Engaging Students

INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS RESIDENCY PROGRAM

Funded through the Office of the Provost, the Arts Institute’s Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program (IARP) brings innovative, world-class artists to campus for semester-long residencies. Artists teach an interdisciplinary course, present public events, and participate in community outreach. The program gives students exposure to working artists, provides course credit, and strengthens programmatic ties across disciplines.

In lieu of a Fall 2017 residency, an IARP retrospective exhibition (September 30-October 12) and presentation were held in the Mosse Humanities Building. Photos, video footage, and printed materials were selected from twenty years of program archives with the help of a student jury.

go.wisc.edu/artsresidency Dr. S. Ama Wray | go.wisc.edu/wray Photos Video

Ama Wray | Spring 2018

Dr. S. Ama Wray is an associate professor of dance at the University of California, Irvine and self-titles as a “neo-African Performance Architect.” Wray received her PhD from the University of Surrey where she developed her theory and practice of Embodiology®, an approach to creating contemporary performance, shaped by the deep structures that have been identified within African practices.

Wray’s residency was presented by the Arts Institute and hosted by the Art Department with Associate Professor Faisal Abdu’Allah as lead faculty. Co-sponsors included the departments of Art History, Dance, Afro-American Studies, and African Cultural Studies.

Guest Artists

f Mojisola Adebayo f Daniel Avorgbedor f Charles Limb f Fleeta Siegel

Residency Activity

During the spring residency, Dr. Wray taught “The Art of Improvisation: From Phronesis to the Production of Practical Knowledge.” The course combined practice-based workshops, interdisciplinary guest lectures, fieldwork, and performance. Experimental movement classes were held at the Ruth Davis Design Gallery, the Grainger Engineering Design Innovation Laboratory, and the Chazen Museum of Art.

Wray along with some of her guest artists presented at the Visiting Artist Colloquium, dance conference, and a symposium. The semester culminated in two final performances that were free and open to the public on May 2 and 3. The Chazen event was an interactive, multi-modular show. The second improvisationbased performance at maiahaus featured an abridged version of the piece with local spoken word artist Rob Dz.

ARTS BUSINESS COMPETITION

The Arts Business Competition, formerly the New Arts Venture Challenge, is a campuswide competition to encourage new thinking and innovative ideas, and to provide support for student-driven projects.

Entrants develop a thorough proposal for an arts event, exhibition, series, commercial venture, or other artistic project. Out of all the submissions, three student proposals were invited to participate in the final round, where each proposal was evaluated on both the written plan and a public oral presentation. A judging panel deliberated and selected a winner on April 27 in Grainger Hall in the Wisconsin School of Business.

go.wisc.edu/artsbusinesscompetition Photos

Jurors

f Meghan Blake-Horst, Street Vending

Coordinator, City of Madison f Abigail Rindo, Art Director, Per Blue

Entertainment, Inc. f George Tzougros, Executive Director,

Wisconsin Arts Board

Winners

1st Prize ($2,000)

Gaining STEAM! Khoa A. Tran, Bayleigh E. Benner, and Holly Walter Kerby

A project teaching scientists how to convey their research through stories, including through comics. Additional participants will include graduate students and community artists.

2nd Prize ($1,000)

LunART Festival Dr. Iva Urgcic, Kyle Johnson, and Satoko Hayami

LunART Festival’s mission is to support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration as they navigate gender imbalance in artistic fields. Over 30 individuals planned and performed in the festival held in Madison in late June 2018.

3rd Prize ($500)

OFF THE WALL Simone Doing and Max Puchalsky

OFF THE WALL is a nighttime, outdoor screening series of contemporary video art from a wide range of artists at various points in their careers, shown in Madison in August 2018.

ARTS RESEARCH

The arts are key to the creation of new knowledge through research, whether it takes the form of arts practice as method of inquiry; historical research through curation; arts in science research; arts educational research; arts impact studies; or one of the myriad other forms.

In 2017–18, the Arts Institute hosted a series of events to recognize and grow arts research. The first event was a panel discussion “What Does Arts Research Look Like at UW–Madison?” held on September 25 and included Laurie Baefsky, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) and Lea Jacobs, Associate Vice Chancellor for Arts & Humanities at UW–Madison.

The Arts Agôn: Arts Research Forum series encouraged arts researchers to share their work with each other and other campus colleagues to create connections and encourage dialogue. Events on December 7 and February 15 featured a total of nine presentations by faculty, staff, and graduate students on research topics ranging from Yoruba Masquerade Arts and dime-store novel covers to creative placemaking and a study of how expressive writing can promote healing.

The division also maintains memberships in national and international organizations dedicated to furthering arts research. Staff attended a2ru and the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) conferences.

Videos