ARTS STUDENTS BECOME COMMUNITY LEADERS

In 2019, the College of Visual and Performing Arts proudly launched the Young Alumni Commissioning Project—a new initiative through which CVPA provides grants to alumni for the creation of original work. The project offers crucial support to recent alumni so they can continue their artistic development. It is made possible by a generous bequest from Linda E. Gramlich and by donors to Mason’s Giving Day, including Shugoll Research.

Recipients of the Young Alumni Commissioning Project are selected through an application process that evaluates criteria such as artistic excellence, career impact, and feasibility. The chosen alumni are awarded up to $5,000 in commissioning funds, which can be used at their discretion to cover projectrelated expenses such as artist and licensing fees, equipment rental/purchase, and travel expenses. In addition, recipients receive venue, production, and marketing support for the public showing of the work at one of Mason’s venues.

The inaugural cohort of Young Alumni Commissioning Project awardees included Zachary Wilcox from the School of Theater, who received support for the new play, Tangier Island is Sinking. A staged reading of Zachary’s work took place in April 2020 as part of the Mason Arts at Home digital series. School of Art’s Valerie McKenna was the recipient of a grant to develop and mount a photography exhibition in August 2019 at Mason’s Buchanan Hall Atrium Gallery. The third grantee was Andrew Jorgensen from Film and Video Studies, who created and produced the film, The Sun and the Medicine Man.

Rick Davis, CVPA Dean

s NIYATI DHOKAI Program Manager,

Since its inception in 2014, the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Veterans and the Arts Initiative has quickly grown to become an arts and community hub for local Veterans, Servicemembers, their families, military caregivers, and community members. Based at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, this program consistently brings together the military-connected community members to engage with the arts through performances, workshops, exhibitions, and special events in music, visual art, and poetry. Led by Mason faculty member Niyati Dhokai, the Initiative has also become an important research contributor on topics around the impact of the arts engagement for Veterans and their families.

The Initiative consistently provides innovative and inclusive applied arts programming created for diverse groups of Veterans. These programs include the popular Dominion Energy Veterans Guitar Workshops led by Mason faculty member, Glen McCarthy. This series provides guitar workshops for beginning guitar players for all ages and has engaged hundreds of members of the Veterans community since 2017. Other programming includes a Songwriting Series for Military Kids in collaboration with Mason Community Arts Academy, an annual Celebrating Veterans and the Arts event around Veterans Day, and a visual arts workshop series. In response to the pandemic, Veterans and the Arts programming quickly and successfully pivoted to virtual workshops and also supported the Virginia Women Veterans Summit in May through a virtual exhibition of women Veterans photography.

Recently, the Veterans and the Arts Initiative has become an increasingly important influencer in the field through its partnerships and research. Through contracts in support of Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, ukulele workshops have been provided for military families, and the impact of these workshops has been measured using rigorous research standards and methods. The program, in collaboration with Mason’s College of Education and Human Development and the College of Health and Human Services, was also important in completing research about the effects of arts engagement in older adults which was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Initiative also publishes the findings of its program research in international, peerreviewed journals.

The program is honored to have been awarded a new contract from Creative Forces: National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network to work in support of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. This work will support the development of its Arts in Health Program Vetting Process. The Veterans and the Arts Initiative continues to be at the forefront of the national conversation about the arts, health, and the military.

D.G., Veteran, U.S. Army