2018 Student Challenge Grant Recipient Announced
June 26, 2018
a2ru Awards Student Challenge Grants to “Emerging Creatives”
Interdisciplinary Team Wins for Innovative Projects
Contact: Maryrose Flanigan
Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities
@a2ru_News
flanigam@umich.edu
June 11, 2018
Lubbock, TX; Houston, TX; Blacksburg, VA; and Athens, GA—One interdisciplinary student team was awarded a Student Challenge Grant by the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) to pursue a project on developing a workshop on collaboration: “Makin’ Rain” was awarded $4,400 plus travel support and will develop a workshop method for honoring the process of creative thought across disciplines. The team includes Jennifer Ezell, a PhD in theatre from Texas Tech University; Jesus Gonzalez, an MFA in photography at University of Houston; Desen Ozkan, an engineering/engineering education PhD at Virginia Tech; and Jason Woodworth-Hou, a dramatic media MFA/PhD at University of Georgia.
The team will work over the course of the summer and present on their project at a gathering of research university administrators, faculty, staff, and students this fall at the 6th Annual National a2ru Conference, Arts Environments: Design, Resilience, and Sustainability, November 1-3, 2018, hosted by University of Georgia.
Student teams competed for grants to continue promising collaborations started at the 2018 Emerging Creatives Student Summit, Spectacle and the Collective Experience hosted by Louisiana State University in February 2018. The summit convened interdisciplinary teams from various a2ru partner research universities to address issues around the theme of spectacle.
Many thanks to our faculty advisors at the summit from a2ru partner universities including The University of Alabama, MIT, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Michigan, University of Colorado Denver, Iowa State University, University of Cincinnati, and James Madison University. Special thanks to Edgar Cardenas and Amy Chavasse for their work developing and presenting the interdisciplinary collaboration workshop and experience for students.
If your institution has interest in helping foster the next crop of innovative projects by hosting a future a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Summit, please contact Maryrose Flanigan.
The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) fosters and champions the role of the arts and design in research universities. Underpinned by research and synthesis, our mission is connected knowledge and empowered leadership – to uphold and advance the arts and design in research, teaching, scholarship, and creative practice.