A virtual reality-based exhibit promoting empathy, a nature-inspired “eco-pavilion,” and a staged reading of Ukrainian plays are among 12 projects that have received Arts Integration Initiative grants for 2024.
The grants, which support interdisciplinary arts-centric research and promote faculty-student mentorship, are awarded by the Hopkins Center for the Arts and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and funded by the Office of the Provost.
This year, a total of approximately $100,000 will help fund student- and faculty-led projects representing a dozen departments and programs.
“The point of these grants is not to make more art. It is to find innovations and solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems through arts-centered research and creation,” says Mary Lou Aleskie, the Howard Gilman ’44 Executive Director of the Hop.
The virtual reality exhibit, for example, is designed to support creative, emotionally therapeutic practices. And the eco-pavilion, constructed from nontoxic carbon-storing materials, will employ the principles of biomimetic architecture, a multidisciplinary approach to sustainable design.
“These awards represent Dartmouth at its interdisciplinary best,” says Vice Provost for Research Dean Madden. “The breadth and creativity of the applications were amazing and confirmed the transformative potential of this initiative.”
Samantha Lazar, curator of academic programming at the Hop, says the grants “showcase the frontier of interdisciplinary arts research and creativity” on campus.
“Our students and faculty are hungry for connection, collaboration, and resources to support integrative work that centers artistic research and creation,” Lazar says.
2024 Arts Integration Project Grant Recipients
- 44,000,000,000 Moments of Joy: John Bell, lecturer, Department of Film and Media Studies
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Built Environments in New England: Sujin Eom, assistant professor, Department of Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages, Sunmin Kim, assistant professor, Department of Sociology
- Biomimicry Eco-Pavilion: Karolina Kawiaka, senior lecturer, Department of Studio Art
- Choreographing Sound: Merging the Creation of Music and Dance with the Magical Musical Mat: Rebecca Abraham, Guarini, Albert Zhang, Guarini
- EvocativeVR: Himanshu Patil, Guarini, Linda Zhang, research programmer, Geisel School of Medicine
- Fighting Invisibility: Feminist Performance and Denouncement in Mexico: Analola Santana, associate professor, Department of Theater, affiliated faculty, Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies
- Generative Music for Calmness and Focus: Egemen Sahin, Guarini
- Integrating Theater and Language Pedagogy in a Time of War: Victoria Somoff, associate professor, Department of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Studies, Zhenia Dubrova ’24, Peter Webster, Director of Text and Dramatic Studies, Dartmouth Opera Lab
- Losing Steam: A Blues Retrospective on Dartmouth’s Use of Fuel Oil No. 6: Jack Reilly ’24
- Painting the Lexical Gap: Translating the Untranslatable Through Artistic Expression: Jamie Liu ’25
- Portal Poesy: James Mahoney, senior lecturer, Department of Computer Science
- Ukrainian Dream: Recording Nation-Building Through Photography, Short Films, and AI: Tonia Zakorchemna ’23
“We are grateful to the provost for supporting this innovative arts-centered approach to research,” Aleskie says. “Over these past three years, the 33 grants have had considerable impact, creating new knowledge, publications, and new strategies for research.”
More information about this year’s winning projects can be found on the Arts Integration Initiative webpage.