Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts
Faculty Leadership Grants give UNCSA faculty extraordinary opportunities to explore new approaches to creative learning challenges; impact student learning outcomes; foster the capacity of faculty to lead; engage diverse stakeholders; and produce creative ideas, analysis, strategies and initiatives for further study or implementation.
Teaching a masterclass at the International Double Reed Society 2022 Conference in Boulder, CO.
Researching established healthcare and community engagement minor degree programs.
Project aims to honor, celebrate, and reclaim women’s poetic voices and experiences of ecstasy throughout history in a concert setting at UNCSA.
Reconstruction of sacred spaces in Afro-São Paulo through collaborations at UNCSA and in Brazil, with a focus on the oldest cemetery for enslaved Africans, located in the city’s Japanese neighborhood. Will include a 3D digital memorial and an immersive documentary charting how Afro-São Paulo has been demolished, dislocated and reconstituted over time.
Attendance at the Voice and Speech Teachers Association (VASTA) conference at the NIDA prestigious conservatory in Australia. Will lead an innovative 75-minute "phonetic pillow" workshop in speech training and participate in an International Linklater Voice panel and meet with a group of international Linklater teachers.
Funds will be used to expand and amplify the student exchange program for the School of Filmmaking’s third year students with the students and faculty at the Konrad Wolf Film University in Babelsberg, Germany.
Starting an Intergenerational Women's Chorus with women from the Gateway YWCA outreach programs like Hawley House and Project New Start, their female children and female students in the School of Drama to join women of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds through music.
Bring Lisa Wolpe, one of the world’s greatest Shakespeare actors and entrepreneurs, to lead workshops on the performing of Shakespeare with a focus on gender and identity. Wolpe will perform her one woman show and lead workshops with students on the demands of the industry and how to access and promote oneself.
The Motherhood Project workshop, created by Moderate Woo, is an opportunity to engage the community of Winston-Salem and UNCSA students in the writing of a play centered around motherhood in America. Students involved as workshop coordinators, facilitators and artists will work with theatre professionals from across the country as well.
Completion of the three-year, internationally-recognized training program leading to certification as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. Alexander 'work' is an extraordinarily innovative process which teaches how to creatively engage body and mind to release harmful tension, improve skeletal use, coordination, confidence, voice production, overall awareness and general health.
Purchase microphones, stands, cables, an iPad Pro and pencil, and a portable recording device to provide practical instruction and the ability to record, produce and edit high-quality performance and instructional audio and video for music students. Instructional sessions on recording and editing facilitated during Intensive Arts.
Hire an editor, animator, sound designer and mixer and color-corrector, and create a website for a work-in-progress film about the life and work of Andrei Codrescu, poet, novelist, screenwriter, speaker and professor, widely known nationally through his NPR “All Things Considered” commentaries.
Master class with David Kneupper – world class composer and sound designer for theme parks and immersive entertainment at Universal Studios, the Walt Disney Company and others – on the process of creating a soundtrack for an attraction. Kneupper will use examples from a variety of projects that illustrate typical interesting issues.
Expand The Wolf Method, a pre-literacy program for high need pre-k students, to ultimately reach more classrooms and train instructors. Includes attendance at the VASTA conference in Australia to present the program and research, trademarking fees and illustrations to create a cohesive and representative set of images used in the work.
Present a lecture-recital at the May 2019 International Women's Brass Conference with Maria Serkin. Includes a female composer's call for scores competition for horn/percussion duo with the winning composition to be premiered at the conference and a UNCSA faculty recital; to be developed into an Intensive Arts workshop and materials for the Career Development Seminar.
Participate in an experiential workshop and facilitator training in the nationally and internationally recognized SoulCollage creative process work, with certification granted upon completion. SoulCollage work is a deeply imaginative, intuitive, and creative process that has been referred to as "visual meditation.”
Panel at Linguistic Society of America, January 2019. Explores dialect prejudice and its effect on professor/instructor and student relationships and assessments. The presentations move from awareness to exploration of programmatic solutions that move university communities toward substantial change.
Funds will be used to expand and amplify the student exchange program for the School of Filmmaking’s third year students with the students and faculty at the Konrad Wolf Film University in Babelsberg, Germany. In addition, working this year to formalize a faculty exchange program.
Bring a composer and librettist to UNCSA as part of the Undergraduate Opera Workshop (March 2019), which provides the opportunity to produce a new work that gives students a chance to create a role and an artistic creative community.
Funds will be used to expand and amplify the student exchange program for the School of Filmmaking’s third year students with the students and faculty at the Konrad Wolf Film University in Babelsberg, Germany. In addition, working this year to formalize a faculty exchange program.
Seeks to unite students from all artistic disciplines on campus into a collaboration for a production in Fall 2019, based on improvisations in the Studio 3 Devised Theatre Class around themes of identity and self harm/self care. Will screen documentary “The Rest I Make Up” and conduct conversations and workshops with filmmaker Katie Pearl.
