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The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, in its latest grant cycle, will fund 25 arts projects with $177,000 in funding. The grants support, among many other themes and explorations, work that asks bold questions about speculative futures, translates the stories of frontline workers during the pandemic into theater, and spotlights marginalized voices that might otherwise go unheard.
“With our annual grants, we’re always thinking about how we are supporting marginalized communities, thinking about balancing our concrete aims in doing that, and being responsive through calls for supporting Black and AAPI artists,” says Chloe Reison, associate director of The Sachs Program. “And I do feel that, with those particular calls especially, we are reaching more people and that’s contributing to the diversity of our more general pool.”
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Transcending movement Principal dancers from Philadanco! perform and discuss their discipline with choreographer Dawn Marie Bazemore and Penn’s Jasmine Elizabeth Johnson, Deborah Thomas, and doctoral candidate Dixon Li. Philadanco! performing
Oshun. The March 3 performance was revised for length and number of dancers. (Image: Julianne Harris)
Known as a river deity in the Yoruba tradition of West Africa, Oshun is venerated as the embodiment of the female spirit and celebrated throughout the Black diaspora with gold, copper, honey, and the color yellow. In a live virtual Wolf Humanities Center event, Dancers’ Choices, and Choreographers’ Choices, principals from Philadanco! paid homage to the deity with a modern dance performance of “Oshun” choreographed by Dawn Marie Bazemore, Rowan University assistant professor and former company member. The March 3 performance shortened and revised for four dancers wa
Sachs-funded web series helps first-gen Latinx students tell their stories “LatiNXT GEN,” a web series funded by The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, documents the experiences of first-generation Latinx youth ending high school and beginning their college careers. Perla Gonzalez in her introduction video for “LatiNXT Gen.” (Image: YouTube)
Recording her first video, Joselyn was nervous.
Joselyn [she asked that her last be omitted] loves talking, and yet she didn’t know what to say. She wondered, at times, if she was even interesting. She captured several takes spread over two days of recording, cutting 44 minutes down to five. The video was published on Aug. 12 on YouTube, as an introduction to herself as a first-generation Latinx college student. She spoke of her El Salvadoran family, her interest in art through an AP class, and her pursuit of psychology as a major.