last July. Yee also serves as vice president of the Radcliffe Choral Society. While her personal interest is in hand-drawn animation, Yee anticipates working in three-dimensional animation studios on her way to directing animated films.

The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OfA) supports student engagement in the arts and serves the University in its commitment to the arts. Through its programs and services, the OfA fosters student art-making, connects students to accomplished artists, integrates the arts into University life, and partners with local, national, and international constituencies. By supporting the development of students as artists and cultural stewards, the OfA works to enrich society and shape communities in which the arts are a vital part of life. For more information about the OfA, call (617) 495-8676 or visit http://www.fas.harvard.edu/ofa.