Three-year, internationally-recognized training program leading to certification as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. Alexander 'work' is an extraordinarily innovative process which teaches how to creatively engage body and mind to release harmful tension, improve skeletal use, coordination, confidence, voice production, overall awareness and general health.
Low & Lower seeks to create new inspired works for teaching the art of string playing through faculty/student collaboration and mentorship. Alumnus and composer Bruce Tippett will write a work for cello, bass and string orchestra that will be workshopped and performed with UNCSA students and repeated with high school orchestras in North and South Carolina.
Release four saxophone pedagogy videos via YouTube and social media, to serve as an educational supplement for UNCSA saxophone students for the next several years. Similar to teaching videos Young released last year, which were both very helpful to UNCSA students and received more than 100,000 views world-wide.
Six guest artists will be invited for an innovative and unique on-campus event that seeks to advance creative learning, bringing together UNCSA faculty and students, guest artists, talented students from all over the country, and composers for a two-day intensive focused on incorporating new thinking into current performance practices.
Teach master classes in acting for singers at music conservatories in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai in order to recruit top-level aspiring opera students to UNCSA, learn more about the growing market of western opera in Asia, and teac aspiring opera singers to understand the acting values and expectations in the contemporary industry of western opera production.
Attend the Paris Opera Ballet School's Cross Threads teacher training program in Paris to learn more about the French style as taught in the Paris Opera Ballet School.
Present a paper on “Foundations in Art Theory and Education” in the area of interdisciplinary collaboration at the annual Southeastern College Art Conference in October 2017.
Funds will be used to expand and amplify the student exchange program for the School of Filmmaking’s third year students with the students and faculty at the Konrad Wolf Film University in Babelsberg, Germany.
Funds will be used for a 3-year, internationally recognized training program leading to certification as a teacher of the Alexander Technique—a process which teachers how to properly engage body and mind to release harmful tension, improve skeletal use, coordination, overall awareness and general health.
Co-teach a mini-course, at the Linguistic Society of America’s conference, that transitions STEM-related fields’ innovative and evidence-based instructional practices and assessment to humanities classrooms.
Introduce UNCSA Filmmaking students to professionals who are trying to “have it all” – both a career and a family. The project will consist of a series of screenings and conversations that will explore the unique challenges facing working mothers, as well as fathers, in the film and TV business, and whether a work-life balance is possible.
Write a course in the Fundamentals of Editing, adapting and producing it for an online platform and publishing it.
Attend a workshop in New York on the impact of breath, posture and trauma on performance, which will improve her ability help her student perceive the subtle holdings that constrict or block their full access to their physical instrument and emotional core.
Pursue advanced, cutting edge training in how stress, trauma, and PTSD affect the nervous system and the whole body and mind. These therapeutic methods will be integrated in to his work as a voice and Alexander Technique teacher.
Bring award-winning New York sound designer/composer and alumnus Lindsay Jones (UNCSA 1992) to teach a week-long masterclass to sound students during the last week of February 2018.
Bring German teacher-artists Stefan Rutter and Stephan Boving to UNCSA to offer their expertise to an expanded and multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders, from Foreign Language students and colleagues in the Division of Liberal Arts to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in Voice and Collaborative Piano in the School of Music.
The Konrad Wolf/UNCSA student exchange will bring a dozen UNCSA film student to Berlin for 12 days in May 2018. Students will mount two short film productions in collaboration with Konrad Wolf film students. This cultural exchange will broaden UNCSA’s film program’s exposure to alternative modes of production and to another curricular model.
Results: Amrehin participated on a panel at the conference where she discussed her innovative approach in teaching color theory. She also shared her ideas with other artist and art historians on her book project, “The Gateways to Color Theory”. They provided critical and insightful feedback for the books continued development.
Results: Through tap instruction, Marcano received a greater understanding of the genre of Tap and a language to speak as she choreographs Tap for on-campus musicals. In addition, Ms. Marcano was able to increase her skill level as a choreographer and to make industry connections that will prove valuable to the School of Drama and UNCSA.
Results: Students shared their work and received feedback from Mr. Wolfe, participated in intimate master class workshops, and gained insight into the use of digital technology used in contemporary music production. In addition, UNCSA gained exposure in the Research Triangle at MOOGFEST, statewide through a UNC-TV broadcast, and worldwide with MOOGFEST’s live streaming media partners.
Results: Levin shared the interdisciplinary erosion course with a group of international peers in order to get feedback from colleagues on ways to improve the course before it’s taught again in Spring 2018.
This project consists of a clarinet and piano lecture/recital at the College Music Society’s 2017 International Conference in July 2017.
"Occupied Territories" is a play that is opening Off-Broadway in October 2017. Funds will be used for a three-week rehearsal period at UNCSA in July 2017.
Undertake a professional CD recording, of which parts will be released on video via YouTube and social media.
Report: Clements offered a training opportunity at the conference in teaching and learning in English, foreign language, and linguistics circles, and provided a place for teacher trainees up to professors of all levels to discuss classroom experiences.
Report: Trip was cancelled due to lack of funds.
Proposal: Research tour to explore the musical training, academic formation, recruiting
and career preparation of high school students at Interlochen Center for the Arts
in Michigan, Idyllwild Arts Academy in California and Walnut Hill School for the Arts
in Massachusetts.
ConcertArt will simplify and focus the visual elements of a standard concert by removing visual distractions often present and help the audience “see” the music.
Report: Project Postponed until Summer 2018.
Proposal: Explore the feasibility of a summer program in traditional music and cultural
activities in Brittany, France for students of all music levels.
Report: Millar presented a paper—Rethinking the Island: Space the Utopian Frontier in Star Trek’s “The Cloud Minders” and Star Trek The Next Generation’s “The Masterpiece Society”—at the Utopian Studies Conference.
Report: The grant covered the fee for guitar guest artist William Kanengiser. Over
150 people participated in the Sunday festival with Mr. Kanengiser, and there was
a large turnout for his recital. His guest artist appearance is projected to positively
impact the School of Music’s enrollment, student outcomes, and relationships with
peer institutions, community teachers and the Guitar Foundation of America
Underwrite the fees for guitar guest artist William Kanengiser.
Attend the inaugural meeting of the Global Alliance for the Marginalized and for Equity (GAME).
Visit five prominent European dance conservatories in Essen and Dresden, Germany; Paris; London and Barcelona with the goal of establishing exchange programs for students and faculty.
Undertake a professional CD recording, of which parts will be released on video via YouTube and social media.
Underwrite the fees for guest artists Charles Fussell and Richard Ollarsaba.
Update: From September–December 2016, Mr. Beck traveled to explore potential partnerships with universities offering music therapy degrees to assist in studying Interactive Community Drumming and Cancer Therapy Associated Cognitive Change, also called Chemo Brain. In November 2016, his Grammy Foundation Grant proposal reached the second phase of consideration ($20,000 request). There is also documentation to adapt undergraduate courses at UNCSA to help prepare students for graduate work in music therapy.
Update: This project brought Lynn Neuman, an artist and educator, to campus to participate in the DLA course "Erosion." Ms. Neuman involved the students in a creative process related to the course’s theme and spurred reflection and discussion on how artisits can make an impact in society. She opened a lens to artists bridging their work in to communities, including civic engagement and art as it relates to the environment.
Update: Ms. Christian-McNair was able to deepen her voice work with continuing professional development and was inspired to learn more creative, organic ways of reaching her students in their speech and accent work.
Update: Three iPad Pros were purchased resulting in a more efficient way for performers to read from a score and not from their individual instrumental parts.
Update: Fifteen UNCSA students gained skills on how to become leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators in the arts by partnering with Agatha Ruiz de la Prada and working with New York Live Arts Theatre.
(Deferred to 2018) In the 7–10 days immediately preceding Spring Break, vocal coach and collaborative pianist Stefan Rütter and singer, Stephan Boving will come to UNCSA to work with Professor Gabriel, students and project partners in the Fletcher Graduate Opera Institute, Voice and Collaborative Piano.
Update: Ms. Hite was able to purchase an iPad Pro and a wireless Marshall speaker to assist her students in hearing and matching intonation during their musical exercises with an amplified drone. In addition, downloadable apps for the iPad made it possible to design new exercises using improvisation, choral tuning and mixed meters.
Update: This project was part of a Workplace Attachment required for Ms. Wolf to receive her MFA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Ms. Wolf completed her MFA in July 2016. She taught Voice to School of Drama high school students and assisted Professor Robin Christian-McNair in the Studio I sight reading class, Studio III college Accents and Dialects class, and Voice for Stage Managers. Additionally, Ms. Wolf assisted on two mainstage productions, served as the primary dialect coach for another, and coached numerous smaller-scale workshop productions.
Update: The class established a deepened sense of community previously never interacted at this level of objective intimacy. The class developed a sense of empathy, and even though our campus is so insular, we overcame that concern—this element was a positive outcome that we could not have anticipated. The course has initiated many conversations and has had a ripple affect among faculty and students. Finally, we were shown how to merge activism with art to raise awareness of environmental issues in public infrastructures.
Update: This project resurrected the student newspaper that hasn’t been in existence since 1976 and officially became a student organization.
Update: Ms. Christian-McNair was able to deepen her voice work with continuing professional development and was inspired to learn more creative, organic ways of reaching her students in their speech and accent work.
Update: During her training, Ms. Towns was able to begin acquiring the skills of graphic facilitation, initiate a process of bringing these new skills to the service of the UNCSA community, develop a tool to help build understanding and resolve conflicts, and build a foundation of visual working techniques to enhance her Art History teaching practices.
Update: Dean Wilcox accomplished training in Suzuki and Viewpoints actor training, spent a month as a student thinking about teachers and teaching, and made contact with SITI Company members that he would like to bring to campus.
Update: During this project, Ms. Zerbe was able to exchange ideas with important, accomplished, and successful people in dance conservatory education. In addition, she was able to explore technical skills and training that she had not previously encountered, and initiated discussions concerning developing exchange programs with these ballet schools.